Squee

"This article is about the fictional character in Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. For other uses see Squee (disambiguation).

Squee is a fictional character in Jhonen Vasquez's comic book "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac", who later received his own four-issue series, published by Slave Labor Graphics. This was eventually collected as the TPB , titled Squee's Wonderful Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors. The collection also contains the Meanwhiles which originally appeared in the individual issues of JTHM but were left out of the TPB [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0943151244/ref=cm_rdp_product/102-8872434-5458519] .

quee

This series focuses on a young boy named Todd Casil, otherwise known as Squee. A quiet, introverted, and bullied little kid with a less than supportive family, Squee has been forced to mature a bit more quickly than his peers. He is fond of writing, but only receives criticism from his teacher and taunting from his classmates. Any attempts he makes to deflect these hostilities only results in being shoved into the dirt or otherwise further humiliated. Squee's mother is addicted to some form of pill, possibly prescription pain killers (it is never specified), and spends a lot of time lying around in a nearly incoherent state. She often forgets who Squee is, or that she even has a child. His father, painfully aware of Squee's existence, loathes the boy and never forgets to mention that he blames Squee for 'ruining' his life (obviously he found nothing positive in parenthood). Having little patience for anything Squee says or does, he eventually becomes convinced that Squee is mentally unstable, and by the end of the series, has him committed to the "Defective Head Meat Institute" (though it seems in a one-sheet-artwork he's been freed due to perhaps, Johnny C). Squee also has a grandfather who justifiably believes his children are only waiting for him to die to collect some kind of inheritance. His grandfather claims to keep healthy and young by consuming his children's first-borns, and subsequently attempts to devour Squee, only to reveal in horrifying fashion that he is, in fact a cyborg and quite possibly insane.

Squee's next door neighbor is Johnny C, aka "Nny" (pronounced knee), the main character of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. "Nny" regularly visits Squee late at night by breaking into his room. JTHM focused more on the 'mentoring' or 'big brother' aspect of "Nny" and Squee's relationship, but little interaction occurs in Squee!, aside from the occasional drawing or note left in Squee's room, or short references to 'the crazy neighbor man' (he does appear as an out-patient of "Defective Head Meat Institute", who Squee is oddly pleased to see). Squee has only one friend, albeit a possibly imaginary one, the dilapidated teddy bear affectionately referred to as Shmee. Only one real person makes any attempt to befriend Squee, a boy named Pepito who happens to be the Antichrist. During the course of the series, Squee encounters a killer chihuahua (that fatally mauls the only classmate who was friendly to him), zombified classmates, sporting mishaps, alien abductions, near recruitment into Satan's army, an encounter with his future self, a ghostly visitor, a giant murderous dust mite, and eventual committal to a mental institution despite being one of the most sane characters in the comic (however a one sheet artwork shows he has somehow escaped and is hiding out in Pepito's home). These experiences lead him to remark to a 'lamb-baby-dog-thing' in one strip that some bitter cartoonist must be drawing his life and therefore he doesn't want to get too attached to anyone or anything in it.

Other notable characters in the series

Pepito

Pepito is a new classmate of Squee's who happens to be the Antichrist. Squee secretly agrees with Pepito's apocalyptic rantings, but isn't quite sure those who have taunted or hurt him in his life really deserve to be punished. After inviting Squee over for dinner one night, Pepito professes his boredom with the human world, and complains to his father, Satan, that he has no one to play with in this 'infernal inferno'. This prompts Satan to try and recruit Squee into his dark army by using a metaphor involving breadsticks and nachos, among other things, basically implying that Squee's life will be better overall if he would simply give up his soul. Squee politely declines Satan's offer and the subject is immediately and permanently dropped. Despite this, Pepito still considers Squee and himself friends (in fact in a onesheet artwork it shows Squee hiding out in Pepito's home, having escaped being committed to an asylum, with Squee stating, "Well, it beats a lobotomy")

hmee

Squee carries around with him a dilapidated teddy bear he has named Shmee. Often, Squee talks to Shmee like a real person, confiding in the stuffed toy, who apparently responds though no readable dialogue is ever exchanged between the two, save one strip in which Squee has a conversation with Shmee in his dreams. Shmee claims to be a 'trauma sponge', soaking up all the negative feelings and experiences and storing them inside himself for Squee. He says this will prevent Squee from becoming like Johnny C. During the silent exchanges they share on various occasions, Shmee often suggests that Squee do something violent, like arson in retaliation for some wrong committed against him. Squee laughs these suggestions off, assuming that Shmee is joking, though to the reader it is fairly obvious that he is not. Shmee may be an early form of the doughboys in JTHM.

ee also

* Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
* Characters of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
* I Feel Sick
* Fillerbunny
* Johnny C
* Jhonen Vasquez

References

* "Squee's Wonderful Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors" (1998) SLG Publishing (ISBN 0-943151-24-4)