AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHNNY RYAN

When we're not drunk here at Easy Midget we encourage intellectual discussion about politics, philosophy, and our ever-changing world. This is why we sought out cartoonist Johnny Ryan of Angry Youth Comix fame. We sat down at separate computers and conversed all things comics and asked Johnny lots of polite questions that may help you overcome your fear of rabbits.

(Editor's note, you can figure out what EM and JR stand for, can't you?)

EM: Johnny, you know yourself better than anyone. Do you find yourself to be more of a Johnny-come-lately or a Johnny-on-the-spot?

JR: Johnny-come-lately. I didn't begin to seriously pursue a comic career until about a year or so after I had graduated college.

EM: How do you find the creative energy and dedication to continually crank out your comics? Is it a personal feeling of accomplishment— the idea that somewhere you're making someone laugh or mutter in anger, or something else altogether?

JR: It's probably a combination of things. I've always been a pretty well disciplined person (a nerd). I was always able to do my homework without being told, etc. I guess I've just carried that work ethic into my adult years. I've also felt like such a loser my whole life I probably feel that I have something to prove. And I also just have a drive to be successful at something I truly enjoy.

EM: What were the chain of events that led up to Angry Youth Comix, which you self-published, to be picked up by Fantagraphics?

JR: About 1999, I think, I finally picked up my first copy of HATE (There's a good example of my Johnny-come-lateliness!) It was the great one where Buddy goes on the date with some horrible Asian chick and finally runs through a swamp in order to get away from her. I noticed in the back Peter would plug/review comics and zines and such, and I thought "I'll send him some of my comics and maybe he'll give me a mention in the back of HATE, too!" I had no idea he had officially ended HATE several months before, so there was no chance of a plug. However, A few days after I sent my comics to him, he wrote to me to tell me how much he liked them— so much so that he was going to put in a good word for me at Fantagraphics. He showed my stuff to Eric Reynolds at Fantagraphics who also seemed to enjoy my books. I don't think Gary Groth was really into the idea of publishing me at first. It took a combined effort of Peter Bagge, Eric Reynolds, Gilbert Hernandez, and Dan Clowes to persuade him.

EM: How do you maintain the delicate balance between remaining cool and buying and enjoying comic books? Because let's face it, there are a lot of fucking tools who read comic books.

JR: And I'm one of them! I don't think of myself as "cool" and if you met me I don't think you would either.

EM: I think it's best we never meet then...

You obviously must realize that your renegade attitude towards humor automatically makes you cool which is why Easy Midget contacted you for an interview. Don't you think it's high time you started drawing in a leather jacket and drop that humble perception of yourself?

JR: I mean, I'm totally COOL! I wake up in the morning, fuck a bunch of stuff, then I do 900 push-ups, then I put on a brand new Hulkamania do-rag on my head, then I drink a mixture of white-lightning and weight-gainer, then, as I run toward my drawing table at top speed, I tear my t-shirt off, and after each panel I draw I celebrate by playing a lick of Sweet Leaf on my awesome guitar which then causes my neighbor's balls to explode!

EM: Now we're talking. I think I'd buy into that persona.

So, now that you're published by Fantagraphics, do you miss any of the aspects of self-publishing your books?

JR: No. Fantagraphics lets me do whatever I want with my comic, so I still have complete creative freedom. They print my comic and distribute it and promote it. All I have to do is focus on drawing my comic. What's there to miss?

	Pictured above: Sinus O'Gynus and Loady McGee, the featured acts of Angry Youth Comix.

EM: Are you a purist? In other words, if I offered you $1000 to do a whole issue of AYC that featured LL Cool J rapping about Dr. Pepper, would you do it? I know I would read a comic book like that.

JR: That's a lot of work, so I would do it for $5000.

EM: Hmm, on second thought, I don't think any artist could accurately capture LL's constant lip-licking in between his rhymes and do him justice. We'll table that for now.

Do Loady McGee and Sinus O'Gynus represent two literal figures in your life or are they more representative of mankind's atavistic protagonist vs. antagonist core mythology in the vein of Joseph Campbell?

JR: A little bit of both. Their physical appearances are based on people I knew in high school. I tried to dress Loady like Butch from the Little Rascals, but their personalities do represent the two extremes of my own personality.

EM: It's apparent in your comics that Loady McGee and Sinus O'Gynus don't seem to uphold very much Irish pride, why is that?

JR: I dunno, I'm Irish and I have no Irish pride. What's there to be proud of? Irish people should be ashamed!

EM: Do you have any vices that would make us think you're even cooler— for instance, do you drink Canadian Club right out of the bottle or peruse the internet for barn porn?

JR: I like to eat Teddy Grahams in my Garfield slippers while I'm watching Trading Spaces. That's pretty cool, right?

EM: Unmistakably cool!

Looking through your retrospective archive, it's kind of neat to see your artistic skills mature. It looks like by 1996 your style started taking hold. What do you attribute that to?

JR: Work! If you are constantly drawing your style is bound to improve, no matter how shitty you are.

EM: Looking back on your career up to this point, would you have done anything differently and why?

(click on this image to view the entire page)

JR: I guess this also goes back to your Johnny-come-lately question. I wish I had started drawing a lot sooner than I had. As a kid I wanted to be a cartoonist, but as I grew up I became distracted by other things and influenced by other people's shitty opinions. It wasn't until my 20's that I really started to take it seriously. I envy those artists that have been drawing since they were children and never lost sight of what they wanted to do.

EM: You have mentioned that the underground comics scene has become incredibly serious. Isn't cartooning supposed to be all about having fun?

JR: Not necessarily. There are "serious" comics that I enjoy. What I see as the problem is that comics are way too conservative these days. Artists are trying way too hard to be nice and get people to like them. They want to show how sensitive and fragile they are. That to me is far more repellent than if they actually exposed what kind of weird, disgusting mommy-rape shit they're hiding in the back of their sensitive, fragile minds.

EM: Don't you think that that's more of a direct result of people just doing what they have to in order to make a buck in comics? Most cartoonists will tell you that in order to succeed you have to scale back what you find funny and cater toward a broader, more PG audience.

JR: I think that there's some truth to that, although I don't think it's to make a buck, as there are no bucks to be made in comics. If people want to make a buck they should be doing something else. I do think people do it just to be accepted and liked by their wimpy alt-comics peers, and then they'll win some bullshit award. It's pandering.

EM: Do you think comics, especially the underground comics scene thrives on the idea that mainstream comics are so conservative and repressed and that's what makes them so interesting? I mean, deep down wouldn't you be kind of pissed if mainstream America totally accepted your comics even though it would be thrilling to be so influential?

JR: It would be kind of depressing if I was TOTALLY accepted, but I really don't imagine that happening. My comic is not for everyone. I have a very abrasive sense of humor. I'm always striving to think of weirder, crazier and more obnoxious stuff to put in my comic. I seem to be actively trying to make people puke. I kind of thought that was the point of "underground" comics. But now even alternative comics are getting to be more conservative then the mainstream books. They want to be respected and accepted and win Nobel prizes. It's like we're living on some crazy upside-down world!

EM: What do you think of the state of such humor mags such as Mad?

JR: I haven't picked up a MAD in forever so I'm not sure. Is CRACKED still being published? God, I miss those glory days of the '70s and '80s when there were like 9 humor magazines on the newsstands. I was an avid comic reader as a kid. I used to read all the cartoons in the paper, except for Doonesbury. I also used to buy MAD magazine and CRAZY magazine, as well as any comic that MARVEL put out no matter how horrible. In high school I discovered Art Speigelman's RAW. It wasn't until college that I really started to discover Crumb. When I finally got my hands on a copy of one of his sketchbooks ('67-'70 I believe) I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life.

EM: If you had to wipe your ass with one comic book, which one would it be?

JR: That issue of POWER PACK where Spiderman reveals that he was molested as a child.

EM: What was the greatest moment of your life?

JR: When I was 5 years old I got to play air trombone on stage with Judas Priest.

EM: In addition to publishing Angry Youth Comix, you draw a weekly strip that appears in a few alt papers called Blecky Yuckerella. Do you find it confining to work within a more self-conscious, censored format when in your comic book you can say whatever you want?

JR: I also draw one panel gags for NICKELODEON MAGAZINE, which is even more confining and censored. I don't mind being censored or edited for those types of jobs. If you show people you can draw and write more than just dick jokes you will get a lot more work. The Blecky strips are tough because I have only 4 panels to get my idea across. I think every cartoonist should try to do a weekly (or daily) strip. It's very good exercise as it forces you to come up with ideas on a regular basis. As far as censoring Blecky, the papers it runs in are pretty liberal so I can still get away with quite a bit.

EM: Are there any other projects you're working on that we should keep our eyes open for in the near future?

JR: AYC #6 will hopefully be out by Dec. The there will be a collection of the first 6 issues of AYC sometime early 2005. And a Blecky collection by the end of 2004.

EM: Apart from what you're doing now, is there some loftier goal which you've set for yourself in regard to your comics? In other words, will you not feel accomplishment until you see your comic book converted into an After School Special?

JR: My only goal is to make a living as an artist.

EM: Finally, who's underground comix' funniest poster boy? Johnny Ryan or Sam Henderson?

JR: Tony Millionaire.

-FIN-

FOR MORE INFORMATION...

Visit Johnny Ryan's website at www.johnnyr.com
and be sure to check out his great comic book series, Angry Youth Comix, at a comic shop near you or online at Fantagraphics' website!

 

All artwork (c) Johnny Ryan, Angry Youth Comix and may not be used without permission