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Wr/Ill. Jhonen Vasquez
I enjoy Jhonen Vasquez's work. Somehow his sadistic angry commentary appeals to the sadistic and insane parts of my brain (which is probably a considerable portion).
Don't get me wrong. Johnny the Homicidal Maniac was a sweet treat. Fillerbunny was even better. But the subject matter of every work seems to be monotonously the same. Within each book you get a few standalone stories containing characters within said book that sport senses of sadism, violence, brutality, 
strange deaths, even stranger resurrections, and a lot of angry, angry political rants that become sometimes overbearing and whiny commentaries on the state of society. After getting through JTHM and Fillerbunny, even though Squee was far more enjoyable than JTHM, the angriness of the book grows on you like a mold you can never get rid of, but you know you have to for your health's sake. At times it just simply becomes overwhelming and uneventful.
The beauty of this Squee trade, however, is in the short stories after the initial Squee 1-4 has ended. I don't much care for "Happy Noodle Boy", to me it's just utter nonsense, possessing no artistic or creative talent and possibly Jhonen's weakest work. "Wobbly Headed Boy" is only minimally amusing up to a bearable point. The gem resides in the "Meanwhile" stories. They simply are ingenious and quite possibly Vasquez's best work, in societal commentary/self induced ranting and artistry.
In general Jhonen's art is not easy on the stomach. It is jaggedly rough and is infused with tons of gothic gloomy elements. At times, it just plainly looks ugly. But the undeniable appeal of each of the exaggerated characters within his stories is shown straight from the beginning. And one learns to eventually like his art. Incredibly his art is very original in it's own right and fits perfectly in the independent circuit. There does not seem to be much of a commercial aspect to it, but he did helm a creator owned television series for Nickolodeon called "Invader Zim". However, don't expect to see him drawing superheroes any time soon. This is a respectable trade and one I would recommend before any of his other works.
- Pawel Goj
