n e r d l i v e s

View from the Gutter: Barry Ween
by Tobiah Panshin
November 5, 2007

In the realms of Superheroes, the name Judd Winick is one to conjour with. Since his debut on Green Lantern in 2001, Winick has had stellar runs on numerous titles, include Batman, Exiles, Outsiders, and Green Arrow. Although he's taken some flack on the interwub in recent years, he still remains a fan favorite writer.

But there's more to Winick than just dashing good looks. Before his foray into the world of 'guys whose gender issues are so great it compels them to end their name in -man', he created a work of such greatness, that to even name it is to be forever changed. Readers, I must now caution you. It is advised that you carefully remove your socks now, lest they be blow off by The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius.

Barry Ween is a story of its eponymous protagonist Barry, his best friend Jeremy, and Science! The comic begins simply with an introduction to Barry. Barry is the smartest 10 year-old on Earth. Shit, smartest human period. He spends most of his time inventing, and the rest of his time dealing with Consequences. Not deep, meaningful consequences mind you. More like the occasional dimensional breach, sasquatch abduction, or alien mafia hitmen. You know, whatever comes up.

Of course, 'Whatever comes up' tends to come up in direct relation to the actions of Barry's best friend, and the only other person who knows how smart Barry really is: Jeremy Ramirez. Jeremy is not smart. His primary motivations in life revolve around oreos, boobies, and monkeys, not necessarily in that order. Jeremy is also Barry's comic foil, moral center, and all purpose plot device.

To put is simply, Barry Ween is Dexter's Laboratory dialed up to 11, without all the dicking around pretending it's a show for children. From time to time, people (aliens, ape gods from other dimensions, whatever) try to screw Barry over. Those people get put into the ground. Barry Ween does not fuck around. Action is the sweet bitch lover of Science.

As cool as the action is, the true power of Barry Ween is the dialog. The stories are fast paced, and hilarious one-liners fly fast and furious. Off-handed references to day-to-day activities paint a portrait of the pure surreality of Barry's existence. His life is a constant struggle for balance between the universe that he obverses around him, the ignorant, self-absorbed people he shares the planet with, and understanding his own humanity.

Winick's art is very clean and sharp, with a slightly cartoony style. The style works very well for this series, as it creates an atmosphere that supports the action sequences while blunting the greatest impact of the violence. This emphasizes the essentially comedic and action focus of the series. And let's face it, watching a stubby 10 year-old doing kung-fu flips while dual-wielding lightsabers and beating the holy bejeesus out of everything is just neat.

Running 12 issues, from 1999 to 2002, Barry Ween kicks so much ass, that entire new avenues of ass procurement and processing needed to be developed to satiate its thirst for anal annihilation. It's now available as 4 trade paper backs.