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God Hates Astronauts #1
God Hates Astronauts, Vol. 1: The Head That Wouldn't Die!
GHA follows the story of a group of incompetent, small-minded, super-powered narcissists called "The Power Persons Five" who are hired by NASA to stop all farmers from launching themselves into space in homemade rocket ships. Unfortunately, for NASA, this goal is scarcely even addressed and the book focuses more on extramarital affairs, bank robbing owls, big gross swollen heads, ghost cow heads, olde-tyme boxers, tigers eating cheeseburgers in the Crab Nebula, buffalo judges and tons of aggressive swearing. Not as much a superhero book as it is a parody of basically everything and a celebration of weird that is jam-packed with references to Robo-Cop and Die Hard.
180 pages, Hardcover
First published June 12, 2013
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513 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 158 reviews
January 25, 2018
WARNING: This review should in no way be taken as a recommendation. I am easily amused; VERY easily amused - "like a cat with a laser pointer," one Goodreads member once remarked. With that in mind . . .
I really got a kick out of this one. I see that most of my intelligent friends have given the book one star. You should probably bow to their wisdom. Me? I giggled and hooted and almost gave it five stars.
The plot? Well, it's too silly to get into. I'll just tell you about the things I liked*, then you can go on about your day, and forget you ever read this review.
*A hero who's immortal gets horrifically disfigured, and must now save the planet whilst sporting a huge, swollen, lumpy head.
*Naked characters whose naughty bits are covered by black bars describing what's underneath.
*The dude with gorilla arms.
*Owl Capone.
*The sound effects: BLAP-BLONK! CRACK! COCAINE! BLAGOJEVICH!
See? I told you.
I really got a kick out of this one. I see that most of my intelligent friends have given the book one star. You should probably bow to their wisdom. Me? I giggled and hooted and almost gave it five stars.
The plot? Well, it's too silly to get into. I'll just tell you about the things I liked*, then you can go on about your day, and forget you ever read this review.
*A hero who's immortal gets horrifically disfigured, and must now save the planet whilst sporting a huge, swollen, lumpy head.
*Naked characters whose naughty bits are covered by black bars describing what's underneath.
*The dude with gorilla arms.
*Owl Capone.
*The sound effects: BLAP-BLONK! CRACK! COCAINE! BLAGOJEVICH!
See? I told you.
February 9, 2015
Wow.
Ever watch a movie that's SOOO bad, you keep watching because you figure it can't get any worse? And then it does? But you cannot turn the TV off?
This isn't one of those so-bad-it's-good books, this is the it's so bad I feel like I've just had a stroke and followed it up with blunt force trauma to the cranium.
Fuck.
Don't be curious to read this because it's the worst thing ever made, it's not a cult thing, and if it is, that cult is full of morons.
I have a VERY juvenile sense of humour; I like poop jokes, slapstick, and terrible puns...but this, this is just so fucking bad.
The creator did this as a 24 page in 24 hours challenge to himself in his early 20s...and funny enough, never got around to it again until many years later...in the meanwhile, he didn't grow up any, and didn't develop any style or taste.
He also spends 3 pages explaining EVERY SINGLE REFERENCE TO POP CULTURE HE MADE IN THE BOOK.
Ye Gods this fellow thinks he's the shit. But he's just shit.
You're NOT clever, you're NOT edgy, or ironically bad, or hip because you don't care that it's terrible.
Whoever told you they loved what you were doing and encouraged you should be slapped.
I mean yes, you created something, sure good for you, you've got that over me; but just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD.
Oh and you need to go back on Kickstarter and give out refunds.
Fuck. Why did I keep reading this? This is so bad I almost take it personally.
The only "funny" joke was stolen from Family Guy, with no credit given at all. How did no one see that? I mean he gives credit to tons of Simpsons jokes and other bits, but sheesh...
Holy Shit, where's the Tylenol?
January 10, 2015
Trying painfully hard to be as tasteless and absurd as possible, the story's sole purpose is to be judged "so bad it's good." If you don't find it funny, though, it is just bad, and that is how I experienced it. Then again, everybody else loved it, so I may just be too old for this.
November 27, 2024
"A NASA funded group of arrogant "super people" must stop a rash of farmers that have been using rocket-powered silos to launch themselves into outer space.
Calling in the Power Persons Five, as they battle crime under the orders of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
As these Astro-Farmers fire themselves all over the galaxy, NASA must utilize their every resource (A guy with a ghost-cow head, a bunch of magic bears, and a Chicago cop with robot arms) to avoid an intergalactic incident!"
1/5
... And despite that pitch I was bored. Not sure how they pulled that off. Rejected dysfunctional superhero groups are a common enough trope they need to be a good idea on top of that.
Calling in the Power Persons Five, as they battle crime under the orders of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
As these Astro-Farmers fire themselves all over the galaxy, NASA must utilize their every resource (A guy with a ghost-cow head, a bunch of magic bears, and a Chicago cop with robot arms) to avoid an intergalactic incident!"
1/5
... And despite that pitch I was bored. Not sure how they pulled that off. Rejected dysfunctional superhero groups are a common enough trope they need to be a good idea on top of that.
May 2, 2020
That was a huge piece of turd. The art is actually pretty good so how bad the story must have been to make me hate it so much. I read it started as an internet comic and that's where it should have stayed. It is just so pointless and random I have trouble understanding what head space the author was in to write it. I love absurd humour but this wasn't even that. It was mean spirited, violent, gross out humour. It is misogynistic in the way it treats its one female character and it is idiotic in the way it treats all of its other characters. It is dumb and stupid in a way that I worry some people think humour is going. As an aside Rick and Morty can be violent and gross but there are jokes and cleverness to it but when you are just violent and gross but there are no jokes you get something like this.
So sad that someone on a youtube top ten list recommended this. I have to remember that there are a lot of weird opinions floating out there.
So sad that someone on a youtube top ten list recommended this. I have to remember that there are a lot of weird opinions floating out there.
March 5, 2014
I wrote a review of this book that was published on Amazon, and you can view it here:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R19SC2TO...
But I feel I should add that I found this book not online, but in a comic store. A well stocked comic book store with an intelligent and interesting person running it.
I'm not entirely certain that I would have discovered this gem without a well curated store to visit.
So: SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMIC BOOK STORE!
Also, definitely read God Hates Astronauts. The author, Ryan Browne, spent six years of his life working on this thing, and it definitely shows. It's wonderful. Run right out and buy the damned thing now.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R19SC2TO...
But I feel I should add that I found this book not online, but in a comic store. A well stocked comic book store with an intelligent and interesting person running it.
I'm not entirely certain that I would have discovered this gem without a well curated store to visit.
So: SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL COMIC BOOK STORE!
Also, definitely read God Hates Astronauts. The author, Ryan Browne, spent six years of his life working on this thing, and it definitely shows. It's wonderful. Run right out and buy the damned thing now.
January 11, 2015
God Hates Astronauts aims very hard for "so bad it's good" but it's actually just bad. I wanted to read this since I first heard about it and was so happy that it was included in the second Humble Image Comics Bundle. Now I'm just glad it was included because I can convince myself I didn't pay any money for it but just for the other, much better books.
As God Hates Astronauts aims to be funny and humor is a very, very subjective matter, you may experience it otherwise if you love absurd humor and don't need a story or characters that you care for in any way. Usually my humor varies a lot and I can find enjoyment in absurd ideas but this comic did nothing for me except made me mourn the time I wasted reading it.
As God Hates Astronauts aims to be funny and humor is a very, very subjective matter, you may experience it otherwise if you love absurd humor and don't need a story or characters that you care for in any way. Usually my humor varies a lot and I can find enjoyment in absurd ideas but this comic did nothing for me except made me mourn the time I wasted reading it.
March 27, 2016
Ultimátní WTF
January 7, 2019
Ugh.
Super juvenile, nonsensical plot that was all over the place, try hard and painfully unfunny. I also couldn’t tell if this was just poor delivery, but this comic came off as being very misogynistic
Super juvenile, nonsensical plot that was all over the place, try hard and painfully unfunny. I also couldn’t tell if this was just poor delivery, but this comic came off as being very misogynistic
August 3, 2015
If you think the above, out of context panel is funny, it is worth reading this book. I was drawn to God Hates Astronauts by the crazy, over the top characters that jumped out just flipping through the pages. It's a wild, silly comic that stretches the visual absurdity of classic superhero comics to some kind of insane breaking point. The ideas flow freely and rapidly, and I thought it was pretty funny, though much of the referential humor peppered throughout feels forced.
Unfortunately, there are only three actual issues of the comic in this first volume. (It makes sense; apparently it took six years, and Ryan Browne is drawing his heart out and exploding his brain onto the page here.) Also contained in this book are two-page "origin stories" for basically every character who makes an appearance, and two 24-hour comics that show the origin and development of GHA. The origin stories are all drawn by different artists. It's a fun conceit, but it grows tiresome pretty quick reading them straight through. The 24-hour comics are good in their own right, but mostly made me wish that there were two more full-fledged comics in the book.
I feel weird using this as a criteria for my review, but this book was expensive. More expensive than a usual Image trade, particularly for a first volume. There's clearly a lot of work that went into this book, but it's hard to feel good about spending more money than I plan to on a comic and ending up with less actual comic than I expect.
I thought about rating this book two stars, but I gave it the third because of Craymok.
November 3, 2014
When I first heard of God Hates Astronauts, I expected it to be a lot like Axe Cop—ridiculous and full of hilarity. Though the two are similar in that they take a very random approach to humour with unique ideas and characters, God Hates Astronauts lacks the childish sense of delight within its writing that makes the random nature of the plot cohesive and enjoyable.
Written and illustrated by Ryan Browne, God Hates Astronauts is about a superhero team that works for NASA. But rather than wasting all their time saving the world, the self-absorbed superheroes prefer to focus on their libidos, bizarre supervillains, and loitering aliens. The narrative is all over the place and tends to focus on one situation at a time rather than any overarching plot. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as plenty of graphic novels and comic books do this, especially in the comedic genre.
What makes this narrative less successful is that a lot of the jokes are based on gendered humour, meant to parody the sexism of the 1950s. But the parody isn’t reflected enough in the other aspects of the book, such as the villains or setting, so the humour falls flat and just comes off as sexist.
The art, also done by Browne, is very classical with defined lines and heavy inks, but is coloured in a more modern way with smooth tones. Aesthetically it’s a good combination, and his balance between cartoon and realism make the art extremely dynamic.
All in all, I appreciate this book for its fun art style, but I can’t recommend it.
cross posted from the Other Press
Written and illustrated by Ryan Browne, God Hates Astronauts is about a superhero team that works for NASA. But rather than wasting all their time saving the world, the self-absorbed superheroes prefer to focus on their libidos, bizarre supervillains, and loitering aliens. The narrative is all over the place and tends to focus on one situation at a time rather than any overarching plot. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as plenty of graphic novels and comic books do this, especially in the comedic genre.
What makes this narrative less successful is that a lot of the jokes are based on gendered humour, meant to parody the sexism of the 1950s. But the parody isn’t reflected enough in the other aspects of the book, such as the villains or setting, so the humour falls flat and just comes off as sexist.
The art, also done by Browne, is very classical with defined lines and heavy inks, but is coloured in a more modern way with smooth tones. Aesthetically it’s a good combination, and his balance between cartoon and realism make the art extremely dynamic.
All in all, I appreciate this book for its fun art style, but I can’t recommend it.
cross posted from the Other Press
March 23, 2016
Everything is possible in this book...I mean really everything!:) At first, book seems very strange, but after few pages you get used to it and start to enjoy every page, every new absurdity, every new bizzare character. Or not. This book is not for everybody, either you love it or you hate it. I liked fact, that all uncommon characters and situations work together really well and they are not self-serving. Main, more global story stays in background in first volume and everything is actually about heroes and their issues. First they need to help themselves, before they can help others. But it doesn't matter, actually it is better and more funnier, don't expect deep dispute about superheros alike Watchmen or so. Main characters are crazy in their own way, unpredictable and don't behave like heroes at all. Art is beautiful any you will be turning every page with expectation, again in condition you like unusual and strange things...
Read
January 17, 2015I've often wondered about whether or not it's possible to make a movie that's all comedy, no real plot or lesson.
And now I've got my answer.
There were plenty of jokes, and some of these references were clearly up my alley. But I need just a little more plot that runs through the whole thing. Something that gets the characters to do things. At the start of most of the issues, I was thinking, "Wait, why the hell is this happening? Where are we?"
My dream of a movie that's all comedy, no plot? That dream is dead.
And yet, the dream of a movie that's 90% comedy, 10% plot that forces the characters to keep chugging along like a moving walkway in an airport? Still very much alive.
And now I've got my answer.
There were plenty of jokes, and some of these references were clearly up my alley. But I need just a little more plot that runs through the whole thing. Something that gets the characters to do things. At the start of most of the issues, I was thinking, "Wait, why the hell is this happening? Where are we?"
My dream of a movie that's all comedy, no plot? That dream is dead.
And yet, the dream of a movie that's 90% comedy, 10% plot that forces the characters to keep chugging along like a moving walkway in an airport? Still very much alive.
October 19, 2016
I honestly wish I could give this zero stars. So when you see that one star up there, know it's because I couldn't give this zero stars.
Ryan Browne you should seriously be ashamed of yourself. This was pure and utter shit. This was Donald Fucking Trump in comic format. You are a terrible person, and I will never, ever read anything ever again that has your name on it.
I couldn't even finish this utter piece of garbage.
All that said, the art was pretty cool. Never write again though. Never.
Ryan Browne you should seriously be ashamed of yourself. This was pure and utter shit. This was Donald Fucking Trump in comic format. You are a terrible person, and I will never, ever read anything ever again that has your name on it.
I couldn't even finish this utter piece of garbage.
All that said, the art was pretty cool. Never write again though. Never.
April 7, 2015
Çizgiroman özellikle de süper kahraman çizgiromanları seviyorsanız onlarla dalga geçen bu iş de ilginizi çekebilir. Absürt komedinin başarılı bir örneği.
February 14, 2019
This is one of the worst things I've ever read.
April 16, 2019
I'm still in awe of the amount of crazyness the author managed to imagine for this comic. While it may not be a laugh a minute, there are scenes of exaggerated violence, the originality of the character designs and powers, a ton of curse words and a love triangle. It's enough to at least bring a smile on my lips.
The Power Persons Five attack John L Sullivan, a pugilist training a bear army. Sullivan is killed, but not before he beats up Star Fighter/Bill until his own mother wouldn't recognize him. His deformed head causes issues in his personal life that will change this ridiculous superhero universe to its core. A marriage is broken, friendships are forgotten, a villain keeps coming back for more in a humorous story that is a fun pastime.
The Power Persons Five attack John L Sullivan, a pugilist training a bear army. Sullivan is killed, but not before he beats up Star Fighter/Bill until his own mother wouldn't recognize him. His deformed head causes issues in his personal life that will change this ridiculous superhero universe to its core. A marriage is broken, friendships are forgotten, a villain keeps coming back for more in a humorous story that is a fun pastime.
February 10, 2019
I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. I kind of loved it and hated it at the same time, rather than the "meh," a three-star review would seem to reflect. It was dumb. The humor was crude and gross. But dammit, Tiger Eating a Cheeseburger made me laugh every single time, so there was that.
March 17, 2022
The most terrible awful thing I ever read and sexist to boot… but it was so terrible and awful, it almost circled around to good again.
October 4, 2017
4 stars for the art and crazy absurdity. 1.5 stars for the writing and dialog. I'm going to keep going with this series because I love the absurd and the artwork.
July 31, 2018
3.5 Stars
May 26, 2019
This is probably the strangest thing I've ever read. And after twenty years of being a professional book nerd, that says about all you need to know.
September 4, 2015
أو كيف تقضي ع فكرة جيدة في خطوات بسيطة
الكتاب مقسم لثلاث اشياء القصة الاساسية
وقسمين لبريد القراء و رسمهم !!! ماشي ربنا يوفقهم
ابطال خارقين هبل وذو عقل ذبابة يتقاتلون مع رجل يدرب الدببة
يصاب البطل الاساسي الذي لا يموت بشئ ف رأسه ف يجعل رأسه كبير بشكل قبيح
ف تنفر موزته وتخونه مع احد الخارقين
يعود الرجل الشرير عدة مرات لقاتلهم
ف البداية كنت أضحك مع الوقت أصبح الملل
وف الجزء الاخير الاستسهال
المواقف بها الكثير من الانفعال
وف النهاية يلا بينا نعمل اسكتشات صغيرة نوضح مين دول علشان نحط افيهات أكتر
النجمتين للضحك القليل و الرسم وقليل من بريد القراء
الكتاب مقسم لثلاث اشياء القصة الاساسية
وقسمين لبريد القراء و رسمهم !!! ماشي ربنا يوفقهم
ابطال خارقين هبل وذو عقل ذبابة يتقاتلون مع رجل يدرب الدببة
يصاب البطل الاساسي الذي لا يموت بشئ ف رأسه ف يجعل رأسه كبير بشكل قبيح
ف تنفر موزته وتخونه مع احد الخارقين
يعود الرجل الشرير عدة مرات لقاتلهم
ف البداية كنت أضحك مع الوقت أصبح الملل
وف الجزء الاخير الاستسهال
المواقف بها الكثير من الانفعال
وف النهاية يلا بينا نعمل اسكتشات صغيرة نوضح مين دول علشان نحط افيهات أكتر
النجمتين للضحك القليل و الرسم وقليل من بريد القراء
Read
December 14, 2015Ryan Browne created this ridiculous book himself, but in an alternate world creators who previously worked on GHA include Tommy Wiseau, Steve Aylett and James Stokoe. Put it another way - imagine what Axe Cop will be like once the kid discovers sex and foul language. Excessive violence, terrible puns and an over-reliance on animals with incongruous jobs (cat lawyer with jet-pack; voodoo bears). In so far as there's a plot, it follows an idiot superhero as his head gets ever more horrendous. I love it.
May 6, 2017
Well, this certainly sucked. It felt like this was written by a homophobic 10th grader in 2006. How did Image comics end up publishing this garbage? Maybe because of the art? That is the one thing I did enjoy, the drawing and especially the coloring were quite good.
But a rainbow colored piece of shit is still a piece of shit.
But a rainbow colored piece of shit is still a piece of shit.
August 7, 2021
For people who think Chuck Palahniuk is too sophisticated. King Tiger Eating a Cheeseburger is legit a great joke character and worth a star by himself, but everything else is terrible and not in a fun way. Like, we get it, Ryan. You're edgy. You don't need to try this hard. Also, Ryan, please learn how to use commas for direct address. You'll notice, Ryan, that I'm using them right now.
January 22, 2016
Brilliant, this is what comic books were made for a mad cap collection of characters and story. This volume also comes with plenty of additional material which is just as madcap. I hope he make a volume 2 so we can see what happens in the crab nebula to the Tiger who eats cheeseburgers.
December 24, 2014
A bizarre and sometimes ridiculous funny comic! Certainly a different view of superheroes graphic novels.
February 28, 2025
God Hates Astronauts was created on a fateful night when Ryan Browne did a massive line of coke while reading Garth Ennis' Hitman series and ended up muttering "fuggin' Defenestrator... fuggin' Defenestrator... " over and over until he started to sober up.
Then he found the baggie of speedballs his dog had given him and chewed them all while reading the entire run of Top 10... giggling madly and then crying that he wasn't half the artist Gene Ha was.
In a madness induced epiphany, Ryan then stole the original art for Omega the Unknown and tore it into pieces and ingested it with some pure glass meth amphetimine chasers.
Enraged by this assuault on mind and spirit, he searched out a desperate shaman who agreed to cook up some pure mescaline if Ryan would mow his lawn for free.
Naked on a mesa except for his ratty Chucks, stained green like what happens when you mow your lawn in light colored shoes, he shot a syringe full of the fucked peyote dirivative directly into his amygdala... then pulled out his box of Crayola 64 Colors and vomitted out God Hates Astronauts.
The entire time he was screaming "Eat my shorts, Alan Moore! EAT... MY... SHORTS!"
Thus a classic was born.
I was going to give this shit four stars because of all the fuckin' swearing, but then I read the origin story of Crazy Train and it was... perfect.
Read this bitches!
Then he found the baggie of speedballs his dog had given him and chewed them all while reading the entire run of Top 10... giggling madly and then crying that he wasn't half the artist Gene Ha was.
In a madness induced epiphany, Ryan then stole the original art for Omega the Unknown and tore it into pieces and ingested it with some pure glass meth amphetimine chasers.
Enraged by this assuault on mind and spirit, he searched out a desperate shaman who agreed to cook up some pure mescaline if Ryan would mow his lawn for free.
Naked on a mesa except for his ratty Chucks, stained green like what happens when you mow your lawn in light colored shoes, he shot a syringe full of the fucked peyote dirivative directly into his amygdala... then pulled out his box of Crayola 64 Colors and vomitted out God Hates Astronauts.
The entire time he was screaming "Eat my shorts, Alan Moore! EAT... MY... SHORTS!"
Thus a classic was born.
I was going to give this shit four stars because of all the fuckin' swearing, but then I read the origin story of Crazy Train and it was... perfect.
Read this bitches!
March 31, 2019
March 31, 2019: While the beginning featured some very rough drawing and colouring, the story and its characters are so random, funny, crude, and violent, that I immediately fell in love with this book. The art improves tremendously after the first issue. The actual comic only takes up half of the volume, with the rest of the pages being dedicated to two-page origin stories for most of the characters drawn by other artists (super hilarious), full-page illustrations good enough to hang up on the wall, two rough drafts, and some footnotes about various author-favourite references he used in his work. This eclectic medley of art is fun to flip through after the mind-boggling roller coaster ride that is God Hates Astronauts. I am definitely going to continue with volume 2. Warning: violence, gore, gutter humour, slapstick situations, nudity, and other great stuff that you should keep away from grandma.
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