Goodnight, John-boy

Read Em and Weep #2

by Pat Mills, Kevin O'Neill

What the reviewers say about Goodnight, John-boy
"Superb. Anyone who loves British comics should rush out and buy this."
Amazon reviewer


"More fun than "The Spanker"!
More exciting than "Aaargh"!!
More expensive than " The Fourpenny One"!!!
A great read on so many levels.
Read it and weep with laughter."
Amazon reviewer


"An unsolved murder, Secret religious sects, Revenge killings, Celebrity misdoings, Angry nuns, Liquorice pipes and all set around the bizarre happenings of a comics publishing company in the 1970's - what more could you ask for?"
Amazon reviewer


"this is the darker, seedier side of the 1970s, the world of British comics of that era being recreated in great style (who better to parody the beginnings of Battle, Action and 2000ad than the man who created them!)"
Amazon reviewer


"the last chapter left me salivating for more"
"had me hooked from start to finish" "a bizarre, absurd and stupendous story"
Amazon reviewer

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 14, 2017

About the author

Pat Mills, born in 1949 and nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since.

His comics are notable for their violence and anti-authoritarianism. He is best known for creating 2000 AD and playing a major part in the development of Judge Dredd.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pat and Kevin have worked on classics like ABC Warriors, Nemesis and Marshall Law – all lurid and fantastic fun, go check 'em out – and recently launched a series of jointly written novels with 2016’s Serial Killer. Fans of that volume will find that everything in this sequel has been kicked up a notch; the humour is blacker, the action harder hitting, with the death of a few major (!) characters and some shocking reveals. For me, it succeeds on a number of levels. The plot is strong, characters well drawn, and the mise en scene (forgive me) is exceptionally finely wrought, one of the main pleasure of the series. The smell of 70s Britain seeps up through the spaces between paragraphs, so if you lived through that era you’ll be nodding and grinning as you read. If you didn’t and are at all curious as to what it was like, you could do far worse for a road map than this.
But the real strength is in the underlying themes, of how childhood trauma can stay with you, shape you and ultimately make or break you. The ‘baddies’ here are recognizable types; one has similarities to a certain James Saville (something of a king of light entertainment in the late 70s), and the Catholic Church also loom large and forebodingly. As a recovering Catholic myself, this really resonated. I wasn’t personally party to any abuse, but I know it went on and was swept under the cassock in many cases and over many years. The fact that the church is now investigating these cases is commendable, but shdnt stop creators like Pat and Kevin from shining a light on these misdeeds (through the prism of fiction of course).
If that all sounds a bit preachy and worthy, my bad – an improving book this certainly is not! It’s a workplace comedy, a ribald satire and a right rollicking whodunit, plenty of bang for your buck. And what it is overwhelmingly is a screamingly, bladder-bustingly funny read, in the vein of Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Fry and Laurie…commuters are advised not to read it on the tube or bus, as you will get funny looks while trying to keep your facial features under control as the action unfolds.

[Jiří Pavlovský · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pokračování série o nejlínějším detektivovi/sériovém vrahovi na světě. Komiksový redaktor se stále snaží získat lásku své kolegyně (bohužel ho víc přitahují její kožešiny a chlupaté podpaždí než jiné, obvyklejší věci), zruinovat veškeré pokusy o svého kolegy o úspěch (i když ten se kvůli svým ambicím spustí i s vlastní šéfovou, která je nejen Němka, ale navíc je posedlá vším esoterickým), rozjet nový šokující komiksový magazín (píšou se sedmdesátá léta a komiksy by měly zušlechťovat)... jo a stále se snaží propašovávat do komiksů nebezpečné návody, aby se jeho čtenáři sami sprovodili ze světa. A kromě toho chce vypátrat vraha své matky... ale to jen proto, aby měl už konečně pokoj od jejího ducha.
A samozřejmě, i tady jsou další úryvky z příběhů Rákoskového komanda - příběhů ředitele školy, který vyráží na německou frontu, aby tam pomocí své věrné zbraně provedl na zadky nepřítele prdelový nálet. (Tady narazí na skutečně silného nepřítele - protivníka, jemuž umrzla prdel na východní frontě, takže v ní necítí bolest.)
Jak jsem se později dozvěděl, Mills s kolegou to celé původně nabízeli jako sitcom po BBC... ale stanice nějak neměla zájem o legrační sérii, kde se hrdina snaží zabíjet děti... a děti začnou využívat jeho rad a začnou zabíjet dospělé. Tak si to nakonec vydal sám. A jo, je to klasické 2000 AD, čili celkový příběh to drží jen hodně volně a objeví se jen občas. Většina toho jsou bizarní situace, do kterých se zvláštní hrdina dostává, občas doplněné nějakým tím zajímavým detailem z komiksového průmyslu. Ale je to pořád zábava (někdy děsivá, zvláště když se řeší nakládání s komiksovými autory) a doufám, že bude třetí díl brzo!

[Michael Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read 'Em and Weep Book 2 ... Is it even better than the first one? Even funnier? Even more biting in its perspective not only upon 1970s Britain but upon Britain today?

I don't know, but if not, it's at least just as good as the first volume. I guess I'll just have to read them both again to make a fair assessment. And that would be no chore, as there's so much observation and subtlety packed in amidst the broader strokes that these books would definitely benefit from re-reading.

It's a paradoxical read, being the most savage and direct diatribe blended with outrageously over the top hilarity that you could imagine. But who says you can't mix one with the other? Only rules, that's who, and this book was definitely not written with any regard for rules (or at least only those necessary to tell a good story).

Those of us who lived through the Seventies will find it here grinning back into faces, large as life. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? As we've already established, things can be both.

One thing that definitely is a good thing is this book. That doesn't mean it's comfortable. It may be funny, but it takes no prisoners and rightly so. It's more than it appears to be, and it's 100% worth your time.

[Gary Varga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes things about are infrequently discussed and, even then, only within a comedic framework or hard hitting documentaries. This is most definitely the former.

Some very serious subjects are tackled with knowledge and apparent levity. The humour is a thick and clever veneer over many topics other media pay lip service to.

Also it is about the UK comics industry of the 70s.

Please enjoy.

[Colin Oaten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent second book in the Read Em And Weep series from the ever engaging Pat Mills.