Rating: 
Summary: Love "NNY"!
Review: I have read 6 of the "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac" after stumbling upon them in a binder I found. LOVE THEM!!! I think I'm in love with NNY. I mean, even though he's the villan, he's also the victim. Such emotion and philosphies that really encourage thinking. Haven't read the book, but sure it's going to be awesome and want it for my birthday, November 27.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic
Review: A beautifully illustrated book depicting the emotional and mental struggles of Johnny through his many encounters with the human race. This book has awesome art done by the talented J.Vasquez along with occaisional humerous comic squares. The boarderline college psych undertones give this story a great edge and really make it something grand. I love this book, and any fan of Invader Zim or Squee is bound to love it too.I believe this is a great book to sit down and study on an empty Saturday. (sorry about my spelling)
Rating:
Summary: Look past the blood
Review: Jhonen Vasquez's book, Johnny the Homicidal maniac, is revered the nation over by sweating guys who fear natural sunlight as one of the quintessential bloodbooks of the past decade. I can't make fun of these people, as i'm a card-carrying member of their hordes, but nonetheless....
Johnny is much deeper than just a bloody romp through an expressionist world. Johnny (or Nny, as he prefers; a pretty clever nickname by Vasquez, as neither i nor anyone i'll ever know could have thought of that on their own) is, as the title suggests, a homicidal maniac. But he's obviously a lot more than that. Vasquez demonstrates Nny's innate intellect through his nigh-unto-Christopher-Walken-esque prose pieces, which Nny thankfully speaks in pretty frequently. Nny is smart, cunning, insightful and brutally unstable. What's sad in the book is that when Nny attempts to do purely human things, like hang out with his girlfriend or go to the store for chips and slushies, it always turns into Johnny being somehow offended or convinced that it would be the right thing to do, and of course, killing somebody (or trying to). He's flawed, he's kinda pathetic, he's self-conciously self-centered and damned if you can't identify with him on some level. Hopefully not the talking styrofoam level. Bringing us to Johnny's psychosis again; he has extended conversations with either inanimate or dead beings, which constantly try to goad him toward their respective aspect of his personality. Mr F***, the maniacal "Let's lacerate some girlscouts" version of Johnny and a styrofoam doughboy Nny painted; Psycho D-Boy, the depressive "kill yourself and get it over with, you insignificant turd" facet of Nny, another Doughboy; Nail bunny, the caring "Don't listen to them! Run, Nny, run!" side of our demented hero, whose name says it all. All three of these...uh...things compete for Nny's submission to their side of the cosmic deal. Other imporatnt characters are Devi, Nny's one-time girlfriend (whom, of course, he tried to kill), who Nny still has strong feelings for, and probably always will. Perhaps the most important character in the story is SQUEE, Nny's young neighbor. SQUEE is the only living person Nny tolerates actually living, and whom Nny seeks solace and reason in, much to young SQUEE's chagrin.
For this story, there could be no other artist than the writer, Mister Jhonen Vasquez, who i maintain has one of the most singularly cool styles of drawing in comics (him and guys like Sam Kieth, R. Crumb and Gary Cooper). Vasquez's dark and light contrasts tell the story incredibly, as that's pretty much the way sees the world: in black and white, usually the darker, to convey his distaste for most things on the earth. nny is an open minded man with a black and white camera; that's the only way he really can see the world, and the only way we'll ever think he sees it.
But past the blood, the great characters and the awe-inspiring art, you can find other sorts of messages. The overwhelming lonliness and contradictory desire to lose any sembelance of identity and human emotion strikes a chord, if a distant one. Haven't we all felt so ashamed of ourself, at one point or another, that we wish we could just drop off the earth, or no longer be recognizable to those we feel embarrassed around? I hope so, or i am one sad little obese boy.... Anyhowzer, there are others. Nny's attempts at suicide are always foiled, by some fault of his own. In his mind, i think Nny might already be dead. He has no friends, no contact with the outside world, nothing to remind him that not everything is negative. I'm not sure (am i ever?), but i think Vasquez might be telling us to stop being such self-obsessed s***s (stupid "no profanity" rule!) and go outside. Don't sit in your house all day and mope about how uncaring people are. Or maybe Mr. Vasquez is reading this now and laughing his head off at how wrong i am. We'll never know! You are the Salinger of comics, Vasquez... well, not really. Nevermind. And finally, the heartbreaking bit of prose at the end of chapter five is one of those things we've always kinda thought, but never said or had anywhere to put. Vasquez fits it in perfectly, leaving you staring at that page for the longest time, a horrible sense of understanding looming over you.
Huh. I've really nothing left to say here, except buy this book now or later regret it. Then go buy SQUEE. And cry.
By the by, i don't know what the hell Vasquez is getting at with Happy Noodle Boy. Search for meaning in it if you will, it makes my wee toaster-like brain hurt. ::Rubs head meaningfully:: Ouch. This is a long review. I need to go lie down.
Rating:
Summary: Jhonen Vasquez's best work.
Review: We all love Invader Zim and this work came before. Intelligent quick comics that can bring a smile to any cynical personality. Makes a great read for those short bathroom visits. I fun book from one of my favorite misanthropes.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST DANG BOOK EVER!!
Review: Oh. My. God. This book was the best book I've ever read, hands down. It is funny, dark and full of death!! Which is always good. And besides, theres an angry nun and angry nun is always humor. teehee it made me giggle as much as i would when i see a policeman hit a mime with that club thingy. I would suggest this book to anyone who likes b lood and guts and lots of words. great art + good content = REALLY GOOD COMIC!! but i suggest that you dont read this in school cuz you could get in trubble. which may or may not be good.
Rating:
Summary: you can call me nny.....
Review: first time i ever heard about johnny was one very cold winter where me and by buddy tiff were sitting in the stairwell at college and she whipps out the directors cut. she handed it to me and told me to read it. i sat out in the snow under the shed reading it till i felt like a block of ice and then i went inside. i didnt sleep until i finished it. johnny is a sick little not quite detailed not quite stick figure guy who is always called a freak and his altime hated word "wacko" because hes basically a tall skinny goth punk. so when people push his buttons he tortures them and kills them. its sick, its violent, its cocky, its FUNNY, its everything a comic should be. i recommend it to anyone with a twisted sense of humor. its a great book. also check the comics out. they have wobbly head bob in them too.. i snagged a copy of the first one this week when i was on vacation at hot topic. made me remember how nice the directors cut was though cause the comics are all spliced up into 7 books the other way and you wanna keep reading.
oh yeah, check out squee too. hes johnny little next door neighbor buddy. hes a little tyke with a teddy bear. johnnys only actual friend i guess.
Rating: 
Summary: Well, since I'm here...
Review: If you've read the other reviews of this book, you'll have already garnered a basic idea of plot and characters, so I won't rehash that here. Instead, I offer a sort of pros-and-cons approach. Negatives first: Not only was this the first comic series the author had ever done as full issues, it is some of his earliest work. The learning process is interesting to follow, but there are some initial rough spots to get through, both conceptually and artistically. Second, this book is unabashedly full of thoroughly gratuitous violence, graphically rendered down to the last exacting detail of each spatter of blood. Despite the fact that the drawings are in stark black and white, I've rarely seen gore done with such vividness. Lastly, the storytelling is erratic, almost random. This is intentional, and meant to reflect Johnny's state of mind, but the continuing plot will not be immediately apparent. If none of that fazes you, though, you're in for a real treat. It's a rare writer that can create a character who is so completely irredeemable, and make that character sympathetic without excusing any of their misdeeds. Johnny himself tells us that he is the villian here, and can't justify what he does. No convenient, absolving explanation is given: in fact, such a thing is consciously avoided. And yet, the reader can identify with him, and even laugh at the horror he creates. That's no mean trick. Going along with that fine appreciation for shades of grey is the fact that while this story is primarily meant as humor, it's not just that. Even at its most random, the intelligence behind this mayhem shows through in fractured gleams. There are references both visual and textual to philosophy, art, literature, and cinema. There's social commentary on several levels--sarcastic, real, and inferred. And last, but not least, is the sheer creativity of it. Some of the ideas the author tosses in here are just brilliant. And the major twist in the story literally had me saying, "Wow. Can he DO that?" Yes, it's hard to tell sometimes, but there actually is a plot, and a theme, and a conflict here...and it's not fully resolved. Should the series never be continued (and the author's exasperation with the fans requesting this makes future Johnny books look unlikely) you're left to draw your own conclusions. If that all sounds like your kind of thing, I wish you happy reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, but not the best Vasquez book by far
Review: Not bad, but far too preachy and annoying at times. At least the art is interesting. Later Vasquez stuff is much better. Try "Squee" instead of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Ignore the hype, but don't ignore this.
Review: An amusing romp with some solid artwork. Have a read of the first issue (if you can find it) before forking out on this volume. If you like it, then hell, don't let me stop you.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Changed My Life
Review: well maybe not my whole life but a little volley ball sized part of it. Nny's outlook on life has caused me to completely rethink my own outlook and find it severely lacking.
EVERYONE has bloody walls that they feel they have to feed, and until we stop the cycle, we'll never reach enlightenment... or some semblance there of...
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