Johnny keeps expanding this world of the “negative zone” in exciting ways.

It all tonally registers and makes plenty of sense, making this established character of what the book is gonna be. It’ll have these excessive, uncontrollably violent blows from panel to panel, then there’ll suddenly be a gag pulled of with a lot of finesse. I’ve really enjoyed reading and re-reading Prison Pit. Johnny is reminding us with Prison Pit about this other exciting part of comics, not letting it be forgotten while this other side of it is being realized. Because of this, there’s this side of comics that’s forgotten. I figure he’s responding to people trying to make comics a really respectable medium that you don’t have to justify. He’s trying to show off how cool and exciting comics can be. Johnny’s trying to do more than just shock you. In a funny way, as a result, Prison Pit then feels more tasteful.

His prime directive as an artist is to get you through the narrative in a clear and concise way, without any cause for interruption for the reader (either in the form of the reader not understanding, or an unfitting action or response). He’s really aware of what’s going on, and it all comes together in his work, making this really palatable mish-mash of all these things. Sam Ombiri here: I guess Johnny Ryan is into a lot of different things. Sally Ingraham AugNews Sam Ombiri talks ‘Prison Pit’ by Johnny Ryan, while Sally tracks down ‘Thriller’ comics and other news of note.

Two Stories by Gantea