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''Johnny the Homicidal Maniac'' (also known as '''''JTHM''''') is a black-and-white Comic Book series written and drawn by Jhonen Vasquez . It began as a series of short strips in the Goth magazine '' Carpe Noctem '', and was later published in seven issues by Slave Labor Graphics between August 1995 and January 1997 . The series later had two Spin-offs , called '' Squee! '' and '' I Feel Sick ''. The comic is a Black Comedy laced with irony and social criticism. It is in part a satire of society’s fascination with violence. Despite this, the comic itself has been criticized for glorifying violence, and has sparked some controversy. JOHNNY C. The series focuses on (apparent) Villain Johnny C., also known as Nny (pronounced “knee”). He is a deranged Serial Killer , Mass Murderer , and Spree Killer who interacts with various other characters, more often than not Torturing and Murdering them. He elaborately and Sadistically kills anyone who even slightly irritates him, then drains their blood and paints one of the walls in his house with it (to keep the Thing from getting out). If the situation dictates, Johnny is also willing to murder "innocent" people, though in his twisted mind, even they deserve their fate for some reason or another. The number of Johnny’s victims is in the dozens, if not hundreds--or perhaps even thousands. Authorities are unable to capture Johnny and seem unaware of his existence, though his crimes are often witnessed in public and reported by his victims who manage to survive. In the JTHM Director's Cut, it is said that Johnny's parents were murdered by an "evil man", but other than that, nothing is known of Johnny's family or of his past. He is often devoid of a conscience, though this is arguable since he is also insane. This insanity manifests itself in three entities: Nailbunny, who is the closest thing to a conscience that Nny possesses; and Psychodoughboy and Mr. Eff, two styrofoam pilsbury doughboys that argue over whether to let Nny kill himself. Sometimes, Johnny shows feelings of self-hatred for the horrible things he does. This shows in his many monologues and suicide attempts. He even has what appears to be a frightening moment of clarity, but that quickly turns itself into yet another crazed rant accompanied by bloodshed. Though his exact age is unknown, Vasquez has been quoted saying Johnny is in his early twenties. Because the comic is in black and white, it was not known until ''Squee!'' that Johnny has dark blue hair and light brown skin. At the end of the comic, Johnny attempts to reform himself by abandoning his emotions in favor of cold intellect, going on what is referred to as a "vacation." This open-ended conclusion leaves room for a second series of comics, but the creator has expressed no interest so far to continue Nny's story. A running theory on Johnny's origin is that he was once a brilliant artist (based on one incident, a painter) who lost his talent, and subsequently went Insane . Nailbunny chastises Johnny for drawing his Happy Noodle Boy comic, "A god damned stick figure!" instead of painting. Vasquez writes that the idea of giving Johnny an origin does not appeal to him at all. He feels that giving Johnny a back-story would dilute his mystery, stating, " {Link without Title} find the blurriness of it all much more appealing than making him go nuts over being pantsed in school once. 'YAAAARGH!! I have been pantsed!! I kill like the damned now!!' That's just not done." SETTING The series is set in the mid-1990s in an unnamed American city resembling Los Angeles . Decaying suburban streets, shadowed back alleys and filthy convenience stores serve as the series’ backdrop. Crumbling and covered with litter and graffiti, everything is in a state of bleak decay, overlit by the neon signs of trashy consumer capitalism. Johnny lives amid the urban sprawl on a suburban street in house number 777: a decrepit, single-story house that has an extensive labyrinth of basements and tunnels beneath it that happened to be there before Johnny moved in. Johnny uses the subterranean rooms of the house for dungeons and torture chambers. The tunnels also provide him with a network to various locations, such as his neighbor’s residence. Johnny found the house and moved in some time before the beginning of the series, and uses it as a base of operations for his murderous rampages. A later part of the story takes place in the Afterlife . After an accidental suicide (gunshot to the head), Johnny journeys to Heaven and Hell , and both turn out to have more in common with the city than Johnny expected. In short, he is kicked out of both places and returns to life (minus most of his hair). The reader is left to wonder if he really died at all, or if the entire 5th&6th issues of the comic were some sort of dream/delusion. STORY ''Johnny the Homicidal Maniac'' consists of a collection of strips, each carrying on over several pages. The story is told in a disjointed, non-linear fashion that mirrors the title character’s mental instability. It is often left unexplained which events in the story are objective and which are subjective, and very little back-story is given. This ambiguity again reflects Johnny’s character. ISSUE ONE "Traumatize Thy Neighbor" The story begins when a young boy named Todd Casil (nicknamed Squee , after the noise he sometimes makes when scared) and his family move to a new neighborhood, into house number 779. One night, the terrified boy discovers that his bedroom window has been smashed open, and a trail of blood and broken glass leads down the hall to the bathroom. Terrified, he enters to discover a furious Johnny searching the medicine chest for Bactine . Johnny introduces himself to Squee and the child’s teddy bear, Shmee. Johnny carries on a conversation with the bear, which at first amuses Squee, but leads Nny to stab the bear in the chest. Apologizing, Nny leaves back through the window in which he came suggesting that Squee leave the window unlocked from now on. "A Survey in Hell" One faithful day, a man is taking a survey (about the recent rise in murders around the city) in the neighborhood. He comes upon Johnny, who proceeds to carry on about a dog from three nights before. Eventually, he calms down and agrees to take the survey. His answers, though long-winded, provide the first real taste of social commentary that is prevalent through the entire 7-issue series. They are rants about the state of humanity and the stupidity of those who believe in the "violent entertainment always leads to violent acts" theory. Nny is eventually offended when the man makes a comment about one victim who was drained of her blood. This is the first appearance of "the wall" that Nny must keep continually wet with blood. Furious to the point of insanity (no pun intended), he stabs the man several times, throwing him through the window. The man's shattered remains land in front of a small child (who looks suspiciously like Squee). The last speech bubble on the page reads "ASK A DIFFERENT QUESTION!" "Another 2 a.m." Johnny contemplates committing suicide as Psychodoughboy, Nail Bunny, and a fetus in a jar attempt to convince him one way or the other. In the end, he decides against it in favour of watching a commercial about diarrhea. ISSUE TWO "Goblins" Johnny has captured a man named Edgar Vargas who, instead of panicking and threatening, simply talks to him for a while. Johnny admits that Edgar didn't do anything, but he needs his blood to keep the creature in the wall at bay and apologizes for having to kill him, and asks him why he isn't afraid. Edgar explains that due to his faith, he is not scared of death. Johnny then mentions that he envies Edgar's conviction, then kills him, ending by saying "Well, that did nothing for me." "Things That Make Noise" Johnny ponders over the noises his victims make. He asks himself rather than letting the things that sound like words his victims make bother him, why he doesn't just get a pair of earplugs. Untitled Johnny and Devi go on a date, then go to Nny's house where he tries to kill her. She manages to escape, injuring Johnny in the process. "2:15 a.m." Nny takes a trip to the local 24/7 (very different from a 7-11...) Searching for something to drink with his Senor Salsa chips, he decides on a cherry Brain Freezy, only to discover that the machine is turned off at 2 a.m. In a fit of despair he decides to kill himself but decides he will kill the clerk as well, so he won't be alone. The clerk pleads for his life but fails to sway Nny, who kills him with the gun the clerk kept under the counter. Nny then turns the gun on himself, only to discover the gun had only one bullet. A brief burst of anger follows, which is cut short when Nny notices his favorite soft drink (Cherry Fiz-Wiz) in the cooler. He pays for his purchase and then leaves. ISSUE THREE "Cafe le prick" Feeling down, Johnny grabs his Walkman and heads out for a walk, with the hopes that a massacre at a nearby Nightclub will cheer him up. While walking past the Cafe le Prick on the way to the nightclub, Nny receives an insult from a man who asks him for a cigarette. Even though he is listening to Ode To Joy on his headphones, Nny recognizes the insult, and so decides to bring his slaughter to the cafe instead of the nightclub. He thanks the insolent man before entering the cafe and beginning the most violent sequence in the series so far. Johnny kills the patrons and employees of the Cafe le Prick en masse, humorously justifying each murder as he goes. After killing most of those inside, Nny leaves the few survivors with a cryptic command to make the most of the time they have left. This turns out to be not much time at all, as Nny leaves a shrapnel bomb set for a few seconds.............. "A Bad Person" Squee is lost in the mall, his neglectful mother having wandered away from him. A man wearing a Scumby t-shirt appears and claims to know where the little boy's mother is. The man leads Squee to an alley behind the mall, and claims that Mrs. Casil will be meeting them there shortly. In the meantime, he suggest that Squee do him a “favor”. Johnny arrives just in time to save Squee from the Pederast , bashing the man's head with a pole. He then cuts the man's hand off with a knife, and opens the man's skull with a pair of hooks to show Squee that, although the man has a body just like other people, it is only a disguise to hide the fact that he is a completely different species, not really a human at all. Then Johnny tells him to run because UFOs are coming, and disappears. Todd runs away in terror. Untitled Johnny tells an amusing anecdote to a torture victim. "Johnny the You-Know-What" This comic follows two goths, Dillon and Tess, who Johnny sat in front of at a viewing of ''Kafka''. Dillon is busy making fun of everything to hide his insecurities while Tess is one of the few decent people in Johnny's world. Johnny kidnaps the two for ruining the movie. It ends with Tess calling Dillon an asshole. "Johnny the Suicidal Maniac" In this one, Johnny comes to the realization that he can't die or be caught for his murders due to some external manipulation. He doesn't know what it is, but it bothers him. This comic also reveals that Johnny no longer controls D-boy and Mr. Eff who begin moving on their own, even though they're styrofoam. Johnny also brings up the idea that the only thing holding reality together is his awareness of it, which in issue five is proven to be true, as the universe disappears when Nny accidentally kills himself. Untitled Johnny gets a victim to test the contents of his fridge. ISSUE FOUR "Descent" Johnny and Nail Bunny journey through the bowels of Johnny's house as they discuss the nature of his psychosis. Untitled Johnny and Tess have a conversation in Johnny's dungeon. Nny then proceeds to torture Dillon.
Devi and Tonja sit in Devi's apartment. Tonja convinces Devi to call Nny. A horrible series of noises follows Nny's answer. Devi hangs up. "A Call?" Johnny has rigged up a robotic arm to shoot if his phone should ring. Eff and Psycho taunt him and each other. Johnny stabs Psycho Doughboy. The phone rings, Johnny answers it, and the robotic arm shoots Johnny in the face. ISSUE FIVE "An Eventful Day" Kirk stumbles into Tess and Dillon's dungeon. He tries to free them, but the wall monster breaks in and rips Dillon apart. Kirk manages to free Tess and they make a break for it with the wall monster in hot pursuit. Untitled During a brief reprieve, Kirk describes to Tess how he ended up in Johnny's clutches. The wall monster catches up with them, and Tess and Kirk flee into the nearest room to discover that it is full of restrained victims. The wall monster slaughters them all as the two attempt to escape. "Talking To Styrofoam" Tess and Kirk run into the doughboys. The wall monster discovers them and consumes the doughboys as Tess and Kirk stand by in horror. "Anne Gwish" A stereotypical goth girl goes to a nightclub full of other goths identical to her while she boasts of her originality. "The Most Beloved Massive Headwound Recipient in Existence" Tess and Kirk stumble across the barely-alive Johnny in the upstairs room of his house. Kirk begins to stomp on Johnny's skull when suddenly the wall monster breaks through the floor where Johnny had been sprawled. Kirk makes a run for the front door, but as he steps over the threshold the monster cuts him in half. Kirk falls with the monster screaming into oblivion. Tess looks out to the void disappears. All that is left is Johnny floating through space on a section of floorboards. ISSUE SIX "This Is Heaven" In Issue six, Johnny is sent to Heaven when he is shot in the head. He finds out that this is a mistake, and will only be there temporarily. Johnny meets God . Untitled Johnny drills a hole in the back of a victim's head, then leaves to make sandwiches. Untitled Nny is getting a tour of heaven, and subsequently finds out that nobody does anything but sit in chairs and do nothing. The tour guide says that they have no need to ever do anything and have no vices to succub to,so they don't do anything at all. After that, the tour guide tells him that people in heaven can do whatever they want and actually have higly destructive powers, but do not use that power because the stupidity of violence is understood. She cautions Nny not to think of such things before he explodes someone's head. Johnny, naturally, takes full advantage of the situation by exploding a man's head not once but twice. The exploded heads reappear in the following panel without fail or explanation, though it's hinted that it's because of heaven's power. Nny then excitedly jumped up and screamed "I HAVE HEAD EXPLODY!!". The man becomes angry at nny and, because of his anger, explodes Nny's head, which re-apears and allows him to retaliate by exploding the man's head again. The man re-explodes nny's head causing some blood to splatter onto a womans face. The woman, who had been enjoying the bliss, then causes Johnny's and the other man's heads to explode. Nny shouts that he wants to stop rather loudly, disturbing an old woman who then insulted Nny. He, obviously, blew up her head. This action enraged the lady's grandson. The toddler launched itself towards nny only to have his head blown up by him (nny thinks "that is so cute"). An angry Nun then causes nearly everyone's heads to explode. After all the heads reform, the tour guide decides Johnny's done enough damage, and sends him to Hell. Untitled Johnny meets Senor Diablo. The devil tells him the true nature of his situation. Untitled Johnny has an adventure in hell. At the end, Senor Diablo sends him back to earth. "The 'R' is for Resurrected" Johnny awakes to find himself alive once more. He discovers that he is alone ("No voices. No doughboys. NOTHING. It's just me."), with the exception of a talking Bub's Burger Boy. He discovers he is still crazy, but is now in control. Johnny decides to celebrate by watching TV with a tin of Pringles and a Brain-Freezy. Untitled Johnny is inside the 24/7 at the counter to buy a frooty pop. When a robber comes into the store and shoots the cashier for resisting when asked to hand over the money, Johnny contemplates still paying for the popsicle ("Maybe he had a family. They might need it."). Ten minutes later, Johnny decides that he hates "moral dillemas" and is seen standing by the dead man with several frooty pops. ISSUE SEVEN In issue 7, we find Nny back at home, brooding. Someone pays him a visit, and Nny is not at all amused to find that someone to be his "biggest fan," a delusional copycat murderer of a teenager named Jimmy. Nny listens patiently to the boy's story, his rage building. This erupts after Jimmy makes comments about some of his own victims, leading Nny into what could be considered the most violent killing of the series. Jimmy is vivisected in the most brutal way possible, and Nny keeps up a running rant (as per usual). This rant concerns artists who are faced with their greatest admirers' poor fascimiles of their work. One comment about the rant is that Nny acknowledges that Jimmy's work has more in common with his own than he'd like to think. He ends this segment with the statement "I don't like myself much." (A morbidly amusing note at the bottom of the last page informs us that Vasquez finished that story arc on Christmas.) Johnny makes a disastrous attempt to reconcile things with his would-be love interest, Devi, in the form of a recorded message. Devi does not take too kindly to this. At all. In the end, we see that Nny is paying Squee one last visit. He informs the boy that he will be leaving for a "vacation" to sort things out. Nny's ambition now is to erase all forms of emotion he possesses and become cold like an insect. He warns Squee to be careful, as Nny won't be there to help him out for awhile. Squee's father interrupts and sustains several severe injuries, leaving Squee more scarred than ever. Nny departs soon after, and the comic ends on a strangely optomistic note, with "I can't say I'm very pleased with where my life is just now... but I can't help but look forward to where it's going." SUPPORTING CHARACTERS Human characters Squee Also known as Todd Casil, but nicknamed Squee, the namesake originating from the sound the child makes when scared. He is Johnny's semi-friend and next-door neighbor. Squee's mother seems to only notice him off and on, and his father resents his very existence and has no qualms about constantly telling him so. Squee has a Teddy Bear named Shmee, who is conscious in Todd's own psyche; Shmee happens to be a trauma sponge, and constantly tells Squee to do evil things. Vasquez later authored a comic series, '' Squee! '', with this character as the Protagonist . Johnny is the only person who really cares about Squee, serving as his least evil friend, though he constantly frightens him unintentionally. Johnny has hinted from time to time that his interest in Squee is partially due to his desire to ensure that Squee doesn't grow up to be like him. Also, Johnny has actively taken measures to ensure the safety of Squee, by killing and mutilating a pedophile poised to abduct Squee. Devi D. Also known as "the one that got away." Introduced in the infamous "Somebody put shit in my pants!" strip, she goes on to play a larger role in the story. Devi befriends Johnny and becomes a potential love interest, though she is initially unaware of his more Antisocial behavior. A struggling Artist , she works in a book store for half the duration of the comic; the other half is spent painting in her apartment. She was later the subject of a doubleshot comic by Vasquez called '' I Feel Sick ''. In ''I Feel Sick'', Devi struggles to maintain her own sanity. She converses with a painting of a doll named Sickness, and the ensuing power struggle hints at the possibility of the dark supernatural forces that were Johnny's undoing. Tonja A friend of Devi's. She possesses a squeaky toy shaped like a cute skeleton called Mr. Spooky. Her role in ''JTHM'' is fairly insignificant. First referred to as "Tonja" issue four of that series, but seems to be the same character later referred to as "Tenna" in '' I Feel Sick ''. Tess, Dillon and Krik Tess and Dillon are two people who play part of the Goth Parody in the series. Krik is a violent misogynist (he claims to have beaten his girlfriend and her mother) and chauvinist who is abducted by Nny for drunkenly harassing him. Tess' family moved around a lot so she has a hard time making friends. She is a pseudo- Goth in order to make friends with others. She dates Dillon because he's in a band. Dillon uses the goth culture as a means of excluding and ridiculing others. They come into Johnny's grasp due to Dillon's constant badgering during '' Kafka '': Johnny makes a point of ignoring Tess and tormenting Dillon, who is unaware of the fact that Tess dislikes him. After Johnny's accidental 'death,' Tess and Krik try to escape, but are slowed down by running into other prisoners in the dungeons and encountering the doughboys. Although Krik (who released Tess from Nny's captivity) and Dillon were quite literally torn apart, Tess presumably escaped--although at this point there appeared to have been no universe in which to escape. She was not actually killed but was "flushed" with the rest of reality: she survived once the universe was "reloaded." Anne Gwish (see below) makes a reference to her being just out-of-frame later in the series. Jimmy Jimmy appears later in the comic. Also known as Mmy (his own special way of mimicking Nny), he has a strikingly similar appearance to Johnny, including his original haircut, skinny body, and the same clothes. His face is longer and he's taller than Johnny. His infatuation with Johnny's hobby began when he witnessed the destruction of a "Taco Hell" outlet by Johnny from a "CD Cesspool" store across the street. He is the only known person successful in tracking down Johnny's home of his own volition. He decided to mimic Johnny's work, to the extent of assembling a suitcase full of surgical equipment and murdering at least his First Grade Teacher and a girl who resembled someone who Bullied him in High School , but not before Raping her in an Alley behind a Mall . This is referred to earlier in the story by Tess and blamed on Johnny. However, his attempts at mimicking Johnny are an abomination in Nny's eyes, who is disgusted that Jimmy's sociopathy "is a more reasonable facsimile of own work than [Johnny would like to admit." Despite being given three chances to leave, Jimmy doesn't live for long, as Johnny kills him while teaching him various lessons. As he is preparing to kill Jimmy, Johnny makes particular reference to the rape of the girl, which he finds unforgivable, stating that he himself would never do such a thing, as he considers even basic physical contact with people to be distasteful, and that he considers such an act to be giving in to Emotion , something else which he also finds abhorrent. Johnny replies to Jimmy's final statement—that Jimmy was "''just like you''" (referring to Johnny) —by smashing a sledgehammer into Jimmy's open chest cavity and stating, "''I don't like myself much.''" It is generally assumed that Jimmy represents a particular breed of JTHM fan that seeks to emulate Vasquez's style (and even Vasquez himself) into his/her lifestyle or his/her own "bloodbooks." Particularly distressing to Nny (and presumably Vasquez himself) is that Jimmy's mimicry is more accurate than he would prefer to believe. Supernatural characters The wall monster At one point in the series, Johnny is unable to paint the wall and the monster breaks free. It goes on a rampage through Johnny’s house, killing many of the victims imprisoned there. Fans have named this creature "Moose" because of a caption in volume 5 that reads "Fun Fact: It's not a moose." Nail Bunny Also known as Spooky Floating Bunny Head. Johnny's first and last pet, a Rabbit whom he fed once and then nailed to a wall. Only the preserved head (which was torn from the body by one of the doughboys) remains, the rest of the body apparently unnecessary for the Afterlife . It is unknown whether the disembodied head was given the ability to levitate by the supernatural force that permeates the house, or that Johnny is simply hallucinating. After Johnny's apparent death, Nail Bunny didn't show up anymore, at least not physically: his voice keeps going on, much like his former self. Nail Bunny is apparently Johnny's conscience and voice of reason. The Doughboys Based on the mascots for a certain company ( Pillsbury ) that produces Muffin s. There are two of them: Psycho-Doughboy (Also known as D-Boy) and Mr. Fuck (AKA Mr. Eff.) Carved foam figures repainted by Johnny, they were given personalities through supernatural means. Mr. Eff encourages Nny to kill and feed the wall, since as long as the monster remains inside the wall, he (as well as Psycho-Doughboy) becomes more real. Psycho-Doughboy encourages Nny to kill himself, though is constantly infuriated since he believes that whenever Nny tries to go through with it, he sabotages it on purpose (this theory becomes void once a device of Johnny's, a gun on an automated machine, actually works and shot him). D-Boy and Mr. Eff originate from Nny's imagination, of which the monster inside the wall is also a product. D-Boy called the monster his "Master", and while he seems to wish to return to this Master, Mr. Eff seems to have relinquished his devotion to it. Incidentally, Psycho Doughboy has "fuck" written on his chest, not Mr. Fuck. Mr. Samsa Named after the main character of Franz Kafka 's short story " The Metamorphosis ", Mr. Samsa is a seemingly Immortal Cockroach that lives in Johnny's basement. To Johnny, the insect represents complete desensitization and unemotional thinking, a state for which Johnny begins a quest at the end of the series. The insect's only supernatural aspect appears to be its apparent immortality (despite Tess' suggestion that more than one cockroach exists); otherwise, it's a normal bug, and is not one of the supernatural voices that continually pesters Johnny. Reverend Meat The complete opposite of Mr. Samsa, Reverend Meat is a Bub's Burger boy who urges Johnny to give into his every urge and desire without thinking. He claims that he is not one of the doughboys, saying that they were mere manifestations of a manifestation, and that he's holding up a giant hamburger. Johnny dislikes him, and tends to ignore him in favor of Mr. Samsa. In the comic, Reverend Meat's name has not been mentioned; Jhonen gave it in an interview. St. Peter Works the reception desk in Heaven. He becomes violently ill when he looks up the horrible acts Nny has done. He has sunglasses and dreadlocks. God God is a giant baby-like man living in Heaven that gives Johnny no help. The creator—Jhonen Vasquez—has God openly admit to having done nothing since the creation of the universe. Whether or not Jhonen meant anything by the letters "TM" (trademark) proceeding the word GOD on the character's T-shirt is not known. Damned Elise Damned Elise is a character who lives in Hell . She does menial tasks in Heaven as punishment for her Hedonism in life. Señor Diablo Satan. Johnny meets him when he is sent to Hell. Upon meeting him, Johnny calls him "Satan," to which the Prince of Darkness responds, "I would rather you call me by my proper name, Señor Diablo." Johnny asks, "Will Mister Satan do?" Satan pauses, than says, "Yeah, alright." Satan tells Johnny about what he is, and what the wall creature did to him. Before Johnny is sent back to earth Diablo has a little fun with him by transforming into a cheerleader to frighten Johnny (Johnny believes cheerleaders to be "pure evil"). On earth, Señor Diablo is the father of Pepito, the Antichrist and a friend Squee makes at school. Ironically, Señor Diablo is married to a "good Christian woman." OTHER STORYLINES The series contains many strips that, for the most part, have nothing to do with the main storyline. Most of these strips are what Vasquez calls “meanwhiles,” the titles of which begin with "Meanwhile…" Some of the other strips follow a Public Service Announcement motif, while others share the title "True Tales of Human Drama". There is also a comic-within-a-comic in the form of "Happy Noodle Boy." Anne Gwish Anne Gwish is a Goth woman that has her own strip in the later part of the series. Her name is a pun on the word "anguish." Her storyline is completely unrelated to Johnny’s, though she lives in the same Fictional Universe . The strips featuring her are largely a satire on goth culture's tendencies towards pretension. In most of her strips, you can find puns and parodies on gothic subculture. Like "Johnny the Hamicidal Maniac" (with Johnny as a pig) and "The Dirtman" (a 'The Sandman' joke). Happy Noodle Boy Johnny is also the creator of a Comic Strip called ''Happy Noodle Boy''. Happy Noodle Boy is a Stick Figure with an otherwise normal head appearing in a Comic drawn by Johnny and read mainly by "the homeless insane". Every issue has a single-page insert of the Happy Noodle Boy comic itself, detailing the often completely nonsensical adventures. Happy Noodle Boy spends much of his time standing on a wooden box and yelling nonsense at hapless pedestrians, often provoking his own death. He appears in the backgrounds of many of the strips of the main storyline, usually in crowd scenes, and pictures of him appear frequently in Squee's room. Johnny seems to be in the habit of leaving his drawings lying around. It is believed that Happy Noodle Boy's name is a reference to Johnny's extraordinarily thin figure. In one particular comic, Johnny says that when he was young, other kids taunted him for this, calling him "Noodle Boy." Wobbly-Headed Bob Receiving his own one page comic in each book of the series, Wobbly-Headed Bob is a bipedal creature with an oversized head who roams the land spreading his depressing views on life. The outcome is often either utter despair in those who listen to him or Wobbly-Headed Bob's becoming filled with disgust at what he sees as their own stupidity. Meanwhiles The Meanwhiles are strips unrelated to—but likely in the same fictional universe as—the main storyline. They are usually only a few pages long. They begin with the title, "Meanwhile..." Vasquez himself makes an appearance in several of the Meanwhiles. While absent in the ''JTHM: Director's Cut'' trade paperback (which collected issues one through seven), the Meanwhile strips were later compiled in '' Squee 's Wonderful Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors.'' True Tales of Human Drama These are silly little stories the author created presumably because he wanted to do something different. Most often in these stories things happen that make little or no sense, such as a baby exploding or a man expelling something out of his nose so evil that a priest commands him to jump off a building. Public Service Announcement In a few issues there is a "Public Service Announcement," often with exaggerated messages involving events such as a 15-year-old girl's taking a bite out of her baby and a drug addict's puking horrendously. COMMENTARY ON THE GOTH SUBCULTURE Johnny the Homicidal Maniac has become so particularly popular among participants of the Status Quo and Subcultures (most prominently the Goth movement) that it frequently Satirizes out of a good-humored appetite for self- Parody ; it has become a call for self-improvement to those who latch on to said subcultures—while missing the point—or model themselves stereotypically to the point that they no longer stand for "anything substantial". It has been suggested by fans that, whether Vasquez intended it or not, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac is a parody of the "goth revenge fantasy". REFERENCES The film '' Bite Me, Fanboy '' features an entire scene dedicated to JTHM and Jhonen's fans. '' Invader Zim '', a Nickelodeon cartoon created by Vasquez, often features subtle references to JTHM. The Simpsons television series made a reference to JTHM in an episode where Homer Simpson was told that, while in heaven, all of his needs or wants would be fulfilled with simply a thought. He followed this by wishing for his tour guide's head to explode. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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