"The Works Of Jhonen Vasquez" or "I Was The Turkey All Along!'

Seil · 08-01-2011, 03:54 AM

I know nothing. NOTHING! Since I live in this pitiful hu-man town of FILTH I don't have a good comic shop close by. And I have a MIGHTY NEED to talk about ZIM! I AM ZIM!

What can you telly me of Johnny?

Marc v4.0 · 08-01-2011, 04:20 AM

That if your only exposure to JV was with Zim...

Holy Shit, you are in for some really disturbing wakeups

POS Industries · 08-01-2011, 04:37 AM

VASQUEZ COMIC POWER RANKINGS:
1. I Feel Sick
2. Squee
3. JTHM
5. Everything Can Be Beaten
4. Fillerbunny
5. Bad Art Collection

However, if you want to follow the plot, it goes JTHM -> Squee -> I Feel Sick.

JTHM was good, if a little rambly when it goes into "outlet for Jhonen's own personal frustrations with the world" mode, and it's quite apparent that its his first go at making a comic book series. The gore factor isn't particularly unsettling. Pretty much on the level of TF2, really. Issue #6 is pretty fantastic, but makes no sense without at least the preceding two for some degree of context.

Squee is more Zim-like in its writing. Actually very similar to Zim, including a few of the same characters. It's a better gag comic than JTHM, focusing more on the terrifying life of a small boy who lives next door to a mass-murderer and has all sorts of supernatural horrors happen to him.

I Feel Sick is the only one out of the bunch that is dedicated to a single narrative rather than short gag stories, so it's the least disjointed out of the bunch. The art is the most reminiscent of Zim, being that its the only one out of the three that's been colored, and by GIR's voice actor, no less. The story and characters are engaging and entertaining, but none of it makes a lick of sense without having read pretty much all of JTHM and, to a lesser extent, Squee.

Everything Can Be Beaten is a series of illustrations by another artist with captions written by Vasquez about a weird little creature whose entire existence was devoted to killing kittens with a hammer until one day he notices a door to the outside world and you can probably guess where it goes from there. Most of the humor is derived from it being presented in the style of a children's book.

Fillerbunny and the BAC are just silly shit he did because why not. All LOLSORANDOM xD stuff with no substance, with mixed results. Fillerbunny is pretty amusing, BAC is intentionally terrible, so take it as you will.

Seil · 08-01-2011, 04:36 AM

Oh, I know.

Aerozord · 08-01-2011, 12:15 PM

If we include his one shots, my favorite is when he describes "a typical day" of his life. Which I will not describe because I could never do it justice

Out of the series, I liked Squee more the JTHM. Dark humor is more enjoyable when its from the point of view of someone thats just a traumatized observer

Kim · 08-01-2011, 12:16 PM

I like Jhonen's stuff, but I just can't motivate myself to check it out anymore. I think Hot Topic and Hot Topic fans has ruined me on it.

POS Industries · 08-01-2011, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NonCon

I like Jhonen's stuff, but I just can't motivate myself to check it out anymore. I think Hot Topic and Hot Topic fans has ruined me on it.

Well, there's not really much to check out. He's put out 2 comics within the past five or six years, one of which, Jellyfist, I hadn't listed above because I never read it and totally forgot it existed right up until this very moment.

The vast majority of his work is from before the Hot Topic crowd got ahold of him, and I think they're the same reason he doesn't really put out much anymore.

Seil · 08-01-2011, 04:07 PM

While trying to find the "Typical Day" thing, I found an interesting interview.

Hey, Wikiquote.

08-01-2011, 03:54 AM	#1
Seil Super stressed! Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: British Columbia Posts: 8,081	"The Works Of Jhonen Vasquez" or "I Was The Turkey All Along!' I know nothing. NOTHING! Since I live in this pitiful hu-man town of FILTH I don't have a good comic shop close by. And I have a MIGHTY NEED to talk about ZIM! I AM ZIM! What can you telly me of Johnny?

08-01-2011, 04:20 AM	#2
Marc v4.0 Fight Me, Nerds Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 3,470	That if your only exposure to JV was with Zim... Holy Shit, you are in for some really disturbing wakeups __________________

08-01-2011, 04:37 AM	#3
POS Industries Argus Agony Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Gotta go fishing! Posts: 10,483	VASQUEZ COMIC POWER RANKINGS: 1. I Feel Sick 2. Squee 3. JTHM 5. Everything Can Be Beaten 4. Fillerbunny 5. Bad Art Collection However, if you want to follow the plot, it goes JTHM -> Squee -> I Feel Sick. JTHM was good, if a little rambly when it goes into "outlet for Jhonen's own personal frustrations with the world" mode, and it's quite apparent that its his first go at making a comic book series. The gore factor isn't particularly unsettling. Pretty much on the level of TF2, really. Issue #6 is pretty fantastic, but makes no sense without at least the preceding two for some degree of context. Squee is more Zim-like in its writing. Actually very similar to Zim, including a few of the same characters. It's a better gag comic than JTHM, focusing more on the terrifying life of a small boy who lives next door to a mass-murderer and has all sorts of supernatural horrors happen to him. I Feel Sick is the only one out of the bunch that is dedicated to a single narrative rather than short gag stories, so it's the least disjointed out of the bunch. The art is the most reminiscent of Zim, being that its the only one out of the three that's been colored, and by GIR's voice actor, no less. The story and characters are engaging and entertaining, but none of it makes a lick of sense without having read pretty much all of JTHM and, to a lesser extent, Squee. Everything Can Be Beaten is a series of illustrations by another artist with captions written by Vasquez about a weird little creature whose entire existence was devoted to killing kittens with a hammer until one day he notices a door to the outside world and you can probably guess where it goes from there. Most of the humor is derived from it being presented in the style of a children's book. Fillerbunny and the BAC are just silly shit he did because why not. All LOLSORANDOM xD stuff with no substance, with mixed results. Fillerbunny is pretty amusing, BAC is intentionally terrible, so take it as you will. __________________ Either you're dead or my watch has stopped.

08-01-2011, 12:15 PM	#5
Aerozord So we are clear Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Former murder capital of the world Posts: 13,824	If we include his one shots, my favorite is when he describes "a typical day" of his life. Which I will not describe because I could never do it justice Out of the series, I liked Squee more the JTHM. Dark humor is more enjoyable when its from the point of view of someone thats just a traumatized observer __________________ "don't hate me for being a heterosexual white guy disparaging slacktivism, hate me for all those murders I've done."

08-01-2011, 04:36 AM	#4
Seil Super stressed! Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: British Columbia Posts: 8,081	Oh, I know.

08-01-2011, 12:16 PM	#6
Kim adorable Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 12,950	I like Jhonen's stuff, but I just can't motivate myself to check it out anymore. I think Hot Topic and Hot Topic fans has ruined me on it. __________________ this post is about how to successfully H the Kimmy

08-01-2011, 04:07 PM	#8
Seil Super stressed! Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: British Columbia Posts: 8,081	While trying to find the "Typical Day" thing, I found an interesting interview. Hey, Wikiquote.