Boy's Club

Boy's Club

by Matt Furie

This collection of slacker psychedelic comics spawned a thousand Internet memes. Cartoonist Matt Furie’s deadpan comics showcase slacker roommates Andy, Brett, Landwolf, and Pepe in a series of comical vignettes combining laconic psychedelia, childlike enchantment, drug-fueled hedonism, and impish mischief. The perpetually insouciant glaze of his characters belie the sharp verbal and visual wit of Furie, who delivers a stoner classic for the Tumblr generation. In fact, Furie’s wildly popular teenage weirdoes became an overnight internet sensation when Pepe the Frog was widely adopted by users of 4chan and remixed ad infinitum from there (including uses by pop stars like Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry), giving Boy’s Club built-in recognition with many. A spiritual cousin to Simon Hanselmann’s Megahex and Joán Cornella’s Mox Nox , Boy’s Club’s sense of humor will especially resonate with fans of stoner comedies and black humor. Monochrome illustrations throughout

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Comedy, Comix

180 pages, Paperback

First published May 21, 2016

About the author

Matt Furie is from Columbus, Ohio. He is the subject of the documentary Feels Good Man, which is about how his gentle character, Pepe the Frog, was co-opted. Winner of the best Visual Artist in the San Francisco Bay Guardian’s 20th annual Goldie awards, he’s exhibited in the U.S. and Europe. Furie is also an accomplished illustrator; in addition to his comic book series Boy’s Club, he’s published a children’s book, The Night Riders. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote]

I think most people are familiar with Pepe the Frog at this point. He figured heavily in the 2016 Election as a meme and his grinning mug has become a symbol of the amorphously-defined “alt-right”. Matt Furie’s stoner comic Boy’s Club is where he originated and I picked it up out of curiosity for what the comics this character featured in were like. That was definitely one of the worst decisions I’ve made in some time - Boy’s Club is 10000% utter dogshit.

These are the kinds of stories Pepe and his three friends get up to: getting high, watching TV, playing video games, saying TV catchphrases, and puking. There are three “stories” where they fart on each other and the longest story here (all the others are one-pagers) is about one of them taking a huge dump, freezing it and taking a picture of it. How’re your sides - they split yet?

How wasted, how bereft of any semblance of intelligence would you have to be to find this stuff remotely amusing? I can’t stress enough the inanity of reading these worthless comics. I don’t know how this even got published in the first place - these are fucking horrible!

I know Furie’s pissed that his creation has become a right-wing symbol and he futilely tried putting an end to it by killing off Pepe on Free Comic Book Day earlier this year, but, dude, come on - do you really think you control the character anymore? Pepe belongs to the internet now. And frankly Furie should be thankful that 4chan ran with his shitty character and made him famous otherwise NO-ONE would ever have read his rubbish book! If he had any business acumen he’d slap Pepe on a bunch of t-shirts and make a mint out of this momentary interest.

Boy’s Club is one of the worst comics I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. Don’t do what I did and let curiosity make you buy a copy, even if it’s heavily discounted - hell, even if it’s fucking free. It’s beyond absolute garbage.

[Dave Schaafsma]

Stoner comix, Megahex territory, four twenty-something bros-as-creatures living together with a lot of bodily fluids jokes. Sophomoric humor. It took me all of maybe ten minutes to power through it, so it's not something you sit down and analyze much. The funniest stuff for me is the language, the lame contemporary talk: "That's so Andy!" "I think not!" "My bad, fellas," "Chillin' like a champion," "Lookin' good," "What's up, bitches?" (said to themselves, not women, because no self-respecting woman would choose to hang around these dudes! These guys would require a couple years to clean up before some miracle like that happens), and so on. But right, it's not THAT funny, to me, anyway. It's the way a bunch of dopes living together might talk and act! Low brow. Drugs, beer, junk food, video games, just hangin': it's dude humor, bro, but grosser and thus less funny for me than Megahex. I can only like it at all if I keep it in mind as extreme satire.

[Fr. Andrew]

I understand how someone might not understand the humor of this, or how you might not find it funny, or how you might even, heaven forbid, be offended by it. But to write a review in which you insult those of us who do like it, who do find it funny? Well, you have to be missing a few intellectual links yourself to be that daft. Surely it's obvious to any thinking, living, observant person that humor is a subtle thing, reliant upon the peculiar sensibilities and experiences of an individual person. I wish there was a way on GoodReads to flag reviewers so that if I come across them in the future, I can be reminded that they are reviewers of THAT stripe, the tone deaf stripe, who make the bizarre assumption that other readers are merely mirror images of themselves.

I found this funny. I'm not asking permission, explaining my intelligence level, or apologizing for saying so.

[Ill D]

Juvenile potty/drug-induced humor ubiquitously characterizes every page of Matt Furie's Boy's Club. Whether it's a dog (Andy), a bunny (Brett), a frog (Pepe), or Landwolf (a humanoid version of snuffaluffagus), or any combination of such, puerile acts that are just as puerile as the art that depicts them floods each panel. And since there's no cohesion (it feels like it came out of a fictional Hipster printed magazine/newspaper) it's just a ton of (at times not so) funny skits.

Yet, what makes Boy's Club interesting is the ((in)famously) unintentional post-modern use of Pepe. For a (decidedly?) apolitical comic, it's beyond amusing that such an otherwise innocuous character would eventually be re-purposed as an Alt-Right (-Wing) hate figure by those merry pranksters over at 4chan (/pol/ specifically). I would have never imagined such a powerful post-modern application to a stupid amphibian. Much to the author's chagrin, such simple black-and-white illustrations were seemingly begging for some Photoshop work (Oh, exploitable!)

On it's own, Boy's Club is just a collection of pot-influenced kiddie-humour that would make a high-school freshman giggle. As pathetic as the art that fills each panel, Boy's Club should have amounted to nothing more than a hipster-forged fad that should have been forgotten as quickly as it had been created. However, in our Post-modern era, the original content (as Pepe shows) itself is far less powerful than the inevitable reduplications that have succeeded it.

As a comic - Boy's Club is pretty dumb. Yet, as an experiment in Post-Modernism (which would include every use of Pepe outside of the original source material) it's highly successful. So is it worth a read? Not really. Nothing is horribly funny or original. On it's own its nothing more than easy replicable hipster trite (ranging from filth to illustrated diarrhea). Yet within its modern (political) reconfiguration, Matt Furie's Pepe (all the more so than Boy's Club) will be remembered for ages.

Two smelly thumbs down!

[Molly]

Well, it's finally happened. I'm too old to understand something's appeal. If this is what the kids are into these days, I'm perfectly happy hanging out here in adulthood, yelling at those same kids to get off my lawn.

[Shazia]

yeah this is a no from me.

[Piyush Mourya]

Started watching 'feels good man', a documentary based on pepe the frog. Got to know about the original comic. Had to check it out. Great illustrations and even funnier stoner humor. The characters are really cool.

[Kirk]

I wanted to check this out before watching the documentary about Pepe.

I don’t get it.

I like crude humor. I grew up with guys like this. But it just doesn’t resonate with me.

I kept reading to see if it would get better.

There were a few good jokes peppered throughout.

[La Central]

"«Me gusta el pop, la pizza y hablar por teléfono» esta es una de las frases con las que empieza Coleguis la unión sacrosanta de los cuatro fanzines de Matt Furie, titulados Boy’s Club, en un volumen con animales antropomorfos que podrían fumarse hasta tu sofá.

Andy, Brett, Landwolf y Pepe son cuatro compañeros de piso adorables que personifican todo lo teen y estúpido que se presupone de los veinteañeros. En un pulcro monocromo los Apa-Apa se han atrevido con una traducción increíble que ha acogido con fidelidad diálogos alocados y ha permitido que encontremos impresos conceptos como «vasssilar», «extrema parranda» o «palabras loquetis».

De estos cuatro animalitos del infierno, muy cercanos al universo Simon Hanselmann, la rana Pepe se hizo mundialmente conocida en internet al verse incluida en millones de memes. Después de dar muchas vueltas en la
red, la alt-right americana se apropió de Pepe torciendo su sentido y convirtiendo un rana verde en un símbolo de supremacía blanca. Este deplorable episodio poco tiene que ver con su genuino creador Matt Furie que mediante el optimismo toxicómano de Coleguis nos regala momentos desternillantes y, a la vez, nos plantea cuestiones tan
trascendentes como «¿queda pizza?»" Anna Aguiló

[Isa]

Artistically this is great but Jesus Christ man. This is why men are the worst

[ronny]

who doesn't love a good poop joke????

[Anu]

I wanted to read this ever since I watched Feels Good Man! The documentary was so interesting, and it was so sad explaining how Pepe became a symbol of hatred. I wanted to read about Pepe's origins in this book because the author seemed so wholesome and Pepe didn't deserve to become such a symbol. This comic book was alright, but too crude. I think if I was younger I'd appreciate the humour more.

[Gabriella]

Very much teen skater boy stoner humor, and for the most part I found it to be dull as hell. Entirely too many literal shit jokes, which I just found to be lackluster and boring. That said, Pepe the frog dancing on a bed singing "I'm Every Woman" made me chuckle. Some of the transformation art was cool, and for whatever reason I got a kick out of a flower in a Rainforest Cafe mug wearing sunglasses and smoking a joint, and subsequently getting attacked by a cat. Also, LandWolf swinging his dick in front of a strobe light, seemingly solely for the amusement of his high friends. And Landwolf throwing a bucket over his friend's head (while he listened to Metallic on his headphones) and hitting it with a dick. One of the characters had a 311 tattoo, which in and of itself was a punchline for me. And the "This isn't my pipe" Magritte's The Treachery of Images. And the longer I wrote this review, and the more that I laughed at, the more I thought I might be an idiot and had to question my own sense of humor. lol

[Jason]

A bit too abstract for my taste. I don't mind bizarre or gross, but I do like a story of some sort. The closest it came to a cohesive narrative was [SPOILERS] when Landwolf took a huge dump and they put it in the freezer because the camera didn't work. I also don't have a lot of experience with or interest in drug culture and there's a lot of it here. The face morphs were interesting from an artistic standpoint, but served to make it all even more disconnected. I chuckled a few times, and appreciated it for what it was, but I don't feel a need to read any more about these characters.

[Mim]

This book is funny. Sure the jokes are pretty immature but… that’s the point. It’s about four dudes hanging out and getting high. And honestly, Furie captures “in the couch” with striking accuracy. It seems like everyone who is hating on this book are doing so in bad faith. Nothing about this book is edgy or out of line. It’s fart and shit jokes lol. I guess I’m not sure what people were expecting from a comic that got popularized on 4-Chan of all places. Idk. Get over ur self. This book is funny.

[Jake]

Dope art, zero plot

[Sooraya Evans]

Crap.

[Jodie]

In the modern tradition of Megg and Mogg but overall less entertaining due to blank characters and repeated jokes.

[Stephanie]

That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever read and I’m not sure I could rate it because it’s supposed to be dumb humor.

[Rhockman]

Un delirio tonto que se lee sin esfuerzo alguno y que se siente como un estado de sopor similar al que se encuentran los personajes durante todo el comic.

[Peacegal]

1.5 stars -- One of the characters in this comic , Pepe the Frog, has become fairly infamous when it was re-purposed as a meme by Internet users who espouse racial prejudice. The creator was understandably horrified by all of this and pleaded with people to stop using his character in this way. This mess made me feel sympathy for the artist. That said, it still doesn't make this a good comic.

I will say that unlike MEGAHEX, which shares similar themes, BOY'S CLUB didn't contain any freaky sexual assaults. Rather, CLUB just made me feel stupid. The major themes were endless parades of bodily functions that may amuse a toddler, but is unlikely to hold anyone else's attention for long. There were some interesting panels in which the characters transform into more detailed and intricate creatures, but this doesn't make for a story. Frankly I don't think this should have been turned into a book at all; it would have been much better suited as a surreal, gross-out web comic best taken in small doses.

[Aaron]

While most of the reviews here (as usual) are wildly wrong in their expectations for reading an alternative comic, I don't disagree with the lackluster response to this collection. I've looked forward to reading this for some time, but I found it too sophomoric and and 'bro' for me. Reading this brought to mind some weird mix of my friends who were really into Workaholics in high school and my other friends that watched and quoted The Regular Show all the time. Not an appealing mix for me even though I'm of the same demographic as these characters. I've spent enough time slumped into couches with my friends to understand everything here, but it's too hit and miss. This could be an extremely funny zine if it was shortened down to just the highlights.

I'm sure this comparison has been made somewhere else, but Landwolf is like an annoying version of Werewolf Jones.

[Kate]

Meet the original Pepe, a sweet, peace-loving frog created by cartoonist Matt Furie in his comic Boy's Club. Pepe loves “pop, pizza and talking on his cell.” He has no bones to pick with anyone. Granted, the boys in this club delight in potty humor, and the comics are veritably soaked with bodily fluids, but the four amigos also display genuine affection for one another and espouse the belief that “a hug is the shortest distance between friends.” Tragically, Pepe the Frog was appropriated without permission by the alt-right and transformed into a symbol of hatred, but it doesn’t have to stay that way. To set the record straight and #SavePepe, check out Boy’s Club by Matt Furie to reclaim the phrase “Feels good man” for micturition, not malice.

[Jeff]

Given that a trade edition of this was released this year, and the rise of the political problems of the Pepe the Frog meme, I figured it was worth going to the source. The source, however, is a kind of dumb, irreverent stoner flick of a comic, with as many fun little pieces as there are kind of stupid or out there ones. From a cultural perspective, I kind of get why Pepe took off before the election now, but I also don't know if the comic itself will have any lasting stuff.

If you're curious about the whole root of the thing, you don't really need to read this. Only truly worth your time if you're interested in more undergroundish esoteric comics.

[Reeves]

I couldn’t help thinking about the blurb Daniel Clowes wrote for Megahex while reading Boy’s Club: "[Hanselmann] captures that stoner stay-at-home life so accurately that I actually find his comics really depressing and thank God I don't ever have to hang out with anybody like that ever again."



This quote could easily apply to Matt Furie and Boy’s Club, too. Well worth reading if you are into the style, or if you are interested in seeing Furie’s lighthearted character Pepe before he was commandeered/stolen/appropriated by the internet’s evil forces.

[J.T.]

This is a good book to keep by the toilet for some easy laughs. The college-age co-habitating anthropomorphic creatures do almost nothing aside from eating, playing video games, farting and coming up with catch-phrases. Make no mistake, there is absolutely no depth to this book, but it did make me laugh a lot.

[Conor]

Very funny. Lots of reviews here don't seem to understand that there's an obvious self-awareness to this book. It is equally making fun of and judging stoner culture and the arrested development that many American men experience in their 20s as it is celebrating it. Thought this was a fantastic quick little read.

[Bob Anderson]

If you want to see Pepe the frog without thinking of SS troopers and Donald Trump this is pretty much what you should read. It is absolutely filthy in a dumbass college humor kind of way, has no point, and is completely hilarious.

[Ed]

I thought it would be interesting to read the source material that created Pepe before he was taken first by meme culture and then by Trump Nazis. Boy's Club has fun art, a few real laughs and a generally pleasant stoner vibe.

[Joseph]

These comics will never stop being funny to me. That whole bit where landwolf whips his dong around in front of a strobe light cause his pals are stoned on the couch is a total A+ moment. Super recommended if you like stoner humor and good t-shirts.