Johnny C.
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Johnny C., who refers to himself as Nny, is a fictional character starring in the comic book series Johnny The Homicidal Maniac. He also appears in the spin-offs of the series Squee! and I Feel Sick, as well as the television series Invader Zim. Johnny was created by Jhonen Vasquez.
The series focuses on (apparent) villain Johnny C., or Nny for short (as in (Joh-)Nny). He is a deranged serial killer, mass murderer, and spree killer who interacts with various other characters, generally by torturing and murdering them. He elaborately and sadistically kills anyone who even slightly irritates him, then drains their blood and paints one of the walls in his house with it (to keep the color of the blood the same, or, later in the series, to keep the Thing from getting out). If the situation dictates, Johnny is also willing to murder decent people who have done him no wrong, though in his twisted mind, even they deserve their fate for some reason or another. The vast majority of Nny's victims are (apparently) bad people who deserve what they get, at least by his perceptions. The number of Johnny’s victims is in the dozens, if not hundreds — or perhaps even thousands. Authorities are unable to capture Johnny and seem unaware of his existence, though his crimes are often witnessed in public and reported by the few who survive.
Johnny's reason for insanity was declared in the series to be him being a 'waste-lock'. On his trip to Hell, Satan explains that 'the human negative' is collected in cells placed throughout the world as random objects (The wall in Nny's house, in his case) and are also assigned a waste-lock, a seal of sorts to protect the combination of negativity from breaking out. This, however, is implied to have a negative effect on the assigned waste-lock, but it serves a purpose; when a waste-lock is full, the waste-lock implodes and takes the existence as it knows it down the drain wherein existence is restored. Satan remarks that the ones that choose these locks had been 'ill upon choosing him' due to him being 'profoundly disturbed to begin with'. Johnny, unconsciously, shows awareness of this task earlier ("You know, that old thing about what happens to the world when you close your eyes!!!"), but never truly understands its nature until it is told.
In the JTHM Director's Cut, it is said that Johnny's parents were murdered by an "evil man" but this is an obvious joke; it goes on to say that he became a masked crime fighter. Nothing is known of Johnny's family or of his past — even Johnny is deprived of all but occasional flashes of memory. He is devoid of a conscience, though this is arguable since he is also insane. This insanity manifests itself in several entities, such as Nailbunny, the closest thing to a conscience that Nny possesses; and Psychodoughboy and Mr. Eff(Fuck), two styrofoam pilsbury doughboys that argue over whether to let Nny kill himself. Later in the story a new character from Nny's mind arises, Reverend Meat, who attempts to invoke feeling in Nny as he searches for freedom.
Sometimes, Johnny shows feelings of self-hatred for the horrible things he does. This shows in his many monologues and suicide attempts (at these times, he is known as JTSM-S for suicidal). He even has what appears to be frightening moments of clarity, but those quickly turn into yet more crazed rants accompanied by bloodshed. Though his exact age is unknown, Vasquez has been quoted saying Johnny is in his early twenties.
Johnny also expresses distaste for direct physical contact quite often. In one of his rants with Nailbunny, he states that he loathes all sorts of human sewage. His pursuit of desensitization also includes riddance of direct physical contact, hence, he is seen wearing gloves. However, Reverend Meat hints at an instance wherein Johnny may have engaged in sexual contact with a girl("Don't you remember the pretty girl that gave me to you? Being in her room? Doing what you did?"), but his statement's foundation or the truth of it has never been established.
A running theory on Johnny's origin is that he was once a brilliant artist who lost his talent in drawing and subsequently went insane. Nailbunny chastises Johnny for drawing his Happy Noodle Boy comic ("A god damned stick figure!") instead of Drawing. Vasquez writes that the idea of giving Johnny an origin does not appeal to him at all. He feels that giving Johnny a back-story would dilute his mystery, stating, "[I] find the blurriness of it all much more appealing than making him go nuts over being pantsed in school once. 'YAAAARGH!! I have been pantsed!! I kill like the damned now!!' That's just not done.". Vasquez has expressed in interviews and hinted at in The Director's Cut that the starting point of Johnny C is just the fantasy of murder ("I never killed anyone. I avoid going over that edge by writing about a guy who has taken a flying leap over it"). The progress of the comics also imply that at first, the murder was nothing but a running gag, which then turned into an important part of the character.
However, after such statements had been made, in I Feel Sick there appeared sufficient evidence that Nny's situation was brought on by the combination of being a Wastelock and being influenced by whatever force was behind the Doughboys. This force also appears to be manipulatings things so that Johnny doesn't get caught, he even commits a murder in front of a security camera and correctly predicts he still won't get caught. Johnny is a serial killer who normally captures his victims and locks them in his house in some sort of torture device.
Johnny usually has conversations with his victims before he kills them or tortures them (or, in some cases, lets them go).
Throughout the series, he tries to commit suicide several times. At one point, he succeeds in doing so, though ironically it occurred accidentally and after he had changed his mind about wanting to die. He is sent to heaven and then to hell, but discovers he doesn't belong in either place and is resurrected. The series ends with him going on something of a vacation while trying to rid himself of all emotions. This open-ended conclusion leaves room for a second series of comics, but the creator has expressed no interest so far to continue Nny's story. However, he does appear in Squee!, where he is a test subject for sleep deprivation (what he and Vasquez both suffer from) at a mental institution. He also appears in a flashback of I Feel Sick.
Common Errors
- Spelling Johnny C's name Jhonny, or confusing it with series creator Jhonen Vasquez.
- Referring to Nny as "Johnny The Homocidal Maniac"-not a common error, actually try to read the damned thing and you realize that everything in his "world" such as the doughboys and nail bunny refer to him as nny whch is pronounced knee.