SQUEE

I've often wondered what a guy like Jhonen Vasquez dreams of. His works, like the comic "Squee" shown to the left, speak louder than words; Words in which the world need not of once Vasquez is done with it and all its children turned to eye-ball jelly.

You may not think it's beautiful or poetic, but what is poetry but an imitation of reality? What is a dream but poetry? His works are appealing because I think most people dream in this manner, and if they don't then I guess it's just me.

Just the other night I had a dream in which a monster tried to eat me, and I took a giant silver axe to it. The monster and the axe were prefectly detailed and still linger in my mind while everything else was but a blurr. Horrifically fascinating thoughts like these are captured eloquently within Vasquez's works along with all his satires.





Why, just look at these panels! This I chose for it's perfect example of societal satire.
In the first panel, the teacher says, "Hssss... you are wasting the class' time, young man. I will tolerate no more of this... questioning."
In the second, she says, "Now, perhaps you could look in your textbook and tell me what you see there?"
The boy, Squee, sees that the textbook says that Columbus "sailed the ocean blue" in 1429, to which he replies, "It's a typo!"
And the scary, doom-inciting teacher shouts in the first panel, second row, "Insolent fool!! How dare you question the textbook!! The text book never lies! The textbook never lies!!!"
In the next panel, she calmly asks, "Class... would you be so kind as to correct little Todd's defective mind?"
(Her calling Squee "Todd" shows her inept caring abilities towards individuality in the classroom. Either that, or she's marvelously senile. I just think she's a bug-alien.)
The class crowds around Squee like the little government zombie hamsters that they are and reiterate what the textbook told them.


Here you see a full-page layout. The alien-monster and Squee at an angle to each other so that your eyes follow the dialogue AND the art on the page in a smooth zig-zag. This zig-sag motion helps you to see everything as how it's suppose to flow time-wise.

You first see Squee in a circled panel, not a square, which helps with the smooth feeling, and your eyes are brought across to the first speech bubble, which says, "Hello. I just gonna borrow da closet for a few minutes." (Most aliens in Vasquez's works are not very bright even though they have advanced technology... sometimes.)

Then your eyes are dragged diagonally across the page to Squee's bulging eyes, taking in the monster, the setting and Squee all in one shot. Squee's eyes stand out for this purpose.

Your eyes are then taken diagonally again to the second speech bubble which says, "Knock if I making too much noise." From here you can see the other kids he has in his hands, and your eyes are dragged downward by the monster's tentacle, balancing the negative space and making the entirety of the page like seductive eye-candy.

And what of the children in his hand? I know not the mysteries behind Vasquez's humor.

Now, you can sit back, relax and take in the entire page as is. You'll noice the wierd stuffed-animals, the drawing on the ground, and the poster on the wall of an alien, who is the main character of Vasquez's other series, "Invader Zim."

You can see everything that is Jhonen Vasquez in this simple page: his designs, lay-outs, shadowing, mooding, setting, characterization, and his sick, repulsive sense of humor that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I know a lot of people like this show and have probably read this comic, and if they've read this comic they probably don't want to hear about any lame commentary I have to give. If this is so, turn away right now and stop reading. Don't even look at your computer screen. This is of no importance. I know I'm a bit late in saying this, and in reading this you've already read my entire blog. I don't really care.