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Prison Pit #1
Prison Pit: Book One
122 Pages!
Prison Pit is an original graphic novel from the pen of Johnny Ryan, best known for his humor comic, Angry Youth Comix. Prison Pit represents a marked departure from AYC or his Blecky Yuckerella weekly comic strip, combining his love for WWE wrestling, Gary Panter's "Jimbo" comics, and Kentaro Miura's "Berserk" Manga into a brutal showcase of violence, survival and revenge. Imagine a blend of old-fashioned role playing fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons crossed with contemporary adult video games like Grand Theft Auto, filtered through Ryan's sense of humor.
The book begins with C.F. (his full-name would be too horrifying to reveal here) being thrown into the Prison Pit, a barren negative-zone populated by intergalactic, violent monster criminals. In this first volume, C.F. gets into a bloody slorge war (a slorge is a giant slug that excretes a steroid-like drug called "fecid" that all the monster men are addicted to) with ultraprisoner Rottweiler Herpes and his henchmen Rabies Bloodbath and Assrat. The ensuing bloodbath is an over-the-top, hyperviolent yet hilarious farce worthy of Ryan's inspiration, Kentaro Miura.
Prison Pit is an original graphic novel from the pen of Johnny Ryan, best known for his humor comic, Angry Youth Comix. Prison Pit represents a marked departure from AYC or his Blecky Yuckerella weekly comic strip, combining his love for WWE wrestling, Gary Panter's "Jimbo" comics, and Kentaro Miura's "Berserk" Manga into a brutal showcase of violence, survival and revenge. Imagine a blend of old-fashioned role playing fantasy games like Dungeons & Dragons crossed with contemporary adult video games like Grand Theft Auto, filtered through Ryan's sense of humor.
The book begins with C.F. (his full-name would be too horrifying to reveal here) being thrown into the Prison Pit, a barren negative-zone populated by intergalactic, violent monster criminals. In this first volume, C.F. gets into a bloody slorge war (a slorge is a giant slug that excretes a steroid-like drug called "fecid" that all the monster men are addicted to) with ultraprisoner Rottweiler Herpes and his henchmen Rabies Bloodbath and Assrat. The ensuing bloodbath is an over-the-top, hyperviolent yet hilarious farce worthy of Ryan's inspiration, Kentaro Miura.
122 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 30, 2009
3 people are currently reading
380 people want to read
About the author
Johnny Ryan
96 books81 followersJohn F. Ryan IV (born November 30, 1970, in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American comics creator, writer, and animator. In a throwback to the days of underground comix, Ryan's oeuvre is generally an attempt to be as shocking and politically incorrect as possible.
Ryan started his career self-publishing Angry Youth Comix, a series of eleven mini-comic issues from 1994 to 1998. In 1998, he began showing his work to Peter Bagge, creator of Hate comics, who introduced the material to Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics. In 2001, Fantagraphics began publishing volume 2 of the series.
Among Ryan's creations there are the comic strip Blecky Yuckerella and the comic book series Prison Pit.
In animation, Ryan has worked as story editor for the Looney Tuness and co-created the Nickelodeon show Pig Goat Banana Cricket with Dave Cooper. Ryan and Cooper have collaborated on a number of comics as well, usually under the pen name 'Hector Mumbly'.
Ryan's illustrations have appeared in MAD, LA Weekly, National Geographic Kids, Hustler Magazine, The Stranger, and elsewhere. Ryan has also done work for clients such as Nobleworks greetings cards, Rhino Records, and Fox TV. His comics have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese and French.
Ryan started his career self-publishing Angry Youth Comix, a series of eleven mini-comic issues from 1994 to 1998. In 1998, he began showing his work to Peter Bagge, creator of Hate comics, who introduced the material to Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics. In 2001, Fantagraphics began publishing volume 2 of the series.
Among Ryan's creations there are the comic strip Blecky Yuckerella and the comic book series Prison Pit.
In animation, Ryan has worked as story editor for the Looney Tuness and co-created the Nickelodeon show Pig Goat Banana Cricket with Dave Cooper. Ryan and Cooper have collaborated on a number of comics as well, usually under the pen name 'Hector Mumbly'.
Ryan's illustrations have appeared in MAD, LA Weekly, National Geographic Kids, Hustler Magazine, The Stranger, and elsewhere. Ryan has also done work for clients such as Nobleworks greetings cards, Rhino Records, and Fox TV. His comics have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese and French.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
October 7, 2009
Context is a funny thing, isn't it? Without any context, I would've picked this up, been like "haha dick jokes and monsters," enjoyed it some but not enough to buy it, and then forgot about it. Instead, the context is that this guy is part of the Vice Magazine crew, and I dislike those guys' whole "I'm rich and white and privileged in all these ways, and not only am I not ashamed about it, I'm fucking stoked, to the point that I can be a homophobic, racist douchebag for my whole whole magazine, and hipster douchebags will eat it up and love it because they're rich and privileged, too, and more interested in doing coke than looking at why they can talk about being broke but still afford coke" attitude. So in that context I'm like, fuck this. You're a lot more Vincent Gallo than Rob Zombie.
The moral of the story is: never hang out with the guys from Vice.
The moral of the story is: never hang out with the guys from Vice.
July 1, 2015
I had to read more in this series to set up my mind about this.
Yes, it`s gory, yes, it has a lot of violence and offensive things in it (you really don`t have any ideea how far this is going :)), but were supposed to be in an ALIEN PRISON PIT.
Not in a park where we walk and watch the trees or birds.
It`s true that this is not for the faint-hearted or those who find survival violence offensive. And for sure the graphic novel wouldn`t get some Award soon.
I have read until the four book so rest assured that there is a story behind all the blood, the gore and the dying and things are looking preeety interesting until now.
Yes, it`s gory, yes, it has a lot of violence and offensive things in it (you really don`t have any ideea how far this is going :)), but were supposed to be in an ALIEN PRISON PIT.
Not in a park where we walk and watch the trees or birds.
It`s true that this is not for the faint-hearted or those who find survival violence offensive. And for sure the graphic novel wouldn`t get some Award soon.
I have read until the four book so rest assured that there is a story behind all the blood, the gore and the dying and things are looking preeety interesting until now.
June 28, 2013
Read this in about 10 minutes at the library this evening. This is juvenile, homophobic, racist tripe - the kind of stuff that bored teenage boys draw between classes to try to gross each other out, and that's where it should have stayed. It is interesting to see how some people will try to intellectualize the most vapid shit. I feel like I've lost some brain cells from having read this book. It's not edgy or cool or funny, it's just stupid and ugly.
April 20, 2022
Stupid, ugly, funny, and bleak. There is a particular sensibility at play here that will probably turn people off, but in a weird way it really distills the nature of comic book violence to its most vital elements. No pretense at all. It literally ends with mutant masturbation.
July 3, 2013
Not cool. Not hip anti-art hilarious groovy. Stupid adolescent loser humor... and if Ryan is NOT a stupid adolescent loser but making as if he WERE a stupid adolescent loser, it would still be stupid, trust me. Some of y'all think this is "edgy," maybe something like a new kind of edge, a new kind of hilarious cross-the-line jack-ass offensive, but I don't think so. I must be SO establishment, dude. I just don't get how deep this crap is! Maybe.
February 17, 2012
A monstrous humanoid psychopath is thrown into pit, which seems to be a world unto itself, presumably (going only on the title) because he is being punished for something. Then the book takes off with the psychopath fighting and killing everything and getting mutilated along the way.
This is a really funny book based on the gratuitous and excessive violence throughout. It's not really a story and there's no real plot or structure, it's just literally gory fight scenes between the psycho and all manner of strange beasts. The way he kills them is so over the top violent that it's funny as hell and had me laughing all the way through.
Because it's mostly fight scenes there's very little dialogue so who the psycho is, what he did to get in the pit, anything about the world, is mostly a mystery and the comic is mostly silent, but the artwork matches the unpretentious tone perfectly and the book works purely on Johnny Ryan's strong art direction.
The book is over all too soon for my liking but I enjoyed the nonsense so much I'm going to have to go back for Books 2 and 3. So if you like disgusting worms that secrete drugs or jizz monsters and plenty of vicious cartoon violence without the cumbersome weight of characterisation/plot/dialogue, this is the book for you.
This is a really funny book based on the gratuitous and excessive violence throughout. It's not really a story and there's no real plot or structure, it's just literally gory fight scenes between the psycho and all manner of strange beasts. The way he kills them is so over the top violent that it's funny as hell and had me laughing all the way through.
Because it's mostly fight scenes there's very little dialogue so who the psycho is, what he did to get in the pit, anything about the world, is mostly a mystery and the comic is mostly silent, but the artwork matches the unpretentious tone perfectly and the book works purely on Johnny Ryan's strong art direction.
The book is over all too soon for my liking but I enjoyed the nonsense so much I'm going to have to go back for Books 2 and 3. So if you like disgusting worms that secrete drugs or jizz monsters and plenty of vicious cartoon violence without the cumbersome weight of characterisation/plot/dialogue, this is the book for you.
May 13, 2013
You'd think, in a book rife with alien cannibalism, nazi pus-swords and giant sperm monsters that you wouldn't be able to come up with a shocker, twist ending that really shocks and/or twists. You'd think at a certain point you'd become immune to all the horror, and you couldn't have the three last pages of said book be the Most Psychotic Thing Ever.
Then again, you also might think that PRISON PIT isn't a graphic novel that you would enjoy because you've seen the bloody decapitation on the front cover, and you're pretty sure that You Just Don't Like That Sort of Thing.
But hell, you think a lot of dumb shit. Let's be honest -- your current choices haven't gotten you all that far, have they?
Read PRISON PIT, you feeb. For once, just do something cool.
Then again, you also might think that PRISON PIT isn't a graphic novel that you would enjoy because you've seen the bloody decapitation on the front cover, and you're pretty sure that You Just Don't Like That Sort of Thing.
But hell, you think a lot of dumb shit. Let's be honest -- your current choices haven't gotten you all that far, have they?
Read PRISON PIT, you feeb. For once, just do something cool.
November 9, 2024
What an absolutely silly series. I've read all 5 books at this point. I like Ryan's dedication to the outrageous. I found some of it to be very imaginative, but other parts to just be silly and rely on shock-value. After awhile neo-nazis and penis gore gets a bit dull. Still I can't deny that there is a tonne of creativity here -- I imagine Kirby would have created something like this if he was a perverted 12 year old.
September 25, 2015
With not a lot of dialogue, you mostly have to rely on the illustrations. Vulgarity and stupidity take over. Black and white saves the day with this one.
Lots of fucks and sperm monsters. Didn't know how they could top that and then the ending. Umm wtf?
Not really sure if I want to read anymore. This might be a you read one you read them all kind of story. And I'm still just like.... okay!?
Lots of fucks and sperm monsters. Didn't know how they could top that and then the ending. Umm wtf?
Not really sure if I want to read anymore. This might be a you read one you read them all kind of story. And I'm still just like.... okay!?
June 8, 2018
It like if Adventure Time, Superjail, and Heavy Metal (the music genre and comic series) made a wrestling baby with a lot of hyperviolence in it. It is pretty great if you ask me!
May 15, 2020
I would simply state it as a Norwegian Black for literature, but it's even ridiculously funny too.
November 3, 2022
I'm proud to announce I'd survived Book One of the Prison Pit series! Brutally rancid with a twisted sense of humour and a plot line that's literally out of this world. As un-PC as you can get, which is quite an accomplishment. Not for the faint of heart! I'm on the fence on pursuing the remainder of the series...
September 12, 2010
Barbarian wrestler monsters tearing eachother apart in a penal colony, without any hang-ups over actual storytelling, characters, anything beyond senseless action. Which has a certain kind of arguable awesomeness I guess, like Fantagraphics went and published a bunch of violent classroom doodles from some bored middle school punk (not for nothing Johnny Ryan apparently made his name in "Angry Youth Comics"). I dunno though, it gets kind of monotonous, especially in volume two. Like, I'd probably get more into a chapter of the protagonist just wandering around aimlessly as a break from the decapitations and whatever. Not really something I would put any work into reading, but I didn't have to: one of my roommates left this and the second part in the living room and they only took about 10 minutes to read.
July 2, 2010
I love Johnny Ryan. He's one of my all time favorites. But I think his work's getting even a little too psychotic for him. Well maybe not for him. He's probably exactly where he needs to be. But this book is just f'ing psychotic. I will still buy and read and collect everything Johnny Ryan! Everybody has a psychotic period. All you can do after that is fall or come back up. I still dug it. But what the hell goes on in his head! Definitely a boy thing. I love psycho artists.
July 30, 2009
Perhaps the best and also craziest comic Johnny Ryan has made yet. Definitely adults only. There's no hidden meaning, deep metaphor, life lessons, etc. just crazy, funny action adventure. I hope he does 1,000 pages of this and it comes out as a huge weird omnibus.
November 8, 2012
The most unforgettable characters duking it out on treacherous soil. I loved every page.
Books 2 and 3 were pretty good, but Volume 1 is, by far, the best. I'm excited to read Vol. 4.
Books 2 and 3 were pretty good, but Volume 1 is, by far, the best. I'm excited to read Vol. 4.
November 23, 2014
I liked the art, but I actively feel dumber for having read it. I get it, but... yeah. Dick jokes ahoy.
June 7, 2015
It's Johnny Ryan, What else do you need to say?
October 19, 2018
this ridiculous bullshit is more entertaining to me than it probably should be
February 19, 2022
What the fuck did i just read?
I mean i love your over the top gore and R-18 violence and horror but this... I have no idea if i liked it or hated it.
One thing is sure, it's absolutely disgusting, the pure stereotype of what early 80's parents were thinking when they heard that there was violence, sex and death in some comics. It's violent for the sake of being violent and there is litteraly no subtext behind it.
I guess i could compliment the... creativity of some of the disgusting ideas.
But if you somehow heard about it about being inspired by Berserk, flee from it, the only common point with the masterpiece that is Berserk is a violent world with a one armed protagonist that unleashed the ultimate violence upon it's adversaries that are more monstrous than him.
I put three stars because at least it was entertaining but i would not recommand it to anyone
I mean i love your over the top gore and R-18 violence and horror but this... I have no idea if i liked it or hated it.
One thing is sure, it's absolutely disgusting, the pure stereotype of what early 80's parents were thinking when they heard that there was violence, sex and death in some comics. It's violent for the sake of being violent and there is litteraly no subtext behind it.
I guess i could compliment the... creativity of some of the disgusting ideas.
But if you somehow heard about it about being inspired by Berserk, flee from it, the only common point with the masterpiece that is Berserk is a violent world with a one armed protagonist that unleashed the ultimate violence upon it's adversaries that are more monstrous than him.
I put three stars because at least it was entertaining but i would not recommand it to anyone
August 9, 2019
In reality this is more of a 3.5, but I decided to round up. I’ll continue reading this series, but also it probably isn’t worth the asking price of roughly $12 for each volume. It is worth noting that the end made my eyes roll out of sheer annoyance though, as it just seems like Prison Pit tries too hard at times to be ridiculous and shocking. Hopefully sticking with the series offers something worth it it the end.
February 22, 2020
5.6
Dick-jokes fantasy. Nie no, spoko. Dużo o kutasach (spoko), i są przekleństwa. Biją się. I ogólnie jest dziwacznie, ale nie tak wymyślnie, jak mogłoby być. I czasami ta dziwność jest na granicy tego co zabawnie zabawne a żenujące. Czasem po prostu ta granica jest przekraczana. I to śmieszy. Ale tylko przez chwilę. A potem zastanawiam się, czy nie kupuję tego wszystkiego bardziej tylko dlatego, że bardzo lubię ten styl kreski. I właściwie to nie mam dobrej odpowiedzi. To co, ssamy kutasy?
Dick-jokes fantasy. Nie no, spoko. Dużo o kutasach (spoko), i są przekleństwa. Biją się. I ogólnie jest dziwacznie, ale nie tak wymyślnie, jak mogłoby być. I czasami ta dziwność jest na granicy tego co zabawnie zabawne a żenujące. Czasem po prostu ta granica jest przekraczana. I to śmieszy. Ale tylko przez chwilę. A potem zastanawiam się, czy nie kupuję tego wszystkiego bardziej tylko dlatego, że bardzo lubię ten styl kreski. I właściwie to nie mam dobrej odpowiedzi. To co, ssamy kutasy?
August 15, 2018
How did this drivel even get published? And there are 6 of them?!
As I was reading, a vision of the author as a weedy, white man popped into my head. Searched him after and sure enough, weedy, white man. Unless you fit this description, maybe with some added issues about your own masculinity, I highly suggest you skip it.
Go read some Kentaro Miura instead, much better use of your time.
As I was reading, a vision of the author as a weedy, white man popped into my head. Searched him after and sure enough, weedy, white man. Unless you fit this description, maybe with some added issues about your own masculinity, I highly suggest you skip it.
Go read some Kentaro Miura instead, much better use of your time.
January 5, 2020
If this strip is trying to make the point that juvenile graphic illustrations can be dull and boring then mission accomplished. If it's reaching for something else then I have no idea what that is, and it's certainly not worth $12.99 much less the reader's time in turning the pages.
It neither shocks nor entertains but just grinds tediously on until it ends.
It neither shocks nor entertains but just grinds tediously on until it ends.
May 20, 2023
I can understand the appeal of this book for fans of gory, obscene, nihilistic comics. Absent any Comics Code Authority these days, though, this doesn't really feel subversive to me so much as just another grim flavour of entertainment. Then again I'm probably the wrong audience for this type of book, so...
July 26, 2018
i’ve seen this book series a lot at my local comic shop and wanted to read it because the covers looked dope. i finally found it at the library, and had a very underwhelming experience and i .. just didn’t get it.
December 31, 2019
Nasty, stupid, but not lazy. (Several single actions, like Cannibal Fuckface's fall, are rendered over 6 entire pages, dragging out some detail and almost pathos from what is otherwise boring edgelord fodder.)
January 30, 2021
SO this is the weirdoes thing I've seen this. year, it is graphic and violent and just downright well insane really.
Does it have any meaning?
I'm sure it does to someone.
Perhaps they would call it subversive or comedic?
I don't know I call it just weird and really not in a good way either.
Does it have any meaning?
I'm sure it does to someone.
Perhaps they would call it subversive or comedic?
I don't know I call it just weird and really not in a good way either.
February 25, 2021
Teljesen céltalan, totálisan undorító, nem tart sehova és mégis nagyon élveztem ezt a szutykot! Mindez könnyedén lecsúszik 20 perc alatt. A végén meg a Boogie Nights jelegű reveal egyszerre volt hányingerkeltő és mulatságos. Kellene még mellé valami noise-punk zene és maga lenne a tökély.
November 22, 2018
Johnny Ryan is an acquired taste.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews