Johnny Raygun Classics

    (Jetpack, 2004)
™ and © Jetpack Press

Part super-hero parody, part Silver Age homage, Johnny Raygun is silly, old-school goodness that makes fun of (but never mocks) its super-hero conventions.

Johnny Raygun is a member of an interplanetary police force like the Green Lanterns, but with rayguns instead of rings. He’s a bumbling hero who manages to wreck things in the process of saving victims, but his boss, Dirk Squarejaw, can’t deny the results.

Johnny has allies in the fight against crime, all amusing: H2Olaf is a Russian waterbreather who’s the straight man to Johnny’s comic relief, and Doctor Oog is a former caveman, evolved into the world’s smartest man.

From panel layouts to choice of font to outrageous editorial asides, Johnny Raygun screams Silver Age in the same way the Freedom Force videogame does. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s lighthearted fun that’s funny, not campy, and even when it verges into topical humor (as when it takes shots at the Wachowski brothers and the Matrix films), it doesn’t lose its charm. Terrific.

— Steve Horton
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#1

July, 2004
Cover Price: $2.95
2 copies available from $0.99
Rich WoodallMatt Talbot
Free Comic Book Day #2004

July, 2004
Cover Price: $0.00
5 copies available from $1.00
Rich Woodall, Matt TalbotMatt Talbot, Frankie B. Washington