Portajohnny: The Best of Angry Youth Comix: The Early Years

Johnny Ryan is the most acclaimed humor cartoonist to burst on the comics scene since Peter Bagge (who neatly provides an introduction to this volume) redfined the genre with Hate in the late-'80s. His ongoing comics series, Angry Youth Comics, has earned raves from such cultural luminaries as Edward Gorey, Simpsons Producers George Meyer and Dana Gould, comix journalist Joe Sacco, and humor legends Bagge and Daniel Clowes. His work appears regularly in Nickelodeon magazine and he is creating a new, ongoing strip for the Portland Mercury. Portajohnny collects Ryan's "greatest hits" from his own self-published comic books from the 1990s (published before Fantagraphics began publishing Angry Youth Comix in 2000), as well as a host of anthologies like Zero Zero, Measles, Goody Good Comics, and elsewhere. Not for the kids (unlike his Nickelodeon work), Ryan's humor is lowbrow and dirty, often uncomfortable but usually hilarious. Featured are such mini-masterpieces as "The Nudist," in which a naked superhero battles the evil Captain Candy, a supervillain who wants to rot the teeth of our nation's children by having them eat the gumdrops that coat his entire body. The book also introduces Loady McGee, Ryan's most popular character, a misanthropic, acne-scarred hustler who will try anything and everything to avoid getting a real job, from rinsing out used toilet paper to re-sell as new to inventing appliances like the Pussy Hunter 6000. Also featuring: the scathing "Dildobert," a parody of Scott Adams's notorious office-worker; a parody of Dave Berg's insipid "Lighter Side Of" feature from MAD magazine; the adventures of God, the world's most righteous superhero, and much more. Ryan's utter unpretentious taboo-tackling is an infectious and hilarious bombardment of political incorrectness, taking full advantage of the medium's absurdist potential for maximum laughs. In an age when the medium is growing up and aspiring to more mature and lofty literary heights, Ryan builds on the visceral tradition that cartooning has had on our collective funny bone for over a century. 160 pages b/w illustrations.