Barry Ween, Boy Genius

Judd Winick's Success Turned Into Another's Asset

I promised to cover this eventually. Just didn’t expect to find out more about this IP in the meantime.

So The Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius is Judd Winick’s earliest success story. First appearing in Image before going to Oni Press.

Meet Barry Ween

It follows the titular Jimmy Neutron meets Rick Sanchez. Various sci-fi shenanigans in over-the-top fashion. The kind of over-exaggerated overreactions that I love in my comedy.

But if nothing matters except the cynical sci-fi, it would just be another redundancy. So Barry Ween has what a few other similar premises don’t. Not awareness, but humility.

With Barry’s foul mouth and sci-fi tools, it’s easy to see him as a Rick Sanchez. Especially when some of his monologues near the start of issues lean nihilistic. But they’re never overbearing as they’re in juxtaposition with his slip-ups. Like how he gave hippos the ability to breed like rabbits.

But unlike Rick, Barry’s young enough to look forward to some things. Not when his smarts make note of every little thing that most people take for granted. Or the impulsive ideas that have a way of going horribly wrong. But being able to relate to people on some level, including taking those failures at value.

Who Knows Barry Most?

Barry is lucky enough to have a few friends he can share his intelligence with. His best friend Jeremy for example. While Jeremy can seem like typical comic relief, he’s actually one of the more ideal versions. He lives in the moment and reacts to situations a lot of other people do. Sometimes that includes messing with Barry’s chemistry sets and turning himself into a dinosaur.

As for what connects them, Jeremy like Barry has a few things to look forward to. Even more than Barry, since Jeremy trusts his instincts and impulses even when they lead him astray. Which is also what gets Barry to be less lethal in cleaning up his screw-ups. Because Jeremy does have some wins like understanding what Barry wants in people. For Jeremy that’s trust and reliability, despite differences in maturity. Since Barry doesn’t have much confidence with speaking with other people their age.

Which is where Barry’s crush Sara comes in. She’s a middle ground between Barry and Jeremey, as intelligent as she is mature. While also capable of living in the moment and willing to take the risk to plan ahead. Which is why Sara’s probably the toughest thing for Barry to face. He can handle anything with his intelligence, except Sara. It involves being vulnerable which is hard for someone trying to keep his intellect hidden. And Sara’s very aware to put 2 and 2 together about him.

Peak Barry Ween

While the Boy Genius’s adventures usually deal with reacting to the more out there stuff, the last part of this saga comes in an epic. It involves a telepathic gorilla, his reality where the laws of physics prevent batteries, time moving on a different scale where Sara becomes an adult, a MacGuffin, and an epic battle. But also Barry revealing everything about himself to the adult Sara. Which as Jeremy puts it, may be the closest thing Barry can relate to. Essentially living a full life and peaking a bit too early.

There was a lot to look forward to, but Sara ended up being a casualty of the war. So Barry went back in time before all of the events happened and made sure this other reality got everything they could need out of him. Sara survives but Barry now has to live with the weight of everything.

Brain’s Always On

Whatever would’ve happened after this, will probably never come out. Judd Winick announced an IN SPACE! title for Barry in 2010. Two years after the Big Book of Barry Ween came out. But there’s a reason why these and what came before aren’t as easily available as they used to be.

At some point Judd Winick sold the Barry Ween rights to Platinum Studios. It’s an entertainment company people might know for the movie Cowboys & Aliens. It’s also the owner of a lot of comic IP including Rob Liefeld created characters in Youngblood and Supreme.

Because of this asset status, no one can publish Barry Ween without Scott Mitchell Rosenberg’s say so.

As for Winick… He has since moved on to TV and the child graphic novel series Hilo. All of the energy and humor of Barry Ween without the crudeness. Doesn’t treat its audience like children though. Might be why they’re regular bestsellers.

As far as anyone’s concerned, Barry Ween will only exist in those small corners of the internet or those comic stores if they have ‘em. Otherwise the IP is just gonna collect dust like so many other titles turned assets.