Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
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Johnny the Homicidal Maniac (also known as JTHM) was a black-and-white comic book series by Jhonen Vasquez, published in seven issues by Slave Labor Graphics between August 1995 and January 1997. Before this it had been published as short strips in the goth magazine Carpe Noctum, and later had two spin-offs, Squee! and I Feel Sick. It has become particularly popular with members of, and participants in, the status quo and subcultures (most prominently the Goth movement) that it frequently satirizes - either out of a good-humored appetite for self-parody, or out of simply having missed the point.
The main character, Johnny, is a deranged young man who believes that he must keep a wall in his house covered in fresh blood to trap in a monster who lives behind them. To do this, he murders individuals in elaborately cruel manners who do things that even slightly irritate him. Occasionally, however, the monster (allegedly) gets out and kills people. He mainly kills those who he believes to be evil, "basically the rude, cruel, vain, and selfish". Like his creator, Johnny is a comic book artist of a manic comic strip called Happy Noodle Boy. A running theory on his origin is that Johnny was once a brilliant artist who lost his talent, and subsequently went insane and homicidal as we know him now, but this has no confirmation. On rare occasions Johnny shows a feeling of hopelessness and hatred for the evil things he does. For reasons unexplained and even pondered on by Johnny himself authority figures are unable to capture him, though his acts are often witnessed in public areas.
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Notable characters
Johnny C.
Also known as Nny (pronounced "knee"). The protagonist, Johnny lives in a decrepit single-story old house (house number 777) that was apparently built before he moved in and has a massive multiroom basement. The basement exclusively holds torture rooms, dungeons, and a wall that binds...something. Nothing is known of his family, or his past. He possesses an old car that can still run. He is often depicted as devoid of a conscience, though this is arguable since he is also insane. Some fanfiction writers assume he is the adult version of Dib, one of the protagonists of Invader Zim. If this is true, it would be a long fall indeed.
Squee
Also known as Todd, but nicknamed Squee, the namesake originating from the sound the child makes when scared. Johnny's semi-friend and next-door neighbour, Johnny likes to scare him. 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 person that is closest to 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.
Nail Bunny
Also known as Spooky Floating Bunny Head. Johnny's first and last pet, a rabbit whom he nailed to the wall. Now it is Johnny's only voice of reason, guiding him in certain situations. Only the preserved head (that was ripped off 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 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 that produces muffins. There are two of them: Psycho-Doughboy and Mr. Eff. Originally repainted by Johnny, they were given personalities through supernatural means by the thing on the other side of the wall. They despise Nailbunny, and are constantly at odds with each other.
Psycho-Doughboy is Johnny's mentally unstable depressive side, and wishes for nothing more than to successfully induce Johnny to commit suicide and end his existence, thereby returning to the void as nothingness.
Mr. Eff, Johnny's manic side, is a psychopathic sadist who inspires Johnny to commit some of his most gory and prolific murder sprees (such as massacring an entire cafe.) Unlike Psycho-Doughboy, he desires to exist as a singular entity, free of both Johnny and the supernatural force that created (or at least gained control of) the Doughboys.
There is some confusion about which is which. Confusingly, Psycho-Doughboy's body is labeled with the word FUCK, while Mr. Eff's has a "Z?" (Question Sleep) painted on his chest. Mr. Eff's eyes are blank with a black outline, while Psycho-Doughboy's eyes are spirals.
According to Reverend Meat, and Johnny himself, they are both manifestations of the monster that used to live in Johnny's house and are animated by the voices in his head. At the end, Johnny disregards their ideals entirely and sets out to find complete emotional desensitization.
Appearently, Mr. Eff's name is actually Mr. FUCK, the word "Eff" used to aviod fans from jumping to the concluion that Eff himself is a cuss, as the name might lead people to believe. Despite that Eff is never called Mr. FUCK, some people refer to him that way on their fansites.
Devi D.
Also known as the one that got away. A woman who befriends Johnny and a potential love interest, she is 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.
Tess and Dillon
Tess and Dillon are two people who play part of the goth parody in the series. Tess' family moved around a lot so she has a hard time making friends. She is a psuedo-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. Anne Gwish (see below) makes a reference to him in a small strip about her. They come into Johnny's grasp due to Dillon's constant badgering during Kafka, and Johnny makes a point of ignoring Tess and tormenting Dillon, unaware of the fact that she dislikes him. After Johnny's accidental 'death', both tried escape, encountered Nail Bunny and the doughboys, and although Dillon and an unnamed jerk were quite literally torn apart, Tess presumably escaped.
Jimmy
Also known as Mmy (his own special way of mimicking Nny). 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 on his own volition. He decided to mimic Johnny's work, to the extent of assembling a suitcase full of surgical equipment. However, his attempts at mimicking Johnny are an abomination in Nny's eyes, who at the time is aware that what he had done before was bad, and that he is one of the worst people to imitate. Jimmy doesn't live for long.
Tonja
A friend of Devi's. She posesses a squeaky toy shaped like a cute skeleton called Mr. Spooky. Her role in JTHM is fairly insignificant. She is not to be confused with Tenna from I Feel Sick, who also posesses the said squeaky toy, and lives in the same apartment complex as Devi.
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 which Johnny begins a quest for at the end of the series. The insect's only supernatural aspect appears to be it's apparent immortality; otherwise, it's a normal bug, and is not one of the supernatural voices that continually pester Johnny.
Reverend Meat
The complete opposite of Mr. Samsa, Reverend Meat is a Bub's Burger boy who constantly 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 are 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 actual comic book, Reverend Meat's name was never mentioned; Jhonen gave it in an interview.
Anne Gwish
Anne Gwish is a goth girl that makes a few appearances in the later part of the series. She is a very symbolic parody of a certain set of goths. She is very arrogant and loves to be different as long as it looks good to everyone else.
Happy Noodle Boy
Happy Noodle Boy is a comic that is drawn by Johnny and read mainly by mentally ill homeless people. Every comic has a single page insert of the Happy Noodle Boy comic itself, detailing the often completely nonsensical adventures of the stick figure. Happy Noodle Boy spends his time usually standing on a wooden box and yelling nonsense at hapless pedestrians, often provoking his death by bullets. Happy Noodle Boy is a stick figure with an other wise normal head; an image of him is seen on Johnny's shirt prior to his wardrobe alteration at the end of the comic.
External links
- Jhonen Vasquez's official website (http://www.questionsleep.com/)