The Goon is the product of a contentedly demented mind. You've got a Hobo Demon God terrorizing children because they've eaten cake and refuse to share it. You've got a birthday party (see: cake). And you've got an interlude involving Eric Powell, Frank Darabont, and Animal-Costume-Related Rape. This issue also happens to signal the comic's 10th Anniversary. One gets the impression that Powell created The Goon just so he could have twenty to thirty pages at a time where he could just draw whatever he felt like, whether it's ratty newsboys or a thug punching a slithering hobo god in the gut. While that might not lend itself to the most in-depth mythology, that lack is made up for a hundred fold in the comic's insurmountable charm....
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When I was a kid in school, we used to take personality evaluation tests all the time. They weren’t usually referred to that way, but at least once a year we'd end up doing a unit meant to categorize us somehow. I’ve never been sure what the point was; in retrospect they were either insipid or creepy, as though the powers that be were trying to label us for future reference. These tests used different terminology, but it basically broke down to four categories based on two opposing sets of terms; the one I remember most clearly had it that your thought processes could be "Abstract" or "Concrete" (basically, a realist vs. an idealist), and "Random" or "Sequential" (looking at the big picture vs. going step-by-step). The two furthest...
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Eric Powell’s The Goon is an insane, hilarious, and often brilliant blend of everything cool: zombies, giant robots, and 1930s tough guys. With the three-issue miniseries Dwight T. Albatross’s The Goon Noir — named for Powell’s crudely funny amigo and series “host” — the creator hands over the reigns to friends and peers (including Mr. Show vet Brian Posehn, comedian Patton Oswalt, penciler Humberto Ramos, and many, many others) and proves that the universe of The Goon is the ultimate sandbox to play in. Arvid Nelson has Goon fight a two-headed monster with a snake for a tail; Bill Morrison writes and draws a stellar Yogi Bear parody in “Hey Goon, Comics!”; John Arcudi’s Goon roast, led by the appropriately named “Spider” in “Man of...
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I’ve just recently discovered Eric Powell's riotously wicked, noir-ish horror comic, The Goon and I'm kicking myself for coming on board so late. I guess that's what back issues and trade paperbacks are for. The 5th trade paperback volume, Wicked Inclinations is out, and collects issues 14-18 of the regular series. Thankfully, Powell has taken newbies like me into account and provides readers with a brief overview of past events that quickly got me up to speed. The story opens with Goon's ally The Buzzard, the sentry who stands guard over the cemetery, puts the fear of the Almighty Himself into the zombie priest by revealing the Priest's true name. This immediately freaks the Zombie Priest out as he is now desperate to come up with a...
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Grade 10 & Up Faking his own death, Billy the Kid is free to roam, or so he thinks. Then Fineas Spoule, the Human Spider, approaches him and tells him that he's discovered his secret. Spoule offers a deal: help him retrieve a precious jewel from Dr. Victor Frankenstein and he'll keep Billy's secret. If the Kid doesn't help, then Spoule's contacts will release his whereabouts to the authorities. All Billy wants to do is retire in anonymity, so he agrees to the plan, and soon he finds himself in the service of a caravan of carnival sideshow performers who have their own unfinished business with Frankenstein. It's not until the end of the story that Spoule reveals the real reason for their trip to see Frankenstein--one of their performers...
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Convinced by "The Human Spider" Fineas Spoule to steal the legendary "Golem's Heart" from the psychotic Dr. Victor Frankenstein, the outlaw Billy the Kid finds his Eurotrip life-threatening, as mutant villagers and monster zombies aim to take him dead or alive. Pursuing expectedly mad experiments, the infamous scientist has already killed some of Spoule's troupe of circus freaks and gleefully plans to dissect the rest. Though the tiny boy named Jeffrey escapes and frees Billy, can the gunslinger shoot down his own fears of imprisonment to save his strange traveling companions? Luckily, another jealous treasure hunter intrudes on Franky's party and gives the hero one last chance to prove his pistol-packing prowess. An award-winner for...
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Besides The Goon's supporting cast of aliens, creature-people, and zombies, the spirit of Frank Miller's notorious Sin City hovers around Powell's crime-sf-horror concoction. The Goon's city is as evil, its violence is as over the top, its baddies are as annoyingly self-resurrecting, and its characters look as grotesque as their counterparts in Miller's creation. But while Sin City is profoundly creepy, and liking it is partly a matter of soul-searching as to why it's so alluring, The Goon is wildly funny, a Bronx cheer in the face of the genre conventions it mercilessly rags. Here, in addition to the usual targets, Powell lampoons the football melodrama, the hellhole-prison drama, sf parallel-world high jinks, and A Christmas Carol. He...
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December 15, 2005: The Goon #14 (Review)
The promotional 25 cent issue of The Goon was a wonderful introduction to the series, a four-bulleter if ever I saw one, which makes this issue all the more disappointing, as it turns out that the regular comic is a de facto anthology title. Which isn't a crime in itself, as there are a number of excellent anthologies knocking about, but what we get here is a compelling main story with creepy and atmospheric art that just doesn't go on for long enough before being shunted aside for a number of back-up tales which get progressively worse the closer they get to the back of the comic. The second story is a fun but lightweight piece about a monster terrorising a small boy, but the third is just nonsense (in a bad way) and the last is a...
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December 01, 2005: The Goon #15 (Review)
Any title that wins an Eisner for Best Humor Book and Best Ongoing Series deserves a glance, wouldn't you say? (That's your cue, writer/artist Eric Powell.) The Goon is a dark comedy full of silliness about a big ugly thug that punches stuff, Powell explains. "More than that you need not know." Let your shiny awards do your talking for you, eh? We like your style, kid. In issue #15 Goon cuts off the Zombie Priest's supply of dead bodies, seriously crimping his plans for a zombie army. Unfortunately, cadaver-rustling isn't the issue when someone comes looking for Norton, the owner of Goon's favorite watering hole....
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Carnies, gangsters, zombies and a 4-foot spider wearing a derby are all part of the off-the-wall action in Eric Powell's comics collection The Goon: Fancy Pants Edition. This handsome hardcover edition rearranges episodes from the continuing series into chronological order, exploring the early life of the titular anti-hero, an implacable, scar-faced underworld enforcer whom even the undead fear. After he exacts his vengeance on the criminal who killed his beloved aunt, the Goon, assisted by his faithful sidekick, Franky, takes over his victim's loan sharking operation. When the Zombie Priest and his legions of shambling animated corpses set up residence on Lonely Street, the Goon doesn't hesitate to mix it up with them, either. Nothing...
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September 30, 2005: The Goon 13 (Review)
After last issue's robot riot, Goon and Dr. Alloy get chucked in the slammer only to be set upon by vengeful criminals and the prison's crooked warden. Meanwhile a gang of resourceful orphans conspires to break its hero free. Eric Powell's farcical humour and brilliant comic timing do wonders with the trashy, pulp-horror setting of this great series. (Alex Thompson)...
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