REVIEW: The Klassic Komix Klub

June 6, 2008 on 3:18 pm | In Reviews

Hey folks! For this edition of Indie Jones, please welcome guest reviewer, Alex Kropinak!

The Klassic Komix Klub by Johnny Ryan, Buenaventura Press

If the title of this hardback comic collection didn’t tip you off already, this book is not for the easily offended. In fact, I’d imagine that even the most open-minded reader would still be in awe of Johnny [cartoonist of the highly revered series, Angry Youth Comix] Ryan’s “adaptations” of classic literature that vastly surpass the barriers that publications like MAD Magazine could never cross. For example, one strip features Ryan’s version of “Hamlet,” which stars none other than Marvel superhero Spider-Man. That doesn’t sound too outrageous…until you read on to witness the floating ghost head of Uncle Ben urinating on Spider-Man, who then visits his Aunt May to find that she has married the Vulture, whose genatalia (which has the head of a buzzard) bites her face off and blows a bubble with her face-skin like chewing gum.

And that’s one of the tamer strips.

But this over-the-top ridiculousness is Ryan’s point, of course. After experiencing the utter absurdity of each and every one of his 114 one-page strips, you just have to chuckle. You may be ashamed afterwards, but you gotta hand it to Ryan – this book is a testament to his imaginative and original ideas that he has been giving us since the early ‘90s. If you can stomach the first few strips of this book, then you, my friend, are about to enjoy a collection that doesn’t let you down in the gross-out, jaw-dropping, mind-blowing department.