I Feel Sick, #2

I Feel Sick, No. 2

By: Jhonen Vasquez

This is the finest piece of illustrated literature I have read in a long, long time, and I have no idea how to do it justice.

Perhaps you can help me…

Issue #2 of this series differs very little from its predecessor–the art is equally rich, equally unsettling, and equally effective. The narrative technique Jhonen Vasquez uses, one replete with black, satirical humor and razor-sharp ironic manifestations, is much the same. We get more and more insight into protagonist Devi’s inner struggle. Her vicissitudes continue to be our own–she fights an unnamed belligerent for conquest of her thoughts, her aspirations, her very soul. Devi in essence is an everyman–we may not look like her, we may not talk or think like her, but her agony is our agony; we all fight Devi’s battle each day, admittedly to a lesser or greater extent.

And through this existential combat, both Devi and reader find meaning, though meaning is of course a relative term. For Devi, the fight for meaning has as it stakes her livelihood–really, her life. She NEEDS artistic expression, an expression that is being stymied and overwhelmed by characters like Sickness (a painting of a doll) and Mr. Nevers (a publisher of mainstream comic books, for which Devi has been contracted to do cover artwork).

If we’ve read the first issue of the series, we are intimately acquainted with Sickness–she/it is the physical manifestation of Devi’s struggle, of her quest for deeper meaning. Sickness taunts and torments Devi, reminds her of her failings, her shortcomings, her descent into possible madness, and especially her inability to finish what she has started, her inability to breathe life into something that did not exist before.

Mr. Nevers is an entirely new character, and an entirely new kind of foil. Like Sickness, he is an impediment for Devi, blocking the way and making it nearly impossible for her to break through. On the one hand, he keeps her in paints and canvasses; on the other, he represents everything corporate, everything unsavory, about artistic expression for profit.

The work Devi does for Nevers will pay the bills, but it takes Devi away from what she wants most–to finish Sickness, to find meaning through dedication to her craft, to finish something meaningful, to create.

Ultimately–though I won’t spoil any of the fun–Devi comes to mortal combat with her demons, with Nevers, and especially with Sickness. Whether she triumphs or falls short is a mystery best left to the pages of this issue, but I promise you won’t be disappointed either way.

Vasquez harnesses all of his creative powers for this book, and the execution is absolutely flawless. Rarely have I seen such a synthesis of meaning, virtue, sublimity, chaos, and overwhelming pathos, a synthesis that extends throughout not only these 32 pages but the whole series.

This is a book for the ages, one that should be not just read but studied, not just celebrated but used as groundwork for future projects. It is an event not to be missed, the invitation to which is only a trip to the local comics shop away.