Those Annoying Post Bros. is an independent comic mostly by Matt Howarth about two fun-loving bad boys, Ron Post and Russ Post, from the fictional Bugtown. Equally inspired by H. P. Lovecraft, Philip K. Dick, and ambient electronic music, the series ran for 63 issues (published by a number of companies) from 1985–1998, making it one of the longest-running indy comics titles.[citation needed]
Plot and characters
The Post Bros., Ron and Russ (named for brothers Ron and Russ Mael, the duo that make up the American pop and Rock duo, Sparks) are natives of a mysterious transdimensional locality known as Bugtown, where all residents possess the ability to engage in interdimensional travel. Anyone killed in Bugtown or brought there immediately after death will soon regenerate. According to creator Howarth, the Post Bros. are "greedy, pathologically trigger-happy, completely corruptible, endlessly irritating, psychotically solipsistic and — unfortunately for all — possessed of the ability to instantly shift between all possible reality levels".[1]
The spin-off character Savage Henry, guitarist for the Bugtown band the Bulldaggers, ended up with his own series, published from 1987–1994.
The real-world experimental musician Conrad Schnitzler of (Tangerine Dream and Kluster) was a regular guest in Those Annoying Post Bros., appearing in issues #2, 5, 42, 48, 50, and 63 (with cameos in issues #7, 16, and 41); and Annuals #1–2 (with a cameo In #3). In addition, the real-world avant-garde art collective The Residents appeared in Those Annoying Post Bros.: Stalking Ralph (Aeon Press, 1995).
Publication history
The Post Brothers debuted in the early 1980s in Heavy Metal magazine, and their adventures were serialized there for a number of issues. In 1985, Vortex Comics began publishing Those Annoying Post Bros. It ran for 18 issues until 1990. In 1991, the title was taken over by Rip Off Press, which published an additional 20 issues until 1994.
MU Press's Aeon imprint picked up the title from 1994[2]–1998, publishing 25 more issues, for a total of 63 issues. During this period, Aeon also published three Those Annoying Post Bros. annuals, from 1995-1997.
Sometime later, Howarth produced three additional Post Bros. one-shot comics, Targets, Sidewinder Nights, and Paparazzi Punishment, all of which are available in PDF format via digital download on Howarth's website.[1]
From 2004–2005, MU Press published Howarth's spin-off series, Bugtown, which ran for 6 issues.[3]
In 1994 Aeon released Those Annoying Post Bros.: Das Loot, a trade paperback collecting Those Annoying Post Bros. issue #1-5. In 1995, Aeon released Those Annoying Post Bros.: Disturb the Neighbors, a trade paperback collecting Those Annoying Post Bros. issue #6-9.
Beginning in 2008, Howarth wrote a number of prose novels (with no illustrations) taking place in the Bugtown universe that also featured the Post Bros.
In 2011, Devil's Due Publishing released e-reader editions of Those Annoying Post Bros. Collected: Volume 1, which collected Those Annoying Post Bros. #1-4; and Those Annoying Post Bros. Collected: Volume 2, which collected issues #5–9.
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