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Jul 29, 2017

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 885: The Johnny Raygun Freebie, 2005

https://www.comics.org/issue/243772/

I've been making an incorrect assumption about Johnny Raygun thus far, and it's one that, with this last issue in my collection, I'm glad to have realized. There's something sinister and intriguing going on in this series.

This issue, the FCBD 2005 giveaway, is a full reprint of issue #5 of the ongoing series, and there's a guy wandering around through the world killing off supervillains. Like, literally, picking them up and just twisting their heads around (which happens to The Filament in this issue). Prior to this, the stories had been relatively benign and humorous, much like the eponymous hero. But now that I've seen that there's a little more than comedy going on, I think I really need to track down the rest of the series.

On that topic, if you're interested in reading a funny and exciting pulp hero comic, head on over to Jetpack Press's website and load up. It's still running, though the series stopped publication around 10 years ago, so I'm assuming you can still snag the series there. I'm hoping so, anyway.

The universe of the Raygun Agency continues to expand with the introduction of a team of teenage superheroes in this issue. There's a part of me that is slightly disappointed, in that I kind of like the idea of a world much like our own, just with a secret hero agency keeping us safe from the strange. Like Planetary, but with much more serendipitous bungling. And perhaps, in that case, it's best that the series wraps when it does (with issue #6), so that it doesn't become another overpopulated superhero universe. There's so many of them.

On to something else tomorrow, but I'm glad to have read all of my Johnny Raygun stuff, finally. As I noted at the beginning, I really enjoyed what I'd previously read of the series, and the subsequent issues do not disappoint. Funny, well-crafted, and equal parts original and homage.

To be continued.

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