© Judd Winick
A recommendation from the three guys at iFanboy means a lot to me. They know how to review and recommend a comic book.
So on a whim, and after a stratospherically high recommendation from Ron, I bought The Big Book of Barry Ween. It’s an independent comic about a boy genius and the adventures he goes on.
Thankfully, hilarity really does ensue.
Cliched set up; hilarious execution. Judd Winick’s writing is consistently funny and his plots move fast, almost too fast for Barry to keep up with. This is essential for Barry Ween‘s premise; things have to get big for them to pose a challenge to a genius.
More importantly, the patter between Barry and his best friend Jeremy is scatological in the extreme. Normally this turns me off, but this material is so well-written and presented in such a contrast to the boys’ standard suburban life that it works.
The book’s divided into chapters, one for each adventure Barry and Jeremy get into, culminating with a big two-parter that, delightfully, gets serious. No spoilers here; suffice to say that my attention lingered for a long time on the final two pages.
Color me impressed.