My recommendation for today is not what most people would consider a manga, since it isn't from Japan. But, if you know what the word "manga" translates to, you'll agree that this counts. Today I am recommending Johnny The Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez. You may recognize that name if you've ever watched Invader Zim. Johnny The Homicidal Maniac (JTHM) is another brilliant creation by Jhonen. I guess I should put a warning up here. In case you can't tell by the title, JTHM is not for young readers... or readers who get queasy at the sight of blood... or readers that are opposed to strong language. JTHM is one of the bloodiest graphic novels I've ever read. I don't think there's a single page in the whole book that doesn't have some kind of blood in one of the frames. 
But, if you can look past the extremely violent surface of the book, you'll find a great story underneath with many, many amazing insights into the human psyche. In JTHM Jhonen disects a lot of the little quirks of the human mind. As violent and, well, psychopathic as Johnny is, he really is a very intelligent person with questions about the world that he wants answered.
The story is really quite serious, which is funny when you think about how funny some of Jhonen's other creations are, but it also has some... humor in it. Every so often in the book there is a Happy Noodle Boy comic thrown among the pages. Happy Noodle Boy is the comic drawn by Johnny and is funny, but in a very twisted, morbid sense.
I definitely recommend JTHM for people who think they are able to handle the graphic nature of this graphic novel.My score: 5 out of 5.
I've yet to find a graphic novel that made me think like this one does. Also, the art style is very edgy and dark, which I really like.
Hmmmmm, sounds really interesting. Even though I really wish I had more of an opportunity to watch more of Invader Zim than I've ever had, it's still enough to know I'd want to check this out. It seems to be a lot darker in nature from what you've said, and of course I'm always up for a good thought-provoking story. :D
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget Fillerbunny! Fillerbunny is my favorite!
ReplyDelete@ BroEl: Yes, you definitely need to watch more Invader Zim. Maybe we should plan for a hang out with some other people and watch more of it. I know I'd be down for that. And, yes, JTHM is much, MUCH darker than Zim ever was. JTHM is one of my all time favorite graphic novels simply for the fact that it delves so deep in to the intricacies of the human psyche. I definitely recommend picking it up. You can almost always find it at Barnes & Noble for not too expensive.
ReplyDelete@Sarcasm397: Yes, yes, Fillerbunny is awesome. I just was trying to not give away too much of what is in the novel so that people would want to go out and read it.
@Bryson: Oh yeah, for sure. I'd totally be down with doing that myself. :)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely going to have to look for this thing next time I'm down at Barnes & Noble. It'll be good to try and get into some more american graphic novels for once. After I read this one and after I read Batman: The Killing Joke, along with Watchmen that only marks 3 American graphic novels I've ever read, heh heh. ^_^'
I love American graphic novels. For me, they seem less... cliche than Japanese novels. As much as I like a good Japanese graphic novel, they all seem to revolve around the same basic concepts. (At least, the ones I've read do.) That's not to say that they're in any way bad. I guess it just means that I have to branch out in the type of Japanese Manga I read. I seem to be stuck on the Guy-who-is-surrounded-by-tons-of-cute-girls-but-is-too-much-of-a-sissy-to-go-after-any-of-them genre. (Wow, that's a long name for a genre.) Even when I try a new kind of genre, the same problems seem to crop up. There's always one main guy and anywhere from 5-30 cute girls, all of which seem to really like him and only one of which he actually likes back.
ReplyDeleteIt's not just that, though. I might just be spitballing here, but it seems that the humor of some of the jokes in Japanese Manga gets lost when it's translated to English. The Japanese all think something is hilarious, but when I read it in English, I just don't get it. (Am I the only one who feels that way?(I think I'll write an article about that soon...))
Which is why I tend to like American graphic novels more than their Japanese counterparts. Nothing has been translated, so I don't have to try and find the missing humor. Even when the American artists style is meant to look like a Japanese artist, the writing style is still that of an American. (MegaTokyo is the best example I can think of for this.)
I definitely think I'm going to turn this comment into an article somehow, so expect to see it soon.
Oh yeah, that definitely sounds like a really good article idea. I'll probably reserve my comments on the issue for when you write it up though.
ReplyDeleteProbably a good plan. I think I'll write it up today.
ReplyDelete