The Adventures Of Portly Boy

by Ray Weeks

The Adventures Of Portly Boy by Ray Weeks (Book) in Humor
Publisher: Ray Weeks
Copyright: © 2006  Standard Copyright License
Language: English
Country: United States
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  • Paperback book $16.67
Download: 1 documents, 1542 KB

Printed: 482 pages, 6" x 9", perfect binding, black and white interior ink

Description:

After a night of alcohol-fueled shenanigans and a morning in County Jail, overweight cynic Howard McKay is sentenced to serve “something like two thousand hours” of community service. The catch? Howie is to don a fluorescent yellow costume and carry out his sentence fighting crime as Portly Boy. Along with his self-appointed sidekick, The Drunkard, Portly Boy roams the streets of New York City—going everywhere from strip clubs to retail electronic stores—doing his best to avoid crime and trying not to help anyone in need of help. The Adventures of Portly Boy is the hilarious story of Howie’s antics, told through a series of blog entries he writes on his buddy’s website.


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Absolutely hilarious
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27 Mar 2008 (updated 27 Mar 2008)
Howard McKay isn't really a superhero. He doesn't have any superpowers. In fact, he's a fat alcoholic, who only dresses up in a fluorescent yellow body suit (complete with pink running shorts and boots) because of an unfortunate incident in which he mooned a judge during a drunken romp through the park. As his punishment, the vindictive judge sentenced Howard to an even more unfortunate community service sentence: to patrol the city streets as a citizen watchdog, while dressed in the rather unique aforementioned ensemble.

Moreover, The Adventures of Portly Boy isn't really a novel. Rather, it is a compilation of the first 37 installments (of a total of 69) of a meandering serial narrative that author Ray Weeks posted on the Strangelands website between March 2004 and January 2007. Because Chapter 37 ends at something of a natural (if abrupt) breaking point, Weeks evidently decided to make those chapters available here on Lulu.

So, for many reasons, Portly Boy is not really a "superhero novel." It is, however, absolutely hilarious. Weeks has a light touch and a genuine gift for situational humor. Howard is an appealing schlub protagonist, and the supporting cast of cut-rate sidekicks and not-so-super villains are appropriately eccentric and amusing. Howard's adventures are consistently fun and, amazingly enough given the glib nature of the entire enterprise, manage to be genuinely tense and exciting at times.

To be sure, the serial nature of Portly Boy's origins, where the original episodes were stretched over a period of nearly three years, takes its toll. Certain jokes are repeated over and over. Nor is there more than the barest whiff of an ongoing plot. Yet none of that undercuts Portly Boy's essential good humor or entertainment value, and I look forward to reading the remaining uncollected adventures (nearly as extensive as the adventures collected in this book) available online.
LOVED IT! [ No Rating ] 21 Nov 2007
This book was hysterical. I totally loved it! :)

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