I review a lot of super hero comics on this blog. I love those. But there are so many more comics out there and many of them are worth reading. So, I decided I will be giving some recommendations here on comics worth reading that are not super hero comics. The first is my comic book recommendation – The Goon. It’s created by Eric Powell and has recently celebrated its 25th anniversary. Yet, I hardly see it talked about.

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What is The Goon about?

The titular Goon is a big tough mob enforcer type who’s just a regular guy. He hangs out with his buddy Franky and knows everyone in town. But there’s a rival gang of zombies who all hate the Goon and want to see him dead.

The stories are full of humor, violence, gore and oddball things like giant squids and fishmen who are also gangsters. There are plenty of gross out moments in the books so if you don’t find that funny or you are too squeamish for some splattery yet cartoonish gore, this won’t be for you.

There are also moments where the series gets some surprisingly touching moments as well. It gets pretty weird too. There are talking chainsaws, people rising from the dead, jokes about inflatable chickens, and just about everything you could imagine in here.

And while the concept is fun and odd and my type of read, what I think really makes it stand out is the utterly incredible artwork. Eric Powell more or less takes his time with this one and for that reason it tends to look amazing. I’ll give you a couple images below so you can see what I am talking about.

See how evocative and moody the above image is? It fully immerses us in the time period of the 1930s and brings up feelings of dread and impending doom. Now contrast that with the wild image below. It’s full of bright colors, over the top action, and quippy humor. Powell is able to straddle styles and fit moods in appropriate places while maintaining high quality artwork. It’s truly amazing to behold.

Hopefully that sells you on reading this but there’s a 25 year backlog of this comic so you might be thinking…

How do I get started?

The nice thing about this series is it’s not too overwhelming. At present there are around 54 issues of the first series of The Goon. The second series has at least 12 issues. But there are some spinoffs and one shots and things like that as well. And there are multiple ways to get started with it. The stories are generally self contained so you can pick up any trade paperback and be at a pretty good starting point. But there is a larger story so it can be fun to start from the beginning.

Here’s a whole guide put together by  Trevor Van As with some insightful comments on content warning as well. There are some single issues missing from this as Eric Powell is still making new comics for the series.

While I think the so called, Fancy Pants editions are pretty neat, they have to be purchased on eBay so the price tends to run a bit high.

You could also start with the first trade paperback called The Goon Volume 1: Nothin’ But Misery which collects issues 1-4 plus a short story. This will run you $22 for a physical copy.

But that’s not the best deal because the first omnibus called The Goon: Bunch of Old Crap an Omnibus Volume 1 is just a few bucks more at $35. And it collects four of the trade paperbacks The Goon: Rough Stuff, The Goon: Nothing But Misery, The Goon: My Murderous Childhood, and The Goon: Heaps of Ruination. It’s even cheaper if you get it on Kindle for $10.99.

If ya wanna be a pal, consider using one of the links in this blog when you get it!

In Conclusion

I’ll be recommending more comics here, both superhero and non-superhero so if this one doesn’t float your boat, I’ll probably find one you will like later. But if you like funny comics, horror comics, great art, a bit of crude humor and some mob style enforcers in your stories, plus a healthy dose of weirdness, well, The Goon more than has you covered. And did I mention it has won five Eisner awards? In other words, this is a well regarded comic even among other comic creators.

Give it a read and let me know what you think!

P.S. want to see some of my superhero comic reviews? Take a look at my series on the Marvel 616 comics here!