Tuesday, July 3, 2012

The Goon: Nothin' But Misery-- review by L. Vera


Guest post today from my friend L. Vera, discussing one of the all time modern greats, Eric Powell's THE GOON.




Let me introduce you to the best comic since . . . well since . . . Johnny The Homicidal Maniac. Eric Powell is a madman working in the Zombie Resurrecting Lands of Crazy Town and this is his baby. Say, "Hi," to The Goon. He's a face bashing, mob enforcer with his trusty friend Franky, who loves to stab people in the eye.

When I talk comics, I recommend this collection to everyone. It's a classic Goon Story. Goon chases zombie thugs, beats them to death, and Franky stabs someone in the eye. You got talking spiders, monsters, grave diggers, cannibal hobos and a whole lot more.


The volume collects the first self-published issues THE GOON, THE GOON COLOR SPECIAL, and THE GOON short story that's included in DARK HORSE PRESENTS. And it's a great way to get introduced to a comic series that doesn't care about selling comics but about delivering the best craziness in comic book form. These aren't the first Goon issues. If you want those you need to shell out some big bucks or buy vol. 0.

The story line is summed up in the first comic in the volume. Where a young Goon works for a mob boss/ loan shark named Labrazio and after some terrible events ends up murdering him and finding his little black book of people who owe him money. The Goon assumes the role of his "enforcer", even though Labrazio is dead, and becomes the feared, hulking bastard of a man in the small zombie infested town collecting money from anyone who borrowed from his dead boss.


We also meet Buzzard, a former sheriff who is now cursed to eat the flesh of the dead. The characters are full of this obscene mind blast that has you liking the weirdest of the bunch. I've always liked the spider in the bowler hat named Spider, who The Goon hates and constantly beats up, and Merle who's a gun-runner and a werewolf. But overall I like Goon and Franky, the slack-jaw punching duo not afraid to beat up that stupid fortune telling Seal.

The art is great, the writing is beyond witty. And it's all done by one man, Eric Powell.


You can snag it here on Amazon.