Barely Human

by Johnny Ryan

The cartoons that keep getting Johnny Ryan banned from Instagram, collected for the first time as one big ol’ exquisitely gross picture book! Johnny Ryan’s compulsion to flout any and all accepted standards of decency in his humor and cartoons have not only garnered him a tremendous following ―  Instagram has banned him multiple times with hundreds of posts scrubbed from those accounts. (He can be found, currently, at @johnnyryanjohnnyryan1).  Guess what? We’ve got ’em! Over 500 of the grossest, crudest, most surrealistic, scatological, and of course hilarious cartoons you’ll ever see, presented with loving care in this gorgeous, oversized collection with fine art paper. They may not meet with your approval, but you will laugh. Crafted throughout the pandemic and posted daily, these cartoons helped keep both the author and hundreds of thousands of others sane during the past two years. From conventional gag cartoons to pieces decidedly unconventional and almost Dadaist in their humor, these are some of the most visually imaginative ― and comedically brilliant ― single-panel cartoons ever conceived, whether in the service of boner jokes or sheer visual absurdism. Full-color illustrations throughout

Genres: Comics, Art, Humor, Dark Humor

520 pages, Paperback

First published July 19, 2022

About the author

John 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.

Reviews

[Hal Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

One thing I will say about this book: It achieves exactly what it sets out to achieve.

[Soteralzobooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.4