Over the past decade or so, I’ve reviewed CDs and movies and books for a few websites and local newspapers. I’ve been criticized by people for only giving favorable reviews, but there’s a good reason for that: as a freelance writer, I decided that rather than waste my time experiencing things that I don’t enjoy (and then re-experiencing them while reviewing them), I would focus on things that I like, and try to spread the word about good stuff. Although, I must admit that bashing entertainment that sucks is really fun, sometimes…
“In The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway describes genius as the ability to learn at a greater velocity. For a suicidal drunk with a pathological fear of latent homosexuality, Papa did all right.”
-Barry Ween
The characters are simple enough: a ten-year-old super-genius and his very average (slightly hyperactive, obsessed with the idea of sex, and a big fan of apes) best friend Jeremy. The concept springs from there: what would happen if the experiments of a junior mad scientist went awry? (Answer: hilarity)
Written and illustrated by Judd Winick – better known as either a DC comics writer or former cast member of The Real World, depending on how old you are — Barry Ween Boy Genius is a great example of why I love comic books. The jokes are enhanced by the illustrations. The action scenes flow surprisingly well for a “humor” comic. It’s easy enough, reading any of the volumes, to remember and relive what it was like to be an adolescent kid (even if I didn’t occasionally blow the Earth out of its orbit, or turn my babysitters into giant monkeys).
The magic of Barry, for me, is in the balance of cynical, often misanthropic and usually non-sequitur humor (find me a better line than “Jesus was a fan of Leg Show“) and serious consideration of what it would mean to be a ten-year-old with an IQ of 350. As a young “gifted” kid (and yeah, “gifted” and “special” aren’t too far apart), Barry would have been my role model — a comic-book superhero without the spandex, but with plenty of attitude to make up for it.
You can compare the Barry Ween volumes to any number of things — South Park meets Calvin & Hobbes in a meth-fueled car wreck with Dexter’s Lab — but none of those really does the gathered mini-series justice. It’s got elements of all those things, but — as evidenced especially by the ending of the fourth volume — it has heart, and Winick is not afraid to show it.
Finally out a few weeks ago is The Big Book of Barry Ween, Boy Genius, a collection of all four volumes of the comic. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a good gateway into graphic literature, or just a really good laugh.