| Birth Name: | John F. Ryan IV |
| Birth Date: | 30 November 1970 |
| Birth Place: | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Cartoonist: | y |
| Animator: | y |
| Alias: | Hector Mumbly |
| Notable Works: | Angry Youth Comix Blecky Yuckerella Prison Pit |
John F. Ryan IV (born November 30, 1970, in Boston, Massachusetts)[1] [2] is an American alternative comics creator, writer, and animator. He created Angry Youth Comix, a comic book published by Fantagraphics, and "Blecky Yuckerella", a comic strip which originated in the alternative newspaper the Portland Mercury and now appears on Ryan's website. He also created Pig Goat Banana Cricket, a TV show made jointly with Dave Cooper that Nickelodeon picked up. He was the story editor for Looney Tunes Cartoons. In a throwback to the days of underground comix, Ryan's oeuvre is generally an attempt to be as shocking and politically incorrect as possible.
Ryan grew up in Boston, and studied English literature at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Ryan lives in Los Angeles. He has one daughter.
Ryan originally self-published Angry Youth Comix, producing eleven mini-comic issues from 1994 to 1998.[3] In 1998, he began showing his work to Peter Bagge, creator of Hate comics, who introduced the material to Eric Reynolds of Fantagraphics. In 2001, Fantagraphics began publishing volume 2 of the series.[4]
Collaborating with Dave Cooper under the pen name "Hector Mumbly", Ryan's comics appeared in nearly every issue of Nickelodeon Magazine. Cooper and Ryan also collaborated on a "Wonder Woman vs. Supergirl" story for the DC Comics anthology Bizarro. Ryan collaborated with Peter Bagge in both Angry Youth Comix and Bagge's Hate Annual, in addition to penciling and inking two stories for Bagge's DC series Sweatshop. In 2006, Ryan guest-edited a special comics issue of Vice magazine, which included contributions from over thirty of Ryan's comics contemporaries.[5]
Ryan's illustrations have appeared in MAD, LA Weekly, National Geographic Kids, Hustler Magazine, The Stranger, and elsewhere. Ryan has also done work for clients such as Nobleworks greetings cards, Rhino Records, and Fox TV. His comics have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and French.[6]
Angry Youth Comix was nominated for a Best Mini Ignatz Award at the 2000 Small Press Expo. It has since been nominated for multiple Harvey and Eisner Awards."Prison Pit" won an award for "Best Lettering" at the Stumptown small press festival in Portland, OR in April 2011.