Johnny Raygun Special Edition

Posted: Tuesday, September 27, 2005
By: Steve Saville

Cover of Johnny Raygun Special Edition Creator(s): Ralph DiBernardo
Publishers: Jetpack Press (Self Published)
From: USA
Price: $2.95 (US)

I have enjoyed previous Johnny Raygun adventures so I was pretty excited at the prospect of reading about the latest batch. Johnny Raygun Special Edition collects three stories together, all centre on thirty year old Johnny Kurtzbeg, Raygun agent and his battles against a variety of evil doers. This is a humerous comic, with much of the mirth coming form the ironical situation where Johnny takes himself a little more seriously than we [or his creators] do.

If you haven’t read any Johnny Raygun comics before then you are in for a treat, they really are worth a look. In fact this edition would be a perfect way to ease yourself into the world of Johnny Raygun, this is something I urge you to do. For those who are coming back for more though this edition is a little disappointing because that is exactly what it gives us, more. There is little in the way of character development and so what we get is three more adventures, very similar to their predecessors. Now Johnny is such a likable character and the art -work is good enough to mean that "more" is quite possibly enough and the Mermonkeys, that feature in the third story, alone are worth paying the cover price for.

The overt use of alliteration and the direct address to the reader are features that work well here and add to the charm of this comic. Johnny Raygun feels like the creators had fun and that rubs off on the reader. My personal highlight was the arrival of the villains in the second story, P.R.U.D.E [parents rising up to destroy entertainment]. They do battle with our hero over the latest version of his favourite video game and a battle royale it turns out to be. I am desperate to be proved wrong, but I feel that Johnny is starting to meander, it is far too early for this to be happening.

In a Word: Enough?.



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