Random Reviews: Buzzboy: Monsters, Dreams, and Milkshakes!
This anthology-style volume may be a simple read, but it showcases creators making comics for the fun of creating
—by Nathan on June 28, 2026—
I feel like an "Oh, my!" should come after that title, Wizard of Oz-fashion.
That would certainly be cartoonist Jim Gallagher's style. As I noted in my review of the first Buzzboy volume, Gallagher's brand of humor, though aimed at younger readers, is heavily reliant on pop culture references, particularly dated pulp culture references, even for 1998. If it weren't for my parents showing me episodes of I Love Lucy and Leave It to Beaver or quoting certain song lyrics, I probably wouldn't catch half of the references Gallagher makes…
…and you can for sure bet I didn't when I first read this volume over twenty years ago.
Just like I've noted in other reviews as I travel through some of my earliest comic reading recollections, I likely first read today's volume when my dad picked up a copy at our local library. Despite the titular Buzzboy looking like he's about to receive a lobotomy courtesy of an alien adversary, the cover looks fun enough for kids, right? And it's got "boy" in the title! This isn't some dark, gritty take on a grown-up Buzzman coming out of retirement and complaining about all his aches and pains as he helps his arch-nemesis break his own neck. This has gotta be for kids.
And not to say it isn't. I assume my dad found this volume with other comics suitable for my younger self's reading demographic. Aside from the references and jokes for older fans, Gallagher's favors youthful readers. Still, even twenty-some years later, this volume has remained somewhere in my subconscious, resurfacing occasionally. At least long enough for me to buy a copy and give this second round of Buzzboy's misadventures another shot.
Buzzboy: Monsters, Dreams, and Milkshakes
Writers: John Gallagher, Beth Gallagher, Vincent Sneed, Tom Ogline, John Hefner, Al Nickerson, Greg Hyland, Mihael Kornstein, Steve Remen
Pencilers: John Gallagher, John Peters, Michael Kornstein, Al Nickerson, Greg Hyland
Inkers: Rich Faber, John Gallagher, Aaron McClellan, Ted Tucker, Steve Hauk, Michael Kornstein, Al Nickerson, Greg Hyland
Letterers: Vincent Sneed, Thom Zahler
Issues: Monsters, Dreams, and Milkshakes #1, Buzzboy: Short Cuts, Forty Winks/Buzzboy #1, Buzzboy of the 50s: The Red Menace #1, Nihilist-Man and His Amazing Friends #1, and material from Son of Rampage #2, Small Press Expo SPX99 Anthology, Love in Tights #3, and San Diego Comic-Con Special 2003
Volume Publication Date: August 2003
Issue Publication Dates: Uncatalogued months in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, May 1999, March 2000, and August 2003
Publisher: Sky Dog Press
I knew, coming into this volume, that it wouldn't be like the previous collection I reviewed, which featured a coherent story across a four-issue limited series. I knew this would be a smattering of one-shots, either created for the volume, published previously, or cobbled together from various other issues. The primary tether between that previous volume and this one is Gallagher's Buzzboy, that pizza-loving, movie-watching super-teen who runs a diner when he isn't fighting crime (especially when he isn't fighting crime in his diner!). Otherwise, aside from featuring Ultra's former sidekick, there's no real internal continuity to this collection.
Is that a strike against it? Not at all. Younger me wasn't perplexed or frustrated by the lack of an ongoing narrative, and I knew what to expect this time around. This is a series of separate adventures, featuring similar characters, created by a group of people who are making independent comics for the heck of it. You read these, you're reading a labor of love not only from Gallagher but his friends and family as well.
The collected narratives range from entertaining to ho-hum. There's nothing here that necessarily builds on the continuity established in the first volume, save that we have several of the same characters and that Gallagher features Buzzboy's diner (a fun setting introduced at the end of the original series as a potential future financial endeavor for Buzzboy) as a recurring location. Our colorful (in personality, not artistically) cast maintains previously introduced characteristics–sorceress-in-training Becca Smith grates against the suggestion that she's Buzzboy's sidekick; former supervillain Doc Cyber indulges in his love of cooking by picking up recipes from across time–but that's really all the continuity Gallagher keeps.
This is primarily because, I assume, he and his cohort are more interested in presenting one-and-done narratives that range from a brief parody of horror movies, to a short crossover event between Buzzboy and other lesser-known independent comic characters, to two adventures where Buzzboy teams with another creator's independently published female hero existing in a dreamscape. These narratives do, in a way, broaden the scope of Buzzboy's world, introducing new supporting cast members and villains and establishing a kind of unity between Buzzboy's home city of New Paradise Metrogrove and locations frequented by these other characters in what I assume is a kind of casual, unofficial shared universe.
Perhaps because I first read these as a kid, I found myself reflecting (likely even re-reflecting) on the cohesive nature of the properties involved. I knew nothing about these other characters as a younger reader, and even though I still don't, I was and still am able to recognize the sheer fun these creators are having working together. Not tethered to decades of an intertwined shared universe where even the supporting characters can have backstories extending back years, these issues (and parts of issues) just organically lump ideas and characters together. No need to tell me why Punisher-like vigilante Hunter is teaming with Buzzboy and a few other folks to stop a galaxy-devouring giant who is totally Galactus (but is absolutely not Galactus for legal reasons). It all just happens.
There's a joy found here akin to a child playing with their action figures–you don't need to wrangle together legal departments to have your plastic Superman and Spider-Man duke it out or tangle with Lex Luthor and the Green Goblin! And no one's gonna stop you from throwing in a G.I. Joe or Transformer if you want. Gallagher and his friends are making comics for the sake of making comics, regardless of where they're published, who gets in on the action, or who ends up reading 'em.
As I said, there's nothing here that wows me. These are simple, one-and-done tales that riff off the medium and some aspects of media of yesteryear. Gallagher and his friends are at their best when they cleverly lean into the jokiness of independent comics, such as the Galactus parody character. The cover for the crossover issue is a clear nod to Justice League International #1; Buzzboy faces off against a cat burglar in a short story meant to emulate Batman/Catwoman or Spider-Man/Black Cat escapades; one-off character Marz Grrl feels like she'd fit right in with the Legion of Superheroes. Gallagher notes several monster characters as being inspired by the old monster comics of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, such as giant dragon "Ying! Yang! Yoom!" knowing where his inspirations lie and doing what he can to pay homage as respectfully as possible.
Like with the first volume, I can't say I found all of Gallagher's comedic bits amusing, particularly those which dredged up older forms of media. I preferred the visual comedy more than nods to Tony Danza, King Kong, or Magilla Gorilla. The visuals allow for the reader to understand the gags themselves, such as the Fin-Fang-Foom parody, rather than just be directly told the joke. And some of the gags feel steered towards readers older than Gallagher's intended audience–as a kid, I had absolutely no clue who the heck Tony Danza or Magilla Gorilla were.
Reading this volume certainly brought back memories–I fondly reacted to specific panels I remembered and better understood certain aspects which I either missed entirely or didn't understand before. It's weird the things which wind up in your memory. For some reason, I've never forgotten a reference Buzzboy makes to They Might Be Giants, even though I've never listened to a single song by the band intentionally (outside of what I've likely heard in films or on television). Again, most of the volume is fine, but it's mainly what this collection represents that gives it a bizarrely endearing quality: nostalgia, humor, and a sense of fun, pure collaboration between people who just want to use the characters they created to tell stories for others to read.