So, this comic actually came out a few weeks ago, but I just managed to find a copy now so it's good as new to me! I recall someone requesting a review of this too...

Angry Youth Comix #13: I can't recall exactly when writer/artist Johnny Ryan began poking at 'literary' comics' superstars, but it's since become a major element of his work, and a pretty effective one in mixing critique of self-serious funnybook stultification with personal attacks so encyclopedically gag-driven they seem distinctly adorable - after reading enough AYC, a panel of, say, cartoonist Seth being covered in jism seems no different then his getting a pie to the face, especially when the cumshot in question is provided by a walking, talking, big-dicked copy of the New Yorker.

But Ryan isn't without perspective. One of this issue's three stories sees a bevy of comics notables engaging in all sorts of XXX acts for the honor of contributing to the aforementioned big-dicked publication. Punchline: the tale ends with Ryan providing his own email address for "the fucking idiots" at the magazine to contact him about prospective illustration work. In another story, recurring lead character Loady McGee goes absolutely apoplectic upon discovering that somebody has made fun of him in their comic book; when told that he makes fun of people in his comic books all the time, Loady replies "Haven't you ever heard of a little something called 'the double standard'?" before embarking on a religion-fueled torture crusade against wholly innocent targets that drags the book straight into the territory of guro manga and a certain strain of horror film.

Yet, it's all still conveyed in a slick, joke-focused style; a Bloodsucking Freaks reference in a prior issue maybe hints at where Ryan's been coming from for the last few issues, which has seen AYC's slapstick getting nasty enough to prompt agog stares as much as laughs (as a result, this issue's Boobs Pooter story suffers in comparison to last issue's full-scale Boobs epic). Still, there's laughs, and a VERY GOOD sense that there's no telling what might happen next.

Labels: Jog