Indulgent violence, sadistic torture, misanthropic ravings and inexplicable craziness are just a few “putting it lightly” adjectives for Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez. What many consider to be one of the most offensive and truly psychotic comics ever produced, I argue may be one of the best philosophical pieces in contemporary culture in the past couple decades. JTHM deals with the commonly shared disturbances we all have at some level, regarding humanity and our own struggle for worth. The presentation is such a brutal and honest experience, you might even call it therapeutic.
PEOPLE SUCK…
…don’t they!? Like the guy that cuts you off in traffic, then checks out in the express lane with obviously too many items and finishes off by leaving his shopping cart in the parking lot. We all feel the rage of our fellow man’s selfish and apathetic tendencies from time to time (and as you can tell, I just went to the grocery store). JTHM systematically covers just about every unpleasant human interaction we experience and promptly follows it with the over-the-top gruesome murder of the offender. What is most disturbing to the reader is not the gore, but the fact that some small part of us relates to Johnny’s choice of victims.
THE WORLD SUCKS…
doesn’t it?! We all know the feeling that some invisible, unnamed, malevolent force is trying to keep us down and squelch our dreams and creative passions. While this theme is more fully explored in Vasquez’ follow up comic, I Feel Sick, it is still obviously present here too. Johnny is constantly fighting against some unknown power that seems to be forcing his actions and directing his life. This force actually begins to have the opposite effect as Johnny, who still does enjoy killing, wants to stop or get caught just to have something change.
CONSEQUENCES
While Johnny never gets directly punished for his actions, the astute reader will notice that neither Johnny, nor the writer Jhonen, finds answers or satisfaction from acting on their darker passions. In fact, to the dismay of many fans, the gore and killing wanes after issue #3 as both the protagonist and author explore deeper meaning to the chaos.
The real ironic surprise for me was that Jhonen writes a depiction of Hell that is virtually identical to the one proposed by C.S. Lewis in The Great Divorce: a place where everyone gets what they think they want. While Jhonen’s depiction of Heaven is less insightful, and even crude, this just goes to show how natural a concept Hell is to us, while Heaven remains the mystery. We are born and at home in the darkness and cannot comprehend the light.
There are so many tidbits in JTHM worth reflection (and a good laugh) that I would love to cover (including a scene where one of Johnny’s victims is a true man of faith that he takes no joy in killing) but will refrain for the sake of an already failed attempt at brevity. JTHM is not for the weak of heart, or rigid in perspective; but for the rest of you, I highly recommend this book as a fresh source of brutal insight and dark humor. JTHM is a great place to question the darkness (and question sleep), even though the answers are best sought elsewhere.
