The Virgin Reader: We All Laugh At 4th Grade Shlongs

Herogasm # 2
Written by Garth Ennis
Art by John McCrea, Keith Burns & Tony Avina
Published by Dynamite Entertainment

I think this is going to be kind of short. Because there's really only one thing to say about this comic, which is "oh my God!" And there's only one word to describe it: Irreverent.

Okay, I'll say a little bit more. This is a hilarious comic. I mean, it's the same idea that's behind The Boys - the idea that superheroes aren't necessarily always on the up and up. And that though they are super people, they aren't very good people. I suppose you could attempt to say that Herogasm and The Boys is merely a reflection on larger themes such as corruption in government and/or the police force or even something as simple as the idea that every single person on Earth has flaws. It might be suggested that that's really what Garth Ennis and John McCrea and friends had in mind: to open a discussion on such themes. While doodling vaginas and penises.

Honestly though? I feel like they were sitting around getting drunk one night and were like, "Dude! How hilarious would it be to sell a comic showing, like, Batman and Superman runnin' a train on Wonder Woman! And her totally diggin' it! And then all of them doin' blow together!!! People would FLIP out!" Can't you picture it? I even bet that the original sketches had the more "mainstream" heroes drawn in the worst possible way. And at the behest of some best friend who was like, "You CAN'T do that! People will not only not buy it, but they will trash you all over the message boards," they changed it up to be their made up superhero characters.

Which leads me to these pictures. I mean, at first I'm all prudish and so happy that I decided to read this in the privacy of my own home and not on the subway. But I'm barely looking at the pictures. Then, all my bashful behavior goes out the window as I begin to not only look at the pictures, but scour them for all the hilarity therein. I mean, each panel has as much sex, inappropriate behavior and grossness as can possibly be squeezed in. It's HILARIOUS! It's the Where's Waldo of getting it on. It's Richard Scarry's Busytown Penthouse Letters.

Do I care about the plot? No, not really? Do I want to know what happens next? Not really. All I want is to see pictures of more obscene stuff, because it's funny. It's like they took these heroes who we usually see in all of there out-of-proportion glory in spandex and said, "You like your heroes to look like that? Do you? Well, here's what that looks like naked. Naked and fucking." There's flaccid penises that are bigger than the their owner's head. That's pretty great.

As a series, I don't know how it works. It's a great joke. And it worked out well for an issue. But I'm not planning to check it out again--I can't really see how a gag like this can keep it up.

Heh. Keep it up?

-Nina Stone, 2009