Issue #4

"If there are two things I love thinking of, it's the supernatural, and sci-fi type things. I think the sci-fi part shows in this cover. It also shows a little of Johnny's idea of himself as a machine in need of repair. If you want to get REALLY symbolic, that unplugged plug could fortell his "impending doom," but let's not get that involved shall we? If I had to pick a favorite issue, I might pick this one, as it's everything I wanted it to be. I wanted for it to [be] a disappointment to those people who wanted MORE of the insane killing of #3, and nothing more. #4 is just such a downer, with hardly anything resembling murder. I love just ebing able to have NNY go off on long, meandering soliloquies, and be more than a simply killing kind of guy, which, if you like that kind of thing, can be found in too many books already. I wanted NNY's intelligence to be very apparent on some sad, very buried level, possibly lost to the allure of some easy out from the real world. The idea of NNY as an artist gone mad as the result of a loss of his talent is kind of funny too, not that it's an origin for those of you looking for such a thing!! Things get much more surreal by this point, as the urge to do stranger things took my little brain over. Logic, after all, is not what I wish to sell with Johnny. This issue was an attempt to show that, and to show that my favorite way of approaching this character is to do it very much in HIS character, erratic and on tangents. Tess comes back in this one, too. Still not entirely rid of her affection for her asshole boyfriend, she does not quite appreciate the inhumane treatment he receives from the ever degenerating NNY. NYY, by this time is sickened with his existence as an emotional creature, resenting and envying the insect, Mr. Samsa he sees crawling around the basement. Devi returns, as a battle scarred wreck, hiding from people and NNY in specific. The MEANWHILE here was partially based on a true event, I both heard and saw while, once again, in the company of the lovely Ms. England, whose neighbor was just a bit too old to be crying after this mother as she left to work. His pain was funny." --- JV