Tim's Reviews > Johnny the Homicidal Maniac: Director's Cut
Johnny the Homicidal Maniac: Director's Cut
by
The amount of glee that I felt at finding a copy of this in a used bookstore cannot be properly expressed, but let me try to.
Back when I was a teenager, I desperately wanted to find a copy of this book. It was spoken of with a sort of reverence in some of the circles I traveled in as a sort of dark humor holy grail... but there was no way to find it. It wasn't in any of my local comic shops or bookstores. Amazon wasn't much of an option back then for me... it just wasn't to be. I kept my eyes out in book shops for years though hoping to find it.
Well, time went on. Literally decades have passed. It, like so many things one desires as a teenager, kind of fell by the wayside. Though not entirely forgotten, at least no longer that important. Had I been actively searching I could have no doubt bought it a dozen times over. Hell, I could have on a whim bought it on Amazon years ago and just never did. Still, as I was walking through a used bookstore and saw that big "Z?" on the cover my brain still reacted on impulse, holding it with almost reverence thinking "No way... it can't be." An almost childish nostalgia ran through me as I flipped through gory black and white page of dark comedic nihilism.
It was finally mine.
Oh, how very much I wish I would have found this twenty years ago though. While I still smiled at the sick sense of humor it presented, I found myself not devouring it in one sitting as I would have back then. While it would no doubt have been a favorite of mine had I found it when I actively wanted (nay, NEEDED) a copy, now it was just amusing. My tastes have changed and the more random moments came off as only mildly amusing (dare I say occasionally annoying). Nny's rants grew tiring, the jokes a touch repetitive. Don't get me wrong, there were a few moments I genuinely laughed and the nostalgic joy never fully left me while reading it, but it sadly was no longer the grail that it could have been.
There is no moral to my little tale above. There is no way to properly review it. I enjoyed it for what it was, but know that there was a time I would have loved it. Sadly for the book (though thankfully for me as those were not the best of times) it is no longer that time. Still, this little piece of nostalgia will remain on my shelf now, and likely there will come a time when I will pull it down and grin a macabre little smile to myself.
...
Also, call me a bad parent if you will, but if my daughter ends up having the same darker sense of humor that I did as a teen, I will give her my copy and hope that she experiences half as much amusement as I would have then. 3/5 stars.
by
The amount of glee that I felt at finding a copy of this in a used bookstore cannot be properly expressed, but let me try to.
Back when I was a teenager, I desperately wanted to find a copy of this book. It was spoken of with a sort of reverence in some of the circles I traveled in as a sort of dark humor holy grail... but there was no way to find it. It wasn't in any of my local comic shops or bookstores. Amazon wasn't much of an option back then for me... it just wasn't to be. I kept my eyes out in book shops for years though hoping to find it.
Well, time went on. Literally decades have passed. It, like so many things one desires as a teenager, kind of fell by the wayside. Though not entirely forgotten, at least no longer that important. Had I been actively searching I could have no doubt bought it a dozen times over. Hell, I could have on a whim bought it on Amazon years ago and just never did. Still, as I was walking through a used bookstore and saw that big "Z?" on the cover my brain still reacted on impulse, holding it with almost reverence thinking "No way... it can't be." An almost childish nostalgia ran through me as I flipped through gory black and white page of dark comedic nihilism.
It was finally mine.
Oh, how very much I wish I would have found this twenty years ago though. While I still smiled at the sick sense of humor it presented, I found myself not devouring it in one sitting as I would have back then. While it would no doubt have been a favorite of mine had I found it when I actively wanted (nay, NEEDED) a copy, now it was just amusing. My tastes have changed and the more random moments came off as only mildly amusing (dare I say occasionally annoying). Nny's rants grew tiring, the jokes a touch repetitive. Don't get me wrong, there were a few moments I genuinely laughed and the nostalgic joy never fully left me while reading it, but it sadly was no longer the grail that it could have been.
There is no moral to my little tale above. There is no way to properly review it. I enjoyed it for what it was, but know that there was a time I would have loved it. Sadly for the book (though thankfully for me as those were not the best of times) it is no longer that time. Still, this little piece of nostalgia will remain on my shelf now, and likely there will come a time when I will pull it down and grin a macabre little smile to myself.
...
Also, call me a bad parent if you will, but if my daughter ends up having the same darker sense of humor that I did as a teen, I will give her my copy and hope that she experiences half as much amusement as I would have then. 3/5 stars.
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