A Comedic Comic Roast Worthy of The Goon

If you believe the old cliché, “All’s well that ends well,” then “The Goon: Noir,” a collection of short stories written by some of the coolest and most crazed minds in comedy and comics including Patton Oswalt and Hilary Barta, doesn’t disappoint.

That’s because the final story, drawn by Goon creator Eric Powell and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” writer Thomas Sniegoski, is a sly tale that keeps you laughing throughout and is the perfect closer to a more than solid collection of short stories inspired by the character. However, if you read the entire trade, you’ll get more than your monies worth and come away feeling even better about the future of the big lug.

Over the past decade, the Goon series has been carefully under the watchful eye of Powell, the series’ creator, artist and writer. And why wouldn’t it be? One of the hottest creator-owned titles in the business, the series has helped carve Powell’s path to success and make him one of the most unique talents in the industry today.

Naturally however, because of this, you’d find it odd to see a book full of short stories, written and drawn by other scribes and artists. With such a distinct flavor artistically, it’s no easy task to draw readers in the same way Powell does, but in the end, that’s exactly what happens here. Each writer and artist finds a way to induce a smile, smirk or snicker from the reader, producing a worthy addition to ever-growing trade paper back collection the series has amassed over the past few years.

While all of the drawings in this book are in black and white and lack the same color as the Dave Stewart-infused color of the other trade paperbacks in the series, they all have more than enough polish to be worthy of the Goon name. As a matter of fact, after seeing over a half dozen different artists play with the character, you understand what the character means to them and that he’s so much more than a bully with a scarred-up face.

The same thing goes for the writing, which not only plays homage to Powell, but takes his antics a step further at times. For instance, the first story in the book, by John Arcudi, essentially puts Goon in the middle of his own roast and in typical Goon fashion, makes him a character that isn’t scared to spoil a good time, even if it’s in his own honor. Despite only being a few pages long, the story, like all the others featured, is hilarious and on its own merits is a worthy companion to the series.

There aren’t many series out there like the Goon and because of that, this is a concept that could have fallen flatter than Peaches Valentine at a spelling bee. However, thanks to a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and plenty of love for this surging character and his friends, “The Goon: Noir” is more than just another book in the series- it’s a must own.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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