THE ADVENTURES OF BARRY WEEN, BOY GENIUS 3: MONKEY TALES #4
"Adventures in Barry Sitting"
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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Oni Press
Writer/Artist: Judd Winick
Editor: Jamie S. Rich
Price: $2.95 US/$4.50 CAN |
I've been following Winick's more mainstream work for DC and Marvel lately (Green Lantern and The Exiles, respectively), and when one compares those comics to things like Barry Ween and Pedro and Me, it's clear that his heart doesn't lie with the work-for-hire stuff. Ween continues to stand out as unrestrained hilarity.
Jeremy's obsession with the "reimagined" Planet of the Apes movie leads Barry to recall that the forming of their friendship actually revolved around a rather large ape... well, a large ape that happened to be a neighborhood teenager before one of Barry's failed experiments turned her big and hairy and primal. Speaking of failed experiments, something goes "kaboom!" in Barry's basement, and that's never good.
If I'm not mistaken, this is the first issue of any Ween series that boasts a continuing storyline. It took me off guard, especially since the cliffhanger has little to do with the main story. It's a nice change of pace, though, and besides, like I said, the main story -- the flashback to when Barry and Jeremy were five years old -- stands up on its own. So, the reader gets the best of both worlds... an ongoing Barry Ween story and a self-contained one.
Winick's style for Ween is cartoony, silly and extremely exaggerated, but it also manages to convey a certain degree of realism. Winick's faces are thoroughly emotive, and it's the quieter, more serious moments that actually pack the more powerful punch. Furthermore, some scenes, like the video-game sequence on the first page, boast a detailed flow of action.
Barry Ween on pornography: "So have fun. Jesus said it's okay." Barry on "play dates": "They frugally opted for one sitter for the pair of us. Cheap bastards." Jeremy Ramirez on losing at video games: "Screw you." It's the barrage of lines like these that makes The Adventures of Barry Ween so much fun to read. Heightening the humor is the fact that Winick offers up these profane barbs through supposedly innocent child characters. But the charm of the book is that these characters, even Barry, really are innocents. Despite their more adult language and occasional activities, they are kids at heart.
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