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Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac: Director's Cut
Mayhem and violence rule in this collection of issues one through seven of Jhonen Vasquez's Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, as well as material seen before only in Carpe Noctem magazine. Dark and disturbingly funny, JTHM follows the adventures of Johnny (you can call him Nny), who lives with a pair of styrofoam doughboys that encourage his madness, a wall that constantly needs a fresh coat of blood, and--oh, yeah--his victims in various states of torture. Join Nny as he frightens the little boy next door (Todd, known to fans of Vasquez's work as Squee), thirsts for Cherry Brain Freezies, attempts suicide, draws Happy Noodle Boy, and tries to uncover the meaning of his homicidal existence.
168 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1997
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December 4, 2013
One of my favorite critics recently noted that “The Stuff that gets under your skin at seventeen never really leaves you.” That’s true, but it’s also true that sometimes under the skin is where it should stay.
It’s hard to describe the effect this book had on me when I thumbed through the well read copy that got passed back and forth along with the joints, around the theater group where I made a brief sojourn on in my long quest to fit in at highschool.
The novel starts out with a cuddly cartoon critter recommending the book to you as his children are tortured, which is then followed by a neglected child being terrorized by our obstinate hero ending with a schizophrenic rant as he stabs the boys teddy bear to death, at this point the comic is interrupted by a screaming stick figure who declares himself “Testicles God Of The Rash Covered Scrotum” and is popular with the insane homeless, before moving on to the wall “THAT WON’T STOP DRINKING BLOOD!!!” after which we get to the first Mass Murder, talking rabbit head, and sentient Pilsbury Doughboy who urges Johnny to kill himself with the phrase “Your body is an anchor that keeps you from flying over the stars.” At this point you’re around page 10.
This wasn’t a book it was a freaking Vaudeville review from hell. Humor so black that it actually made well lit rooms go dim, nihilism at it’s punk rock finest, A view of humanity that made John Water’s grotesqueries look angelic, a book that took no side hating all the subcultures as much as the mainstream but never making itself out to be some perfect entity either. IT flipped the whole earth, other worlds, and the after life (Heaven is a bunch of folding chairs and a taco bell, Hell a slightly dingier version of the San Fernando Valley) a very angry bird. Coupled with a uniquely simple and beautiful art style, like Ralph Steadman made horrifically clear and a sense of metaphysical absurdity to rival Achewood, all timed with a Chuck Jones like sense of the gag.
To an alienated suburban kid experiencing rebellion and weed for the first time, as well as having grown the teenage ego necessary to truly believe to the core of your being that the world is the one that’s got it all wrong, not you, this book was like a bomb going off in my head. It was like what hearing The Sex Pistols back in 1977 must have been like, dark, funny, free and more then a little truly scary. I’d never read anything so gleefully amoral, and the effect was as liberating as it was terrifying.
So you can of course understand the glee with which I picked this thing up on the 50% off table.
Of course the thing could never hold up. Nor could it ever recapture the rush of the forbidden I felt reading it for the first time. But it still holds it’s own. There are parts that are giddy perfection. If I ever grow too sour to appreciate the site of a Nun using her psychic powers to make everyone in heaven’s head explode, I know it will be time to end it all. While the book does feel a bit adolescent and mannered and our buddy Jhonen isn’t exactly afraid to hit something directly on the nose using the heel of his hand, it still does feel surprisingly subversive. Which is nice in a cultural landscape that throws that word around like it’s fucking confetti (“Look they made a funny about The President’s accent that’s raw”) It’s refreshing to see something that’s truly warped, that truly does not give a fuck. No one’s going to be co opting Johnny The Homicidal Maniac anytime soon. He’s going to remain safely under my skin.
It’s hard to describe the effect this book had on me when I thumbed through the well read copy that got passed back and forth along with the joints, around the theater group where I made a brief sojourn on in my long quest to fit in at highschool.
The novel starts out with a cuddly cartoon critter recommending the book to you as his children are tortured, which is then followed by a neglected child being terrorized by our obstinate hero ending with a schizophrenic rant as he stabs the boys teddy bear to death, at this point the comic is interrupted by a screaming stick figure who declares himself “Testicles God Of The Rash Covered Scrotum” and is popular with the insane homeless, before moving on to the wall “THAT WON’T STOP DRINKING BLOOD!!!” after which we get to the first Mass Murder, talking rabbit head, and sentient Pilsbury Doughboy who urges Johnny to kill himself with the phrase “Your body is an anchor that keeps you from flying over the stars.” At this point you’re around page 10.
This wasn’t a book it was a freaking Vaudeville review from hell. Humor so black that it actually made well lit rooms go dim, nihilism at it’s punk rock finest, A view of humanity that made John Water’s grotesqueries look angelic, a book that took no side hating all the subcultures as much as the mainstream but never making itself out to be some perfect entity either. IT flipped the whole earth, other worlds, and the after life (Heaven is a bunch of folding chairs and a taco bell, Hell a slightly dingier version of the San Fernando Valley) a very angry bird. Coupled with a uniquely simple and beautiful art style, like Ralph Steadman made horrifically clear and a sense of metaphysical absurdity to rival Achewood, all timed with a Chuck Jones like sense of the gag.
To an alienated suburban kid experiencing rebellion and weed for the first time, as well as having grown the teenage ego necessary to truly believe to the core of your being that the world is the one that’s got it all wrong, not you, this book was like a bomb going off in my head. It was like what hearing The Sex Pistols back in 1977 must have been like, dark, funny, free and more then a little truly scary. I’d never read anything so gleefully amoral, and the effect was as liberating as it was terrifying.
So you can of course understand the glee with which I picked this thing up on the 50% off table.
Of course the thing could never hold up. Nor could it ever recapture the rush of the forbidden I felt reading it for the first time. But it still holds it’s own. There are parts that are giddy perfection. If I ever grow too sour to appreciate the site of a Nun using her psychic powers to make everyone in heaven’s head explode, I know it will be time to end it all. While the book does feel a bit adolescent and mannered and our buddy Jhonen isn’t exactly afraid to hit something directly on the nose using the heel of his hand, it still does feel surprisingly subversive. Which is nice in a cultural landscape that throws that word around like it’s fucking confetti (“Look they made a funny about The President’s accent that’s raw”) It’s refreshing to see something that’s truly warped, that truly does not give a fuck. No one’s going to be co opting Johnny The Homicidal Maniac anytime soon. He’s going to remain safely under my skin.
August 29, 2018
Devilishly demented!
What can I say about dear ol' Nny? LOL He is so delightfully mad in a completely insane world. For many of us Jhonen Vasquez fans, this is where it all began. Just us, Johnny, Nail Bunny and a few dead bodies laying around.
For those who are fans of the TV show Invader Zim but don't know JTHM, please educate yourselves 😉 This is truly a dark, captivating, clever and completely insane work of art. ❤❤❤❤❤
JTHM stands for Johnny The Homicidal Maniac. He is a young man who struggles with more than just mental illness. He has psychotic episodes, hallucinations, and more than that a desire to commit murder. He stuffs rats into stuffed animals and puts them into blenders. He Nails animals to the wall and then speaks to them. Creepier yet, they speak to him! He keeps people in the basement to exact his need for violence and bloodshed. And he constantly battles with the desire to commit suicide.
This is one of my most favorite comic book series. I love the artwork that Jhonen Vasquez presents. It is both creepy and stimulating to the eye. But as the creator of the Invader Zim series I would expect nothing less.
JTHM was his first adventure into creation via art and I have to say it's most definitely his best. The distain for living day today and the characters disgust for the rest of humanity are really felt through his artwork.
JTHM is both extremely comical and horrifyingly terrible. But obviously it is only that way for a select type of reader. I feel that most people would find this comic very unsettling. However I also feel that this is geared more towards the younger generations who would see the comedy of irony in it. I could speak volumes on this work but I will stop there to restrain myself from babbling LOL.
I would highly recommend this comic book series to anyone who likes Invader Zim or creepy comics in general.
What can I say about dear ol' Nny? LOL He is so delightfully mad in a completely insane world. For many of us Jhonen Vasquez fans, this is where it all began. Just us, Johnny, Nail Bunny and a few dead bodies laying around.
For those who are fans of the TV show Invader Zim but don't know JTHM, please educate yourselves 😉 This is truly a dark, captivating, clever and completely insane work of art. ❤❤❤❤❤
JTHM stands for Johnny The Homicidal Maniac. He is a young man who struggles with more than just mental illness. He has psychotic episodes, hallucinations, and more than that a desire to commit murder. He stuffs rats into stuffed animals and puts them into blenders. He Nails animals to the wall and then speaks to them. Creepier yet, they speak to him! He keeps people in the basement to exact his need for violence and bloodshed. And he constantly battles with the desire to commit suicide.
This is one of my most favorite comic book series. I love the artwork that Jhonen Vasquez presents. It is both creepy and stimulating to the eye. But as the creator of the Invader Zim series I would expect nothing less.
JTHM was his first adventure into creation via art and I have to say it's most definitely his best. The distain for living day today and the characters disgust for the rest of humanity are really felt through his artwork.
JTHM is both extremely comical and horrifyingly terrible. But obviously it is only that way for a select type of reader. I feel that most people would find this comic very unsettling. However I also feel that this is geared more towards the younger generations who would see the comedy of irony in it. I could speak volumes on this work but I will stop there to restrain myself from babbling LOL.
I would highly recommend this comic book series to anyone who likes Invader Zim or creepy comics in general.
August 30, 2015
Thank you, Best Buddy, for lending me this one to read.
As strange as this may sound--given the title--this was a very satisfying read.
Despite the fact that Nny (a.k.a., Johnny) is a raving lunatic with a vicious murderous streak, he has some of the most eloquent insights into human behavior that I've come across in reading. It's stark, and honest, and holds nothing back.
Given the fact that this is also an incredibly gory story to read--seriously, all kinds of killing in all kinds of ways happen here, so take a peek before you pick it up--there's a sort of twisted and yet viable (shockingly!) reason behind it all if you just give it a chance to develop.
A little treat, albeit difficult to read without several breaks in between parts.
As strange as this may sound--given the title--this was a very satisfying read.
Despite the fact that Nny (a.k.a., Johnny) is a raving lunatic with a vicious murderous streak, he has some of the most eloquent insights into human behavior that I've come across in reading. It's stark, and honest, and holds nothing back.
Given the fact that this is also an incredibly gory story to read--seriously, all kinds of killing in all kinds of ways happen here, so take a peek before you pick it up--there's a sort of twisted and yet viable (shockingly!) reason behind it all if you just give it a chance to develop.
A little treat, albeit difficult to read without several breaks in between parts.
May 15, 2011
So this is the first comic/graphic novel I have ever read and YES I realize I'm severely behind the times with this one. Rather than sneaking under high school bleachers to read this and feeling uber cool for reading something about a psycho killer, I read this in college and felt uber cool for reading something about a psycho killer. In my defense, I was all of about 6 when this first came out and I was not an uber cool toddler (what with the whole not-brushing-my-hair phase and all).
I really liked this; really seriously loved it. When I first picked it up, my much more comic savvy room mate told me that while it was cool back in high school that she'd grown past it and it's shock value. So, I pretty much walked into this expecting blood, gore and not much else. Honestly though, I think there is much more merit in this little book than the senseless and creative violence (although it certainly does get points for that).
While the title and reputation may attract the droves of black clothed rebellious pre-teens, there is a lot here for the post-pubescent reader; the dark humor is funny and entertaining throughout and although all of Johnny's monologues are obviously the rantings of a disturbed and melodramatic individual, I think a lot of his musings will keep any philosophically inclined person interested.
But then again, as I've moved from the depressed and angsty teen to the intellectually pretentious and sophomoric college student I am today, perhaps I am simply inclined to over analyze something that should have just been good old American gore fun.
MOOSE!
I really liked this; really seriously loved it. When I first picked it up, my much more comic savvy room mate told me that while it was cool back in high school that she'd grown past it and it's shock value. So, I pretty much walked into this expecting blood, gore and not much else. Honestly though, I think there is much more merit in this little book than the senseless and creative violence (although it certainly does get points for that).
While the title and reputation may attract the droves of black clothed rebellious pre-teens, there is a lot here for the post-pubescent reader; the dark humor is funny and entertaining throughout and although all of Johnny's monologues are obviously the rantings of a disturbed and melodramatic individual, I think a lot of his musings will keep any philosophically inclined person interested.
But then again, as I've moved from the depressed and angsty teen to the intellectually pretentious and sophomoric college student I am today, perhaps I am simply inclined to over analyze something that should have just been good old American gore fun.
MOOSE!
Read
February 26, 2020I've been asking people if they remember this, and so far nobody I've talked to does. Which is weird because it was such a thing for me! Very pre 9/11 nihilism, but rereading it was nostalgic fun.
March 22, 2010
I'm putting these two together, because they really do form one larger piece - the craft of an artistic mastermind. Although perhaps "mastermind" isn't the best word to use here. What do you call the person that they lock up when they're about fifteen because they keep saying things to their teachers like, "The human body has ten thousand miles of blood vessels in it and I can feel my hate for you coursing through every one?" Or the guy who buys a dog, takes care of it, feeds it, loves it, and then one day realizes that the dog has been spying on him for the CIA for years and buries it in his backyard? Or the angry hobo who lurches up to your car as you wait at the stop light, a bucket of dirty, grey water in one hand and a rotten squeegee in the other and proceeds to molest himself with it, afterward demanding that you gave him change, quote, "For the show"
That kind of guy. What would you call him?
Whatever it is, welcome to the world of Jhonen Vasquez. Strap yourself in.
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac is the story of Johnny C., known to his very few friends simply as Nny. Nny is rail-thin, yet something of a fashion plate, and lives in a broken-down house with two evil Styrofoam doughboys, a dead bunny nailed to a wall, and a gateway to a creature of infinite evil somewhere in one of the many basements of the house.
In his free time, Johnny kills people in horrible and graphically interesting ways.
Not because he's a bad person, necessarily. He does have the wall to feed, after all - a wall that has to be continually painted with fresh blood, lest the Evil come out of it. But he is, by his own admission, "quite horrendously insane." He murders for many reasons, the Evil Wall aside. He murders the people who feel superior to others (while at the same time feeling that he is superior to them). The kills the smug and the self-possessed, the materialistic and the bored, the lowbrows and the posers and the jerks who seem to infest every corner of his world. And while he does kill with great glee and abandon, he occasionally takes the time to wonder if what he's doing is worth it. If murder is all that his life has become. If maybe it would be better off to just end it all and kill himself.
Fortunately - or not - he has The Doughboys to keep him company. Two Styrofoam figures, painted by Nny, which talk to him constantly. One urges him to live and kill to his heart's content. The other presses him to commit suicide and leave this world behind. Whichever wins will be freed from his plastic prison and reunited with his evil master. As a balance to them is Nailbunny, which is pretty much just what it sounds like - a bunny rabbit that Johnny bought from the pet store and then one day nailed to the wall. Nailbunny (or at least its floating head) is the voice of reason in Johnny's life, urging him to be suspicious of the Doughboys and all they want. Despite his nihilistic view of the world, Johnny discovers that he does indeed have a purpose in life. Just not a very good one.
Johnny is, naturally, hard to sympathize with. Part of that comes from his almost cavalier attitude towards killing, but more than that, he's rather adolescent in his view of the world and how it works. Like so many teenagers, he has yet to grow a buffer between himself and the world, and cannot differentiate malicious acts from merely thoughtless ones. He feels every barb and every sting like hooks in his flesh, and the only way he is able to deal with it is through murderous rage. Reading it as an adult who remembers his teen years, I can certainly see where Johnny is coming from, but at the same time I wish he'd just grow up and learn to live in the world like the rest of us.
Which is a statement for which Johnny would no doubt gleefully murder me.
One of the major themes of these comics is conformity and humanity's need to follow each other into the abyss. Hypocritical characters dressed in all the latest fashions snub people who are slaves to public opinion. One of the worst offenders, a recurring character named Anne Gwish, embodies the modern Goth poser who shuns everyone while despairing that no one talks to her. Johnny's world is filled with these people and they all need killing. Even people who don't deserve death might end up falling to Johnny. In one of my favorite stories, "Goblins," a man who was chosen at random is strapped to a truly terrible machine, and faces his impending death with enviable conviction.
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac reads like an extended teenage revenge fantasy, if a highly philosophical and entertaining one. Eventually you figure out that, as Vasquez himself says, "He's not a loser, he's simply lost."
Themes of identity and social connection continue in the book SQUEE'S Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors. Young Squee (whose real name is Todd) is Johnny's neighbor and is featured in the very first JtHM story. Squee is a pitiful child, with parents who resent his very existence and a school that is constantly trying to crush the spirit out of him. Squee lives a life of unending terror as he's beset by nightmares, aliens, his cannibalistic grandfather, openly hateful parents, and a world that never seems to make sense. It is his young burden to have to live in a world created by Jhonen Vasquez.
Somehow, though, little Squee manages. Manages to get himself locked into an insane asylum, yes, but manages nonetheless.
The second half of the book features Vasquez's filler strips - one or two-page stories of pain, heartbreak and horror. Poor Wobbly-Headed Bob tries to convince the rest of the world to accept that he's smarter than they are, and can't understand why they want to kill him. True Tales of Human Drama are just that - dramatic, probably human and god I hope they're not true. Happy Noodle Boy is a free-form anarchistic story, allegedly drawn by Johnny himself, and I can never manage to finish one. My favorite filler strips are the Meanwhile.... strips, one of which features two elementary-school crossing guard children enacting the final battle between two entities of pure evil. Another depicts a first date gone horribly, horribly awry as a case of gastrointestinal distress engenders one of the best attempts to save face I've ever seen. A horrible, lying vampire, the revenge of the pinatas, and a case of childhood attachment issues gone horribly wrong, these are some of my favorite works in the whole series.
The work of Jhonen Vasquez certainly isn't for everyone. Even his famous animated program, Invader Zim, is a little weirder than most people are willing to accept for a children's show. It rewards patient reading and careful attention to the artwork. Which, I might add, is distinctive and disturbing and wonderful. Vasquez has created a style that's cartoonish and yet horrible, in which childlike glee can be rendered next to heart-stopping horror, and we can perfectly believe that they exist in the same world.
It's strange, horrible and funny all at the same time. If you're interested in something out of the ordinary, I can definitely recommend this.
That kind of guy. What would you call him?
Whatever it is, welcome to the world of Jhonen Vasquez. Strap yourself in.
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac is the story of Johnny C., known to his very few friends simply as Nny. Nny is rail-thin, yet something of a fashion plate, and lives in a broken-down house with two evil Styrofoam doughboys, a dead bunny nailed to a wall, and a gateway to a creature of infinite evil somewhere in one of the many basements of the house.
In his free time, Johnny kills people in horrible and graphically interesting ways.
Not because he's a bad person, necessarily. He does have the wall to feed, after all - a wall that has to be continually painted with fresh blood, lest the Evil come out of it. But he is, by his own admission, "quite horrendously insane." He murders for many reasons, the Evil Wall aside. He murders the people who feel superior to others (while at the same time feeling that he is superior to them). The kills the smug and the self-possessed, the materialistic and the bored, the lowbrows and the posers and the jerks who seem to infest every corner of his world. And while he does kill with great glee and abandon, he occasionally takes the time to wonder if what he's doing is worth it. If murder is all that his life has become. If maybe it would be better off to just end it all and kill himself.
Fortunately - or not - he has The Doughboys to keep him company. Two Styrofoam figures, painted by Nny, which talk to him constantly. One urges him to live and kill to his heart's content. The other presses him to commit suicide and leave this world behind. Whichever wins will be freed from his plastic prison and reunited with his evil master. As a balance to them is Nailbunny, which is pretty much just what it sounds like - a bunny rabbit that Johnny bought from the pet store and then one day nailed to the wall. Nailbunny (or at least its floating head) is the voice of reason in Johnny's life, urging him to be suspicious of the Doughboys and all they want. Despite his nihilistic view of the world, Johnny discovers that he does indeed have a purpose in life. Just not a very good one.
Johnny is, naturally, hard to sympathize with. Part of that comes from his almost cavalier attitude towards killing, but more than that, he's rather adolescent in his view of the world and how it works. Like so many teenagers, he has yet to grow a buffer between himself and the world, and cannot differentiate malicious acts from merely thoughtless ones. He feels every barb and every sting like hooks in his flesh, and the only way he is able to deal with it is through murderous rage. Reading it as an adult who remembers his teen years, I can certainly see where Johnny is coming from, but at the same time I wish he'd just grow up and learn to live in the world like the rest of us.
Which is a statement for which Johnny would no doubt gleefully murder me.
One of the major themes of these comics is conformity and humanity's need to follow each other into the abyss. Hypocritical characters dressed in all the latest fashions snub people who are slaves to public opinion. One of the worst offenders, a recurring character named Anne Gwish, embodies the modern Goth poser who shuns everyone while despairing that no one talks to her. Johnny's world is filled with these people and they all need killing. Even people who don't deserve death might end up falling to Johnny. In one of my favorite stories, "Goblins," a man who was chosen at random is strapped to a truly terrible machine, and faces his impending death with enviable conviction.
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac reads like an extended teenage revenge fantasy, if a highly philosophical and entertaining one. Eventually you figure out that, as Vasquez himself says, "He's not a loser, he's simply lost."
Themes of identity and social connection continue in the book SQUEE'S Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors. Young Squee (whose real name is Todd) is Johnny's neighbor and is featured in the very first JtHM story. Squee is a pitiful child, with parents who resent his very existence and a school that is constantly trying to crush the spirit out of him. Squee lives a life of unending terror as he's beset by nightmares, aliens, his cannibalistic grandfather, openly hateful parents, and a world that never seems to make sense. It is his young burden to have to live in a world created by Jhonen Vasquez.
Somehow, though, little Squee manages. Manages to get himself locked into an insane asylum, yes, but manages nonetheless.
The second half of the book features Vasquez's filler strips - one or two-page stories of pain, heartbreak and horror. Poor Wobbly-Headed Bob tries to convince the rest of the world to accept that he's smarter than they are, and can't understand why they want to kill him. True Tales of Human Drama are just that - dramatic, probably human and god I hope they're not true. Happy Noodle Boy is a free-form anarchistic story, allegedly drawn by Johnny himself, and I can never manage to finish one. My favorite filler strips are the Meanwhile.... strips, one of which features two elementary-school crossing guard children enacting the final battle between two entities of pure evil. Another depicts a first date gone horribly, horribly awry as a case of gastrointestinal distress engenders one of the best attempts to save face I've ever seen. A horrible, lying vampire, the revenge of the pinatas, and a case of childhood attachment issues gone horribly wrong, these are some of my favorite works in the whole series.
The work of Jhonen Vasquez certainly isn't for everyone. Even his famous animated program, Invader Zim, is a little weirder than most people are willing to accept for a children's show. It rewards patient reading and careful attention to the artwork. Which, I might add, is distinctive and disturbing and wonderful. Vasquez has created a style that's cartoonish and yet horrible, in which childlike glee can be rendered next to heart-stopping horror, and we can perfectly believe that they exist in the same world.
It's strange, horrible and funny all at the same time. If you're interested in something out of the ordinary, I can definitely recommend this.
March 21, 2009
This comic book is not for the faint of heart. It chronicles the experiences of Nny(short for Johnny) C., a man who kills people who even slightly irk him. It can be someone who trips him for no reason, or has a tie that he doesn't like. However, the story is way deeper than just ruthless killing. There are supernatural influences behind Nny's killing sprees, making it impossible for him to be caught, even when brutally killing someone in public. Nny says he must kill in order to paint a certain wall in his house with his victim's blood in order to keep a monster from breaking through. Nny also has his internal voices having lives of their own, in the form of two possessed styrofoam Pillsbury Doughboys, and the decomposed body of a rabbit that Nny brought home and fed for three days before nailing it to a wall. The main theme of the story is Nny questioning his place in the world, and why things are the way they are. Recommended for anyone who likes deep thinking and is okay with graphic murder scenes and almost continual profanity. There are also sequels of sorts, called Squee and I Feel Sick, which follow the stories of two side characters from the original comic.
June 10, 2013
Like any other self-respecting high school goth kid of the early 2000s, I was a teenage Jhonen Vasquez fan. I decided to revisit this on a nostalgic impulse when I saw it at a comic shop (the awesome In The Ball Park of Lancaster, OH). I've been pretty dismissive of Vasquez in the past, mentally categorizing him based on the "taco cheese moose of doom!" style of random humor made popular by Invader Zim and espoused in Hot Topics the world over. What struck me in rereading this was that, at least in early works like JTHM and Squee!, he made it work. There's more going on here than gratuitous blood and shock humor - although there's a healthy dose of that, to which I do not, in principle, object. When I finished it last night, I was actually surprised to realize that I wanted there to be more. Nny has basically no backstory, but the little bit that's revealed about him during his trips to heaven and hell in JTHM #6 started to set up a unique cosmology that the series doesn't have time to further develop. In conclusion - "Kids, don't be scared! He don't bite!"
September 20, 2014
I Should Have Read This When I Was 15
So much angst. Just angsty angst from start to finish. Yes, there's some murder, but mostly this is a long-form rant about hip kids in subcultural groups (goths, punks), who make fun of other people to make themselves feel better. It's really talky and kind of repetitive. Johnny kidnaps someone and tortures that person while proselytizing about the wrongs of mistreating people. Eventually, it gets a little deeper, but it's kind of like punk rock. You really have to get into it when you're a teenager for it to hit you the right way.
So much angst. Just angsty angst from start to finish. Yes, there's some murder, but mostly this is a long-form rant about hip kids in subcultural groups (goths, punks), who make fun of other people to make themselves feel better. It's really talky and kind of repetitive. Johnny kidnaps someone and tortures that person while proselytizing about the wrongs of mistreating people. Eventually, it gets a little deeper, but it's kind of like punk rock. You really have to get into it when you're a teenager for it to hit you the right way.
October 11, 2019
This is an amazing book! I highly recommend it!
March 11, 2019
I am consistently unimpressed with Graphic novels as a body of work, as well as with the people who read them and think they are actually remotely good. This was such a crap, indulgent, lazily written book. It's basically the fevered musings of a very immature, pretentious, petty man with a short attention span who is only interested in expressing how much he hates the outside world because all people ever do is pick on each other for the way they look. What an immensely stupid world-view. It seriously reads like the work of a teenager with ADD. God forbid he should strive to write something with any sort of coherent plot structure.
Awful, stupid garbage. I'm especially annoyed at all you Graphic Novel Afficiandos who were dumb enough to give this a high rating and trick me into buying it. I guess the standard of writing that people expect from Graphic Novels must be REALLY low.
EDIT: Several people over the years have left comments telling me that I should read such and such a GN, that some of them are really good, that I can't just slag off an entire genre etc.
Just to be clear, it wasn't my intention to say that all graphic novels are bad. A tiny proportion of them are actually really good. What I meant to say was that 60% of the highly rated GNs on goodreads seem to be absolutely terrible and I'm annoyed at you guys for duping me into wasting so much of my money on them.
I actually enjoy graphic novels as a medium. I just think that we have to admit that the general standard of writing for highly rated graphic novels (like this one) is pretty abominable when compared to the average highly-rated, grown-up novel.
Awful, stupid garbage. I'm especially annoyed at all you Graphic Novel Afficiandos who were dumb enough to give this a high rating and trick me into buying it. I guess the standard of writing that people expect from Graphic Novels must be REALLY low.
EDIT: Several people over the years have left comments telling me that I should read such and such a GN, that some of them are really good, that I can't just slag off an entire genre etc.
Just to be clear, it wasn't my intention to say that all graphic novels are bad. A tiny proportion of them are actually really good. What I meant to say was that 60% of the highly rated GNs on goodreads seem to be absolutely terrible and I'm annoyed at you guys for duping me into wasting so much of my money on them.
I actually enjoy graphic novels as a medium. I just think that we have to admit that the general standard of writing for highly rated graphic novels (like this one) is pretty abominable when compared to the average highly-rated, grown-up novel.
October 8, 2008
4 Stars
Ridiculous and disgusting, yet strangely hilarious, Jhonen Vasquez starts his series without much more than a bunch of explicit violence-driven gags. But a little earlier than midway, his tendency to inject Sandman-like philosophical rants into his lovable homicidal protaganist gives the book a much needed second dimension, and by the time a supernatural element sneaks it's way into the story, the reader may find themselves hooked. This zany orgy of blood and guts has an existential core that creeps up on you, placing you into a mode you wont really find anywhere else: horrified, laughing uncontrollably, and in serious doubt about the fine line between stability and destruction.
Ridiculous and disgusting, yet strangely hilarious, Jhonen Vasquez starts his series without much more than a bunch of explicit violence-driven gags. But a little earlier than midway, his tendency to inject Sandman-like philosophical rants into his lovable homicidal protaganist gives the book a much needed second dimension, and by the time a supernatural element sneaks it's way into the story, the reader may find themselves hooked. This zany orgy of blood and guts has an existential core that creeps up on you, placing you into a mode you wont really find anywhere else: horrified, laughing uncontrollably, and in serious doubt about the fine line between stability and destruction.
January 12, 2023
This is one of those comics classics that seems to appeal way beyond the usual comic-reading audience. I picked it up exclusively due to its high rating on this site and in other places. I'm not familiar with Vasquez's other works including his work in animation.
I'm not sure about it.
On one hand, the art work is fine, the subject matter is dark and funny in a black comedy way (sometimes more directly comedic too). It's pretty wordy and at times I found a drag to read. I've never been a big fan of narratives that are obviously serialized.
It's not a bad series at all. Just not seeing the hype!
I'm not sure about it.
On one hand, the art work is fine, the subject matter is dark and funny in a black comedy way (sometimes more directly comedic too). It's pretty wordy and at times I found a drag to read. I've never been a big fan of narratives that are obviously serialized.
It's not a bad series at all. Just not seeing the hype!
April 22, 2020
How have I never reviewed this? Since discovering JTHM in HS, I must've read this story a dozen times.
Nny's struggles and journey is one of the best, most horrific hero's stories I've ever read.
He makes Dexter look like an amateur and Deadpool a saint.
Nny's struggles and journey is one of the best, most horrific hero's stories I've ever read.
He makes Dexter look like an amateur and Deadpool a saint.
July 7, 2012
I came across this strangely charming comic through knowledge of Jhonen's newer works (from my icon, if you're familiar with it, you'll probably of guessed that certain works to be the cult-hit cartoon, Invader ZIM). I was not certain about this comic, while not squeamish or put off by hefty amounts of gore (Bloody Mess perk on Fallout 3), a comic solely about a homicidal maniac didn't strike me as particularly thorough material. However, I managed to find a scan of the first part online and eventually quite liked some of the characters, even the titular 'protagonist' Johnny and also fell in love with the humour and messages hidden in the pages.
I intended to buy the hardback director's cut online, but after that not happening for two weeks, I popped into my local comic store and just so happened to see the paperback, and almost had a heart attack. I bought it, and never regretted it.
The story does exist, and is exceptionally dark and really adds dimension to Johnny, we even sympathize with him even though we've seen him do some God-awful things to people - because he's funny, mainly. This comic is literally laced with sarcasm, so I'm not sure what an American would think of this other than take it way too personally.
At times the writing can be obtuse and full of itself. Vasquez himself openly admits it is, which is why he's not fond of it too much.
The artwork is sassy and unique -the only other black and white American comic I can think of is Sin City- with strong character. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it improves massively in the later chapters. The art really helps the reader understand the characters, especially Johnny since the vibe of the artwork compliments the levels of insanity he faces with a suffers from during the length of the story (and beyond!).
A typically Jhonen Vasquez work, the ending is somewhat bitter sweet, yet very satisfying, and the plot speeds up quickly during part 3 and soon everything is happening in a closer time period instead of previous parts which could have been taking days or even weeks after the previous chapters.
I'd definitely recommend the Director's Cut for authour notes; Jhonen gives his fans a plethora of sarcastic remarks and some brilliant little jokes hidden in the panels that really just add to the experience and had me laughing out loud at times (somebody put shit in my pants!).
The reason I've given this 4/5 stars is because the plot and characters are well thought out, although some minor characters are very flat and just irritating -although that's actually the point- and the art starts off being slightly awkward and clunky. The philosophical implications are very deeply thought out, but don't take this comic as the source of your daily moral, as some parts of the philosophy can be quite messed up.
The main reason this didn't get 5/5 stars was its regularly pompous writing, and those funny Happy Noodle Boy intervals, while hilarious on their own, didn't add to the atmosphere and were sometimes laborious to read.
I intended to buy the hardback director's cut online, but after that not happening for two weeks, I popped into my local comic store and just so happened to see the paperback, and almost had a heart attack. I bought it, and never regretted it.
The story does exist, and is exceptionally dark and really adds dimension to Johnny, we even sympathize with him even though we've seen him do some God-awful things to people - because he's funny, mainly. This comic is literally laced with sarcasm, so I'm not sure what an American would think of this other than take it way too personally.
At times the writing can be obtuse and full of itself. Vasquez himself openly admits it is, which is why he's not fond of it too much.
The artwork is sassy and unique -the only other black and white American comic I can think of is Sin City- with strong character. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it improves massively in the later chapters. The art really helps the reader understand the characters, especially Johnny since the vibe of the artwork compliments the levels of insanity he faces with a suffers from during the length of the story (and beyond!).
A typically Jhonen Vasquez work, the ending is somewhat bitter sweet, yet very satisfying, and the plot speeds up quickly during part 3 and soon everything is happening in a closer time period instead of previous parts which could have been taking days or even weeks after the previous chapters.
I'd definitely recommend the Director's Cut for authour notes; Jhonen gives his fans a plethora of sarcastic remarks and some brilliant little jokes hidden in the panels that really just add to the experience and had me laughing out loud at times (somebody put shit in my pants!).
The reason I've given this 4/5 stars is because the plot and characters are well thought out, although some minor characters are very flat and just irritating -although that's actually the point- and the art starts off being slightly awkward and clunky. The philosophical implications are very deeply thought out, but don't take this comic as the source of your daily moral, as some parts of the philosophy can be quite messed up.
The main reason this didn't get 5/5 stars was its regularly pompous writing, and those funny Happy Noodle Boy intervals, while hilarious on their own, didn't add to the atmosphere and were sometimes laborious to read.
September 13, 2009
I put this book on my fantasy-and-adventure shelf, but it really deserves it's own shelf called "F&*%ing twisted". But that's purely for the benefit of other people reading this, as there's rather little that actually disturbs me in the realm of fiction and, while this complete collection of Vasquez's infamous comic is certainly gorey and twisted, I find quite a lot within its pages to enjoy and value.
Johnny is a boy, or perhaps young man, who feels an overwhelming urge to kidnap, torture, and murder any citizen of the city he lives in that insults him, harms him, or just simply irks him in some small manner. It is clear that Johnny is not a boy in control of his conscience, as evidenced by the various inanimate objects in his living quarters that become not only animate but snarkily intellectual, acting, it seems, as the conflicting shards of Johnny's torn mind. But eventually we learn that Johnny isn't COMPLETELY insane; there really IS a good reason for him to keep fresh coats of blood painted onto a particular wall deep in the catacombs beneath his shack of a house.
There are a few reasons I only gave this book four stars. While I very highly enjoy Vasquez's hilarious satirical swipes at the deadening commercialism that fills our cities and the vapid youth culture that drives Johnny into his rage, and I very much like his style of drawing, this book still comes in a bit short of the finish line for being called a collector's edition. Johnny originally was published as most comics are, in small, seperate issues of twenty-four pages or less, and those issues of JTHM contained a variety of sub-strips, not all of which are present here in this book. Vasquez draws his characters with long, spindly limbs and jaggedly detailed expressions and clothing, which I love, but there's a common struggle that artists drawing in black and white face, and that is the task of making the foreground stand out from the background, and of making objects distinguishable from one another. Without color, a beautifully rendered drawing can still appear to be quite the chaotic mess. Mike Mignola, who has given us Hellboy, is the absolute master of doing this (and nevermind that all of his work is colored; without color, his work with form and shadow would still be brilliant and the farthest thing from confusing) and is thus also the rule by which all others are judged, for better or worse. Vasquez draws some fantastic scenes, but I often had to let my eyes linger on a panel longer than should have been needed to make out what was what and who was who.
Aside from those small issues, this is a wonderful volume with which to indulge your appreciation for the hilariously obscene and vulgar.
Johnny is a boy, or perhaps young man, who feels an overwhelming urge to kidnap, torture, and murder any citizen of the city he lives in that insults him, harms him, or just simply irks him in some small manner. It is clear that Johnny is not a boy in control of his conscience, as evidenced by the various inanimate objects in his living quarters that become not only animate but snarkily intellectual, acting, it seems, as the conflicting shards of Johnny's torn mind. But eventually we learn that Johnny isn't COMPLETELY insane; there really IS a good reason for him to keep fresh coats of blood painted onto a particular wall deep in the catacombs beneath his shack of a house.
There are a few reasons I only gave this book four stars. While I very highly enjoy Vasquez's hilarious satirical swipes at the deadening commercialism that fills our cities and the vapid youth culture that drives Johnny into his rage, and I very much like his style of drawing, this book still comes in a bit short of the finish line for being called a collector's edition. Johnny originally was published as most comics are, in small, seperate issues of twenty-four pages or less, and those issues of JTHM contained a variety of sub-strips, not all of which are present here in this book. Vasquez draws his characters with long, spindly limbs and jaggedly detailed expressions and clothing, which I love, but there's a common struggle that artists drawing in black and white face, and that is the task of making the foreground stand out from the background, and of making objects distinguishable from one another. Without color, a beautifully rendered drawing can still appear to be quite the chaotic mess. Mike Mignola, who has given us Hellboy, is the absolute master of doing this (and nevermind that all of his work is colored; without color, his work with form and shadow would still be brilliant and the farthest thing from confusing) and is thus also the rule by which all others are judged, for better or worse. Vasquez draws some fantastic scenes, but I often had to let my eyes linger on a panel longer than should have been needed to make out what was what and who was who.
Aside from those small issues, this is a wonderful volume with which to indulge your appreciation for the hilariously obscene and vulgar.
June 23, 2007
JTHM will always have a special place in the blackest, nastiest corner of my heart due to its being the first official comic book/graphic novel I ever read. What I love about the book is that it's not the gore that scares me, it's the thought behind it. Johnny's existential crises come hard, fast and psychotic, as well as at the cost of many many lives. The book works because it's not simply a splatter book with the killer we all know and love. Johnny is a complex, thoughtful, aware and self-loathing character and some of the ideas and images in the book, from the blood wall to the trip to the afterlife to the snicker-worthily named Die-Ary entries give a strange depth of feeling in the book. There's something primal and otherworldly at work here, and although you can feel touches of Johnen's inspirations here and there, this is a personal work unlike just about anything else out there.
The art is fantastic as well, fitting ever-so-perfectly into the skewed perspective of the protagonist. Have there been more horrifying creatures fashioned into ink and paper funnies than The Doughboys? A stranger imagining of Heaven? A portrayal of God that is at equal lengths horrifying, hilarious and enigmatic?
And it's funny. Oh lord, is it funny. Heaven help me, Happy Noodle Boy will never cease to make me laugh. Probably because I, like the rest of the Johnniacs, am more than a little screwy.
The art is fantastic as well, fitting ever-so-perfectly into the skewed perspective of the protagonist. Have there been more horrifying creatures fashioned into ink and paper funnies than The Doughboys? A stranger imagining of Heaven? A portrayal of God that is at equal lengths horrifying, hilarious and enigmatic?
And it's funny. Oh lord, is it funny. Heaven help me, Happy Noodle Boy will never cease to make me laugh. Probably because I, like the rest of the Johnniacs, am more than a little screwy.
May 14, 2011
I actually became aware of this book by a girl in one of our old youth groups. She was a huge fan of the series, and recommended them to me. I went online and found the compilation and ordered it. This is not a novel, it is more like a graphically illustrated comic book, BUT the writing is solid.
Vasquez has a profound statement at the beginning about the "monster" locked inside of all of us. (The reason why we "rubber-neck" at car accident scenes and sometimes fantasize about hurting people that hurt us) I have struggled with anger issues in the past and always referred to those episodes as "letting the monster out", so naturally I immediately was drawn in by this story.
Johnny (the main character) is plagued by a monster that lives behind the wall of his house. He has to keep the wall covered in fresh blood to keep the monster at bay. Other "colorful" characters are added along the way (Happy Noodle Boy, Mr. Eff, Nail Bunny)that add some weight and comic relief to the inner struggle Johnny faces. The book was entertaining, but not for the faint of heart...VERY graphic!
Vasquez has a profound statement at the beginning about the "monster" locked inside of all of us. (The reason why we "rubber-neck" at car accident scenes and sometimes fantasize about hurting people that hurt us) I have struggled with anger issues in the past and always referred to those episodes as "letting the monster out", so naturally I immediately was drawn in by this story.
Johnny (the main character) is plagued by a monster that lives behind the wall of his house. He has to keep the wall covered in fresh blood to keep the monster at bay. Other "colorful" characters are added along the way (Happy Noodle Boy, Mr. Eff, Nail Bunny)that add some weight and comic relief to the inner struggle Johnny faces. The book was entertaining, but not for the faint of heart...VERY graphic!
August 24, 2009
Blood, twisted humor and a look down on society. I absolutely love this book! Johnny C. (or Nny) kills people, not only the ones who deserve it, but people who call him wacky and randoms he meets on the street. He lives in a house filled with torture rooms and a wall with a need for blood, with 2 psychotic doughboys and a floating rabbit head for company. The closest thing he has to a friend is his neighbor, a small boy named Squee, and he writes a comic called Happy Noodle Boy. It's bloody and destructive, but parts of it still ring true.
Despite (or maybe because of) all the torture/death/blood/funny bits/gore/general twisted hilarity of it, I cannot get over this book. Vasquez offers insight into the little part of all of us that just wants to go out and MURDER everyone that's done you wrong. The art is great, the story is great, and you read it again and again after it's over.
Despite (or maybe because of) all the torture/death/blood/funny bits/gore/general twisted hilarity of it, I cannot get over this book. Vasquez offers insight into the little part of all of us that just wants to go out and MURDER everyone that's done you wrong. The art is great, the story is great, and you read it again and again after it's over.
January 17, 2013
I read the first 4 issues of the JTHM comic books when I was a teenager, so decided I'd pick up the complete set to revisit and finish the series.
Just as I had remembered, it was disturbing, dark and all a little bit wrong. Illustrations are brilliantly detailed, and in places the stories are quite funny (grotesque violence if funny right?).
I especially liked some of the public service announcements. Here's a gem: "Kids. Drug's won't help things. They'll only turn you into a hideous little freak troll-baby with exploding eyeballs". Words to live by right there.
As a 17 year old, I wouldn't have hesitated in giving this 5 stars. Unfortunately it seems that over the last 15 years, I've grown up a bit. Only a little bit though.
Now to hide this from the kids... (and no mum, you can't borrow this one).
Just as I had remembered, it was disturbing, dark and all a little bit wrong. Illustrations are brilliantly detailed, and in places the stories are quite funny (grotesque violence if funny right?).
I especially liked some of the public service announcements. Here's a gem: "Kids. Drug's won't help things. They'll only turn you into a hideous little freak troll-baby with exploding eyeballs". Words to live by right there.
As a 17 year old, I wouldn't have hesitated in giving this 5 stars. Unfortunately it seems that over the last 15 years, I've grown up a bit. Only a little bit though.
Now to hide this from the kids... (and no mum, you can't borrow this one).
May 21, 2008
I read this cover to cover at work on a particularly long shift. It's pretty charming, but it gets a little old. A little heavy on the Hot Topic-type philosophy.
February 21, 2023
Re-read review:
Re-reading this comic as an adult over 10 years later was, not only a funnier experience, but gave me a much greater appreciation for how profound the story is.
If you've ever seen Nickelodeon's Invader Zim (created by the author) and recall its bizarre, dark comedy, JTHM takes it to a whole new level--given that this is for an older audience. One page, you'll laugh at Johnny killing people over minor inconveniences (ex: getting called "wacky"); the next, you'll see the gravitas of such crimes, with the kidnapped victims crying and begging to be spared.
Also part psychological horror, this series ends with more questions than answers--was Johnny always like this, or did something significant happen in his past to make him this way? What exactly was the ? As such, this is definitely a book that requires a re-read or two, for the readers to form their own theories and interpretations. (For me, I think there was a supernatural force at play as to why )
The black-and-white art style is crude, practically messy. At times, you can even tell that Vasquez ran out of room in a speech bubble to spell out words, thus, several typos (fun fact: when there are thorns around a bubble, it means the character is angry). But, of course, it fits perfectly for such a macabre tale, set in the grunge era of the late 1990s.
What surprised me the second time around was the realization that I'd seen such brutal murder scenes as a young teenager, along with seemingly flying by monologues that contained words I definitely wasn't familiar with at the time.
There are two spin-offs: Squee's Big Wonderful Book of Unspeakable Horrors which, as the title suggests, focuses on Nny's next-door kid neighbor. And I Feel Sick in which Devi D. is the protagonist (before, I actually didn't like the way she ) as she (literally) battles her own demons.
---
I remember ordering this from Barnes & Noble after re-runs of Invader Zim were coming back to Nicktoons. By then, I became obsessed with the show and this comic seemed interesting to me. At the time, I was a troubled teenager who liked the idea of killing bullies -- I know, twisted, but certainly not to the extent Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold had.
There were only one or two copies at the Barnes & Noble store, and I believe I read just the first quarter of it. After buying it, I read the rest, and really enjoyed it.
While it can be disturbing and rude, there were times where I did laugh, such as the author's little commentary. And then there was that shocking mood whiplash, with Johnny .
What I really love is how there's a slow build-up to the story, what with Johnny's conversations with his two Pillsbury statues and dead bunny. There's all this talk about Johnny's mental state and what's up with his blood-covered wall. Besides black humor, it also has a deep and serious side. I liked and sympathized with the insane main character, and also loved his relationship with his next-door neighbor.
Even though it can appear rather messy, I enjoyed Vasquez's art style -- not only because I could see some resemblances to his future characters in Invader Zim, but also because he really put a lot of detail into it, especially .
The ending was pretty satisfying, too.
Re-reading this comic as an adult over 10 years later was, not only a funnier experience, but gave me a much greater appreciation for how profound the story is.
If you've ever seen Nickelodeon's Invader Zim (created by the author) and recall its bizarre, dark comedy, JTHM takes it to a whole new level--given that this is for an older audience. One page, you'll laugh at Johnny killing people over minor inconveniences (ex: getting called "wacky"); the next, you'll see the gravitas of such crimes, with the kidnapped victims crying and begging to be spared.
Also part psychological horror, this series ends with more questions than answers--was Johnny always like this, or did something significant happen in his past to make him this way? What exactly was the ? As such, this is definitely a book that requires a re-read or two, for the readers to form their own theories and interpretations. (For me, I think there was a supernatural force at play as to why )
The black-and-white art style is crude, practically messy. At times, you can even tell that Vasquez ran out of room in a speech bubble to spell out words, thus, several typos (fun fact: when there are thorns around a bubble, it means the character is angry). But, of course, it fits perfectly for such a macabre tale, set in the grunge era of the late 1990s.
What surprised me the second time around was the realization that I'd seen such brutal murder scenes as a young teenager, along with seemingly flying by monologues that contained words I definitely wasn't familiar with at the time.
There are two spin-offs: Squee's Big Wonderful Book of Unspeakable Horrors which, as the title suggests, focuses on Nny's next-door kid neighbor. And I Feel Sick in which Devi D. is the protagonist (before, I actually didn't like the way she ) as she (literally) battles her own demons.
---
I remember ordering this from Barnes & Noble after re-runs of Invader Zim were coming back to Nicktoons. By then, I became obsessed with the show and this comic seemed interesting to me. At the time, I was a troubled teenager who liked the idea of killing bullies -- I know, twisted, but certainly not to the extent Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold had.
There were only one or two copies at the Barnes & Noble store, and I believe I read just the first quarter of it. After buying it, I read the rest, and really enjoyed it.
While it can be disturbing and rude, there were times where I did laugh, such as the author's little commentary. And then there was that shocking mood whiplash, with Johnny .
What I really love is how there's a slow build-up to the story, what with Johnny's conversations with his two Pillsbury statues and dead bunny. There's all this talk about Johnny's mental state and what's up with his blood-covered wall. Besides black humor, it also has a deep and serious side. I liked and sympathized with the insane main character, and also loved his relationship with his next-door neighbor.
Even though it can appear rather messy, I enjoyed Vasquez's art style -- not only because I could see some resemblances to his future characters in Invader Zim, but also because he really put a lot of detail into it, especially .
The ending was pretty satisfying, too.
November 1, 2010
How are you supposed to rate comic books? You can't compare different style of illustration, and short strip comics often don't have a linear plot so you can't go for the story alone either. Should originality make up for extra stars? Or the format and overall quality and deliverance?
JTHM is probably the only comic collection I've bothered to read more than once. It is so incredibly detailed that almost every single frame contains some other 'clues' and satirical comments by the intruding author that are hidden like Wally. It's an absurd puzzle that requires a magnifying glass and reading it not only up-side down but cross eyed and around. I had about 30 minutes the first time I borrowed it from a friend due to its immense popularity in high school. But now it seems Vasquez is more known for Invader Zimm rather than his earlier work including this and Squee which are arguably much more genuine and uncompromising. I have a theory about Nny's actual 'homicidal tendency'. He can be compared to the protagonist of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho in which both characters not only lack basic empathy, but both live under the stimulation of ultra-violence as a coping mechanism. Nny's universe is shocking restricted, and its boundary is emphasised by Vasquez constant reminder that he is a creation of the author himself (Vasquez does love to play with his 'god-complex', that is if you are familiar with his blog Question Sleep). Nny both creates hell and lives in it - have you noticed how you're hardly exposed to scenarios where Nny cleans up the corpses or capture his victims? Vasquez always opens the story with a confrontation between Nny and someone, or a manifestation of his alter-ego (the polarised pig dolls of Fuck and Z?) despite Nny's insistence of his anti-social trait. Is he lonely? But more importantly, why is he lonely? Ultimately, he is a tool trapped in a Nietzschean universe. You may call it nihilistic, but Nny never had a chance to alter his fate. From the very beginning Nny encounters Squee with seemingly pointless randomness, his existence is equally absurd. He isn't physically alive, and his killings are a portal for him to reach into this world, to connect with normality. It is possible that Nny is the one person his universe has expelled. His intelligence didn't exclude him from the realisation that he has neither the ability nor Vasquez's mercy to ever reach an end. It is this purgatory of gore that is more terrifying than the physical act, perhaps a parody of the biblical account of the Garden of Eden (it's also interesting to compare this to the period when he stayed in heaven).
Although Vasquez's style is extremely graphic, I feel that it is far from glorified. All characters and plot that revolve around Nny are so well considered philosophically I find it hard to dismiss them as mere gratuitous violence. Having said that, I still think Jhonen should see a psychologist.
JTHM is probably the only comic collection I've bothered to read more than once. It is so incredibly detailed that almost every single frame contains some other 'clues' and satirical comments by the intruding author that are hidden like Wally. It's an absurd puzzle that requires a magnifying glass and reading it not only up-side down but cross eyed and around. I had about 30 minutes the first time I borrowed it from a friend due to its immense popularity in high school. But now it seems Vasquez is more known for Invader Zimm rather than his earlier work including this and Squee which are arguably much more genuine and uncompromising. I have a theory about Nny's actual 'homicidal tendency'. He can be compared to the protagonist of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho in which both characters not only lack basic empathy, but both live under the stimulation of ultra-violence as a coping mechanism. Nny's universe is shocking restricted, and its boundary is emphasised by Vasquez constant reminder that he is a creation of the author himself (Vasquez does love to play with his 'god-complex', that is if you are familiar with his blog Question Sleep). Nny both creates hell and lives in it - have you noticed how you're hardly exposed to scenarios where Nny cleans up the corpses or capture his victims? Vasquez always opens the story with a confrontation between Nny and someone, or a manifestation of his alter-ego (the polarised pig dolls of Fuck and Z?) despite Nny's insistence of his anti-social trait. Is he lonely? But more importantly, why is he lonely? Ultimately, he is a tool trapped in a Nietzschean universe. You may call it nihilistic, but Nny never had a chance to alter his fate. From the very beginning Nny encounters Squee with seemingly pointless randomness, his existence is equally absurd. He isn't physically alive, and his killings are a portal for him to reach into this world, to connect with normality. It is possible that Nny is the one person his universe has expelled. His intelligence didn't exclude him from the realisation that he has neither the ability nor Vasquez's mercy to ever reach an end. It is this purgatory of gore that is more terrifying than the physical act, perhaps a parody of the biblical account of the Garden of Eden (it's also interesting to compare this to the period when he stayed in heaven).
Although Vasquez's style is extremely graphic, I feel that it is far from glorified. All characters and plot that revolve around Nny are so well considered philosophically I find it hard to dismiss them as mere gratuitous violence. Having said that, I still think Jhonen should see a psychologist.
January 7, 2008
To properly explain how this got on my list of reviews, I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you a glimpse into my thought process which is very fitting to what this graphic novel encompasses.
Up until I browsed my (at this point only) friends list of books I was not aware that graphic novels could be part of my set. After seeing his compilation of "Achewood" comix on his read list I started thinking about what comics or graphic novels would make mine.
As a geek and a freak, comics have been part of my life since I was catching cooties and playing with G.I. Joe action figures. As I developed my taste for all things comic grew (or at least I would like to think it did). I graduated from Peanuts and X-men to Calvin and Hobbes and...well...more X-men. Doonsebury followed with...well X-men and eventually I put down the newspaper funny pages and picked up a joint. Though I still love me a good funny page read from time to time my comic interests vaulted into a much more adult world and before Transmetropolitan and even before Preacher there was Johnny.
If you or (more likely) your child ever glimpsed the Invader Zim cartoon than you are familiar with the artwork of Vasquez. "Artwork" is key as he was penning comic books long before he ever had a cartoon on Nickelodeon. Would parents look at "Zim" differently after reading JTHM (abbrevition for Johnny The Homicidal Maniac)? The answer is a resounding FUCK YES.
The book is disturbing, dark and down right nasty. I understood the darkness contained and how everyone has their own demons to fight. Mr. Vasquez followed up with another, much shorter tome titled "I Feel Sick" which is...well...very appropriately titled. Up until I saw a Zim cartoon I wondered what had happened to him and I am glad to see his warped humor and fantastic ability translated into something you can share with your twelve your old.
But sweet fucking Jesus on a stick, JTHM is not for the feint of heart or weak of stomach and DEFINITELY not for your teenage son/daughter. Enjoy, but be warned for Zim is nothing like Johnny.
Up until I browsed my (at this point only) friends list of books I was not aware that graphic novels could be part of my set. After seeing his compilation of "Achewood" comix on his read list I started thinking about what comics or graphic novels would make mine.
As a geek and a freak, comics have been part of my life since I was catching cooties and playing with G.I. Joe action figures. As I developed my taste for all things comic grew (or at least I would like to think it did). I graduated from Peanuts and X-men to Calvin and Hobbes and...well...more X-men. Doonsebury followed with...well X-men and eventually I put down the newspaper funny pages and picked up a joint. Though I still love me a good funny page read from time to time my comic interests vaulted into a much more adult world and before Transmetropolitan and even before Preacher there was Johnny.
If you or (more likely) your child ever glimpsed the Invader Zim cartoon than you are familiar with the artwork of Vasquez. "Artwork" is key as he was penning comic books long before he ever had a cartoon on Nickelodeon. Would parents look at "Zim" differently after reading JTHM (abbrevition for Johnny The Homicidal Maniac)? The answer is a resounding FUCK YES.
The book is disturbing, dark and down right nasty. I understood the darkness contained and how everyone has their own demons to fight. Mr. Vasquez followed up with another, much shorter tome titled "I Feel Sick" which is...well...very appropriately titled. Up until I saw a Zim cartoon I wondered what had happened to him and I am glad to see his warped humor and fantastic ability translated into something you can share with your twelve your old.
But sweet fucking Jesus on a stick, JTHM is not for the feint of heart or weak of stomach and DEFINITELY not for your teenage son/daughter. Enjoy, but be warned for Zim is nothing like Johnny.
February 21, 2016
Gory, darkly humored, gothic, and fun, Johnny The Homicidal Maniac is the perfect book for you if you like characters that seemingly randomly kill people in interesting ways.
In the book, Johnny(or Nny) is exactly as the title describes: a homicidal maniac. Nny kills to keep a wall painted with blood to stop whatever is on the other side from coming out. Nny also kills because he admits that he is a homicidal maniac, yet is unsure because insane people cannot be sure of whether or not they are insane. Nny also cannot accept when someone loves him, and so he tries to kill her. Basically, Nny is just an enigmatic homicidal maniac who kills because of many reasons that cannot easily be explained other than the fact that he is a homicidal maniac. Even when Nny dies,his questions of the cruelty in the world and his existence (along with other homicidal maniacs) are unanswered by God (who is portrayed as a fat baby) and unanswered clearly by the devil. When Nny is finally forced to live again, he is left wondering about the point of his existence and is left lost, wandering until he can find a place where he belongs.
To make things even better, Nny goes through this story while terrifying Squee (his 4 or 6 year old neighbor) who hears voices from his teddy bear Shmee and who is hated by both his parents. This adds a more darkly humored twist to the story especially when scenes of Squee's trauma are thrown into the whole chaotic mix that is Nny's story.
The art of the book is a perfect compliment to the story with the thick, bold lines and the dark scenes. A nice touch was the panels of some of the JHTM comics where artist Jhonen Vasquez writes hidden messages.
To make things interesting, the story takes breaks randomly with calm scenes about some Goth girl's life or random unrelated slaughter scenes(that star Nny), adding to the chaos in the book.
Overall, I was unsure of what to expect when I first picked up this book, but I was not disappointed with what I got to read. 9.1/10
In the book, Johnny(or Nny) is exactly as the title describes: a homicidal maniac. Nny kills to keep a wall painted with blood to stop whatever is on the other side from coming out. Nny also kills because he admits that he is a homicidal maniac, yet is unsure because insane people cannot be sure of whether or not they are insane. Nny also cannot accept when someone loves him, and so he tries to kill her. Basically, Nny is just an enigmatic homicidal maniac who kills because of many reasons that cannot easily be explained other than the fact that he is a homicidal maniac. Even when Nny dies,his questions of the cruelty in the world and his existence (along with other homicidal maniacs) are unanswered by God (who is portrayed as a fat baby) and unanswered clearly by the devil. When Nny is finally forced to live again, he is left wondering about the point of his existence and is left lost, wandering until he can find a place where he belongs.
To make things even better, Nny goes through this story while terrifying Squee (his 4 or 6 year old neighbor) who hears voices from his teddy bear Shmee and who is hated by both his parents. This adds a more darkly humored twist to the story especially when scenes of Squee's trauma are thrown into the whole chaotic mix that is Nny's story.
The art of the book is a perfect compliment to the story with the thick, bold lines and the dark scenes. A nice touch was the panels of some of the JHTM comics where artist Jhonen Vasquez writes hidden messages.
To make things interesting, the story takes breaks randomly with calm scenes about some Goth girl's life or random unrelated slaughter scenes(that star Nny), adding to the chaos in the book.
Overall, I was unsure of what to expect when I first picked up this book, but I was not disappointed with what I got to read. 9.1/10
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2014
I loved this. As teenager in 2013, I could identify with a lot of the themes in this book, (Not that I'm murderer or anything of that ilk...) I found that the large amounts of sarcasm, the theme of people having in-groups and out-groups, and particularly the 'Anne Gwish' panels, wherein Anne would break the fourth wall, and speak to the reader about how she felt outcast, and how she was so different from everyone else, she would then go on to insult someone else, who was obviously exactly like her, but had made some kind of fashion mistake, and complain about said person, to her friends. This was obviously, extremely hypocritical, and is surprisingly prominent in real-life people in my generation. Having rambled on about my favourite panel for far too long, on with the review! Johnny The Homicidal Maniac is hilarious, ridiculous and sometimes disturbing. The art is very well done, and it is beautifully written, especially Johnny's long monologues concerning suicide, etcetera, which, surprisingly, don't get boring. The art is sharp and clean, with no scribbles, all solid, black and white print, it looks very good at even a glance. Another good thing with this piece, is that you will find something new every time you read it, such as hidden text in the borders of a page. Or little pieces of text in the panels, something that I noticed, was the fact that Johnny's clothes always seemed to have different logos and images on them each time they were shown. This was just one of the many quirky little things in this lovely book. The subject of each story (Stories about 2-8 pages long) is often random, with little connection between each one. However, in some stories, there are big connections between them, such as characters that interact with Johnny. To wrap up, this is brilliant and definitely worth reading, even if you're not into this type of stuff, you probably will be after all, enjoy.
April 1, 2012
A brilliant, extremely violent graphic novel that tells the story of a madman (and cartoonist) named Johnny (friends call him Nny), driven by forces he doesn't understand to keep a wall in his basement covered in fresh blood, lest the demon behind it should break free. Johnny has an affinity for his sweet little neighbor kid Squee, an unlucky little guy whose parents ignore him and leave him at the mercy of the well-meaning but always-terrifying visits from Johnny. The art and the lettering convey an emotional imbalance with energy and wit. I could really almost hear the voices of the characters as I read.
I wouldn't say I was a huge fan of Happy Noodle Boy, which is the comic that Johnny draws, though it did make me laugh a few times.
Really, though, the book is a stylish examination of the pursuit of a more autonomous life. The main character steals the show, naturally (who doesn't like a smart and effective madman?), but the supporting characters, such as Squee and Devi (the, ahem, "girl who got away," who really is the girl who got away) and Mr. Samsa (the name given to the cockroach Johnny believes keeps returning to life -- "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to kill you again, Mr. Samsa") and Nail Bunny and the Doughboys -- all contribute to a satisfying whole.
The artistic style is a little like Nightmare Before Christmas after everyone involved did a few more hard drugs. There's plenty of delightful detail in every frenzied panel.
It's incredibly sick and smart and fun. Perhaps not for everyone, but definitely for me.
I wouldn't say I was a huge fan of Happy Noodle Boy, which is the comic that Johnny draws, though it did make me laugh a few times.
Really, though, the book is a stylish examination of the pursuit of a more autonomous life. The main character steals the show, naturally (who doesn't like a smart and effective madman?), but the supporting characters, such as Squee and Devi (the, ahem, "girl who got away," who really is the girl who got away) and Mr. Samsa (the name given to the cockroach Johnny believes keeps returning to life -- "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to kill you again, Mr. Samsa") and Nail Bunny and the Doughboys -- all contribute to a satisfying whole.
The artistic style is a little like Nightmare Before Christmas after everyone involved did a few more hard drugs. There's plenty of delightful detail in every frenzied panel.
It's incredibly sick and smart and fun. Perhaps not for everyone, but definitely for me.
February 29, 2020
"It was wacky."
Is it weird I think Señor Diablo looks kinda hot in the cheerleader form?
At first, I wanted to be ironic and listen to Antichrist Superstar on repeat while reading this, to make fun of the mallgoth aesthetic by listening to mallgoth industrial-rock, or to make fun of the future (from 1997) existence of Invader Zim or something, but then I figured I'd be the bigger man, and not only reached back in time to "real" goth music, but instead to "real" industrial music, choosing to listen to Einstürzende Neubauten's Halber Mensch on repeat (in truth, I felt Marilyn Manson would be too fun that it would distract from my reading). The joke was on me when I got to the first "Anne Gwish" comic; bitch had so many Neubauten logos and things scattered about her room! Classic Jhonen, ya really got me there! I guess this comic is a good time-capsule for what people in this particular subculture enjoyed in this particular era. There seemed to be a copy of Breton's Nadja laying around! No matter how far I run, I can never escape the trappings of the subculture! No matter where I turn, no matter how many non-black shirts I buy, I'm always inadvertently hooked back in. Today, with the continued disintegration of the subculture into e-thots and e-boys, I am still at risk! The punchline is that I'm listening to the new queen-of-the-arthoes Grimes record as I type this!
And that's my favorite part about Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, the satiric irony with which it treats its subjects. Not so much with Devi, but between Nny, Tess, Dillon, and Anne there's obvious parody of the "goth" culture, or whatever it had become by the mid-'90s. I cannot speak for anything, being so far removed in time, born in 1994. As mentioned above, Anne Gwish's room is decorated with Neubauten logos, but otherwise the only industrial we see is "Nine Inch Heels," a parody of Nine Inch Nails (no shit), who I would accuse of dissolving whatever tenacity the goths had, allowing the birth of "mallgoths." And so it's hilarious Dillon wears an "NIH" shirt. Anne Gwish also has a poster for a parody of Switchblade Symphony, the film The Crow, and Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comic (all things I enjoyed in ninth grade, when I first read JtHM, yay!). Characters bitch about "normal" people making fun of them for looking different, then we see these same characters at their goth clubs and bars making fun of other goths for not looking the same, for failing to fit the appropriate costumes for their manufactured subculture. Absolutely beautiful! And I say this as someone who cannot just allow himself to shut up and accept certain things, who scorns others who commit to a uniform in the vain belief of not conforming, but who also easily gives up and waves a white flag to such values sometimes when seeing girls in 2020 attempting to emulate goth styles (I bought this book some months ago because I was attracted to this one girl who worked in my building and it just made me extremely nostalgic for my early days haha). What a bastard I am! Quite like the idiots in this book, except I'm worse because I try my hardest not to look like them when I'd likely be quite comfortable in such dress. Oh, to be me, with my peculiar and particular problems! (Now let's not get too melodramatic in our monologue, lest we come across as Nny making fun of that very thing!)
Anyway, it's simply fun to think that by the time this comic was released all the "real" goths were probably dead and buried (figuratively), but not as fun to think that some short few years later Vasquez would create Invader Zim, which would take its role as a collection of mascots for the Hot Topic "mall-emos," and that as years would continue to pass the same generation who watched the show on Nickelodeon as kids would become nostalgic for their mall-emo ways and become e-boys and arthoes and so on. I cannot wait for whatever the next generation of this bastard-culture is! Oh god, what is wrong with me?
This is a goofy comparison, but the irony central to much of this comic reminds me of the music of Mindless Self Indulgence, whom I actually first knew through their video for "Shut Me Up," directed by J. Vasquez (I found the band by reading Vasquez's Wikipedia after reading the Squee! comic in 2008), and I grew attached to the self-irony with which frontman James Euringer treated his own work, yet I was confused that others who liked them did not seem to "get it," or otherwise they "got" something I didn't, and anyway it was just a blast to feel my Self dissolve in the acid of Irony, a disease that would affect me for the greater part of the following decade, from which I've still not quite recovered. And so it really doesn't help to read this again after so long!
Maybe file the Rob Schrab introduction under "things that maybe didn't age well." This "Director's Cut" volume was published in 1997, two years before the Columbine High School massacre, so it's with an unhealthy amount of irony to read this so far in the future and have Schrab talk about how it's okay to fantasize about violently murdering people who upset you so long as you don't physically act out on those thoughts. Never mind that I don't think Schrab's words really fit whatever Vasquez intended as a "message" for his comic. But the real purpose of this paragraph is to make the following joke: "Advocating violent fantasy many years before America would devolve into such frequent lone-wolf rampage seems cruel, but I guess hindsight is 2020 (cuz that's the year hurrdurr)" [I know, I'm stupid].
Oh, and I genuinely enjoyed the lore of heaven and hell and the thing behind Nny's wall erasing existence and having God or someone just reboot it and inject Nny back into the new reality, even if much of it was Vasquez taking the piss. I'd write more on this subject, but I've wasted so much space talking about the goth-satire that it might feel misplaced.
And I don't care much for the secret messages in the borders of certain one-page comics. I half-appreciate having to turn the book around to read stuff, but sometimes I couldn't make out some text and I just didn't care enough to focus to deeply. Similar deal with later "Happy Noodle Boy" pages. I'll probably not try so hard to decrypt these in future readings. Because I'm lazy.
Now, time to ignore most of what I just said and dye my hair and paint my fingernails black! (Nah, I think I'm too old for all that....)
Is it weird I think Señor Diablo looks kinda hot in the cheerleader form?
At first, I wanted to be ironic and listen to Antichrist Superstar on repeat while reading this, to make fun of the mallgoth aesthetic by listening to mallgoth industrial-rock, or to make fun of the future (from 1997) existence of Invader Zim or something, but then I figured I'd be the bigger man, and not only reached back in time to "real" goth music, but instead to "real" industrial music, choosing to listen to Einstürzende Neubauten's Halber Mensch on repeat (in truth, I felt Marilyn Manson would be too fun that it would distract from my reading). The joke was on me when I got to the first "Anne Gwish" comic; bitch had so many Neubauten logos and things scattered about her room! Classic Jhonen, ya really got me there! I guess this comic is a good time-capsule for what people in this particular subculture enjoyed in this particular era. There seemed to be a copy of Breton's Nadja laying around! No matter how far I run, I can never escape the trappings of the subculture! No matter where I turn, no matter how many non-black shirts I buy, I'm always inadvertently hooked back in. Today, with the continued disintegration of the subculture into e-thots and e-boys, I am still at risk! The punchline is that I'm listening to the new queen-of-the-arthoes Grimes record as I type this!
And that's my favorite part about Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, the satiric irony with which it treats its subjects. Not so much with Devi, but between Nny, Tess, Dillon, and Anne there's obvious parody of the "goth" culture, or whatever it had become by the mid-'90s. I cannot speak for anything, being so far removed in time, born in 1994. As mentioned above, Anne Gwish's room is decorated with Neubauten logos, but otherwise the only industrial we see is "Nine Inch Heels," a parody of Nine Inch Nails (no shit), who I would accuse of dissolving whatever tenacity the goths had, allowing the birth of "mallgoths." And so it's hilarious Dillon wears an "NIH" shirt. Anne Gwish also has a poster for a parody of Switchblade Symphony, the film The Crow, and Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comic (all things I enjoyed in ninth grade, when I first read JtHM, yay!). Characters bitch about "normal" people making fun of them for looking different, then we see these same characters at their goth clubs and bars making fun of other goths for not looking the same, for failing to fit the appropriate costumes for their manufactured subculture. Absolutely beautiful! And I say this as someone who cannot just allow himself to shut up and accept certain things, who scorns others who commit to a uniform in the vain belief of not conforming, but who also easily gives up and waves a white flag to such values sometimes when seeing girls in 2020 attempting to emulate goth styles (I bought this book some months ago because I was attracted to this one girl who worked in my building and it just made me extremely nostalgic for my early days haha). What a bastard I am! Quite like the idiots in this book, except I'm worse because I try my hardest not to look like them when I'd likely be quite comfortable in such dress. Oh, to be me, with my peculiar and particular problems! (Now let's not get too melodramatic in our monologue, lest we come across as Nny making fun of that very thing!)
Anyway, it's simply fun to think that by the time this comic was released all the "real" goths were probably dead and buried (figuratively), but not as fun to think that some short few years later Vasquez would create Invader Zim, which would take its role as a collection of mascots for the Hot Topic "mall-emos," and that as years would continue to pass the same generation who watched the show on Nickelodeon as kids would become nostalgic for their mall-emo ways and become e-boys and arthoes and so on. I cannot wait for whatever the next generation of this bastard-culture is! Oh god, what is wrong with me?
This is a goofy comparison, but the irony central to much of this comic reminds me of the music of Mindless Self Indulgence, whom I actually first knew through their video for "Shut Me Up," directed by J. Vasquez (I found the band by reading Vasquez's Wikipedia after reading the Squee! comic in 2008), and I grew attached to the self-irony with which frontman James Euringer treated his own work, yet I was confused that others who liked them did not seem to "get it," or otherwise they "got" something I didn't, and anyway it was just a blast to feel my Self dissolve in the acid of Irony, a disease that would affect me for the greater part of the following decade, from which I've still not quite recovered. And so it really doesn't help to read this again after so long!
Maybe file the Rob Schrab introduction under "things that maybe didn't age well." This "Director's Cut" volume was published in 1997, two years before the Columbine High School massacre, so it's with an unhealthy amount of irony to read this so far in the future and have Schrab talk about how it's okay to fantasize about violently murdering people who upset you so long as you don't physically act out on those thoughts. Never mind that I don't think Schrab's words really fit whatever Vasquez intended as a "message" for his comic. But the real purpose of this paragraph is to make the following joke: "Advocating violent fantasy many years before America would devolve into such frequent lone-wolf rampage seems cruel, but I guess hindsight is 2020 (cuz that's the year hurrdurr)" [I know, I'm stupid].
Oh, and I genuinely enjoyed the lore of heaven and hell and the thing behind Nny's wall erasing existence and having God or someone just reboot it and inject Nny back into the new reality, even if much of it was Vasquez taking the piss. I'd write more on this subject, but I've wasted so much space talking about the goth-satire that it might feel misplaced.
And I don't care much for the secret messages in the borders of certain one-page comics. I half-appreciate having to turn the book around to read stuff, but sometimes I couldn't make out some text and I just didn't care enough to focus to deeply. Similar deal with later "Happy Noodle Boy" pages. I'll probably not try so hard to decrypt these in future readings. Because I'm lazy.
Now, time to ignore most of what I just said and dye my hair and paint my fingernails black! (Nah, I think I'm too old for all that....)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 6, 2010
Dear Die-ary, I stared, motionless, before the mirror. As always, I stayed until I'm convinced that there is no glass, nothing, separating me from the room I see on the other side. I imagine that everything is different over there. Better. There are people, in that world, who I would like. But, like always, my hand hits the glass. I know that if I'd only waited just one more second... Shit. I'm gonna go kill a party clown.
Johnny—call him Nny—has problems. Nobody gets his humor, Mr. Eff and Mr. Z debate over whether Nny should kill himself, callous, self-centered people stand in judgement over others, it's impossible to get a BrainFreezy after 2 AM, the blood on the wall keeps drying out, his Happy Noodle Boy comics depress him, and the girl he liked kicked him in the head and ran away. It's a good thing he has Nail Bunny and his Die-ary to keep him company, not to mention the boy next door that he's got a soft spot for and inadvertently terrifies on a regular basis.
A (frequently heavy-handed) screed against judging others by their appearances, Vasquez (best known for Invader Zim), has, in JTHM, created a morbidly hilarious look at life, consumerism, and the worst in all of us. And, of course, Happy Noodle Boy, or, as he might put it, "No! Don't leave me, intestinal gas! Please! Don't go!! I thought you loved me!!"
Johnny—call him Nny—has problems. Nobody gets his humor, Mr. Eff and Mr. Z debate over whether Nny should kill himself, callous, self-centered people stand in judgement over others, it's impossible to get a BrainFreezy after 2 AM, the blood on the wall keeps drying out, his Happy Noodle Boy comics depress him, and the girl he liked kicked him in the head and ran away. It's a good thing he has Nail Bunny and his Die-ary to keep him company, not to mention the boy next door that he's got a soft spot for and inadvertently terrifies on a regular basis.
A (frequently heavy-handed) screed against judging others by their appearances, Vasquez (best known for Invader Zim), has, in JTHM, created a morbidly hilarious look at life, consumerism, and the worst in all of us. And, of course, Happy Noodle Boy, or, as he might put it, "No! Don't leave me, intestinal gas! Please! Don't go!! I thought you loved me!!"
February 9, 2014
Johnny is a criminally insane, introverted young man on a killing spree, his victims being those who taunt and make fun of him, all to feed the red wall with their blood. Driven by the voices in his head projected on to dead bunny, and two styrofoam pigs, he struggles with his madness and the fact that no matter what atrocities he commits, he is never caught.
When my girlfriend recommended this book to me and told me that I'd relate on a scary level, I thought she was exaggerating just a tiny bit. Sure, I've struggled with mental illness (hearing voices, seeing things, suicidal depression), I'm introverted, I've been bullied, but scarily relate to Nny?..... Well, yes. I really did. By no means do I exaggerate when I say Johnny the Homicidal Maniac is my inner monologue, and I do connect to him on very scary levels.
The illustrations in this book are styled much like Jhonen Vasquez's other creation, Invader Zim, which was a huge selling point for me as I love that show. I love the plot of this book, it's not just a bunch of murderous comic strips with a deranged character. The murders mean something, Johnny's struggles and insanity have a point, and the story progresses at a nice pace. It was easy to follow and I had no trouble getting back into the story after setting it down for a while (not that I wanted to).
If you're a fan of Invader Zim, the macabre, and insane characters with kick ass boots and a magically changing shirt, then this is definitely the book for you!
When my girlfriend recommended this book to me and told me that I'd relate on a scary level, I thought she was exaggerating just a tiny bit. Sure, I've struggled with mental illness (hearing voices, seeing things, suicidal depression), I'm introverted, I've been bullied, but scarily relate to Nny?..... Well, yes. I really did. By no means do I exaggerate when I say Johnny the Homicidal Maniac is my inner monologue, and I do connect to him on very scary levels.
The illustrations in this book are styled much like Jhonen Vasquez's other creation, Invader Zim, which was a huge selling point for me as I love that show. I love the plot of this book, it's not just a bunch of murderous comic strips with a deranged character. The murders mean something, Johnny's struggles and insanity have a point, and the story progresses at a nice pace. It was easy to follow and I had no trouble getting back into the story after setting it down for a while (not that I wanted to).
If you're a fan of Invader Zim, the macabre, and insane characters with kick ass boots and a magically changing shirt, then this is definitely the book for you!
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