C2E2: Jhonen Vasquez Panel Leads to Hilarious Misunderstanding

Over at Comic Book Resources, there's a description of Jhonen Vasquez's panel from the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo. It is, according to Vasquez, not a very good description and the response that he and some of his friends have brought to the site are pretty hilarious. The big news coming out of the panel and accompanying article at CBR is that not only are Vasquez and co-panelist Jenny Goldberg working on an animated series about an ordinary girl who is facing some potentially world-altering decisions, but that a story set in the world of Vasquez's Johnny the Homicidal Maniac may be headed for animated glory. According to the article, Vasquez told the panel that he would like to produce a ten-minute short, possibly with funding help from Kickstarter, which he would then show to producers in order to get more substantial funding for a long-form work. "By the time Johnny ended, I had a whole second series in my head," CBR quotes him as telling the panel. "I kept it there." It also says that the project he has in mind "will be related to the Johnny story, but its not that character." Of course, it's hard to take anything in the article at face value after Vasquez mocked the piece on Twitter, his blog and in the comments at CBR's message boards. Particularly objectionable was a moment in the panel where Vasquez joked that he hated all women, saying that he just didn't find them funny. If true, he wouldn't be the first person to get grief for that view recently--but in fact the comments were made in jest, which Vasquez implies would be very easy to tell if you were at the panel and paying attention. "It's written as though Data from Star Trek decided to take up reporting, only his zany misinterpretations of humanity and their strange ways with humor and sarcasm don't result so much in tv laughs as much as they do in making the people being written about sound like terrible people," blogged Vasquez in response to the piece. "It's a bizarre, selective transcript where any of the contextual humor is removed. Goldberg showed me the article with a 'Holy ****, look at this horrible article about our panel!' Even I'm tempted to join in on the typical comments section where people are saying what a terrible person I am because that article can't result in any other reaction unless you were actually AT the panel and are blessed with human feelings unlike whatever heartless construct typed it out." He was right, of course, and one of the first comments in the thread was by a fan who expressed disappointment in the apparently-sexist comments. "I like his work and am a huge fan Invader Zim but geez he comes off a d--k in this article," said the reader. Not long after, someone purporting to be Vasquez joined the conversation--while it's virtually impossible to confirm someone's provenance on a message board, the writer did end his blog post by saying, "I've gotta go comment on what an a--hole I am.  God I hate me!!" That makes it seem more likely. The commenter wrote:

"I'm Jhonen Vasquez, and I gotta say, I was never a big fan of what I do, but this article makes me hate me even more. I never really devoted much interest other than being vaguely aware that I hated me, but finding out I hate women just pushes me over the edge and now I have to just let the world know. The way this was written completely removes any sense of context or the sarcasm and I find that helpful in focusing just how disgusted I am with myself. GOOD DAY, ME!"

The comments were followed by additions from someone claiming to be Goldberg and someone else claiming to be a fan who attended the panel, both expressing support for Vasquez and disdain for the report. A few other readers registered and posted for the first time in order to chime in. Someone claiming to be the reporter (Guest Contributor Shawn Jones, per the byline) then entered the conversation, saying, "Well, I wrote the article and actually thought you were funny and that the sarcasm was clear. I apologize if it did not come across as such -- but it was clearly sarcasm and funny." One reader, though, added their own wrinkle to the conversation. "No, Jhonen really does hate women," said someone identified by the handle entropicflux. "I once saw him at a burrito place while I was buying dentures for my dog, and he actually ran out of the diner and slapped me. Additionally, when I asked him for a bite of his burrito he licked the whole thing first and said 'dibs'." Seemingly anticipating such a comment, Vasquez tweeted, "The part about me hating women is factual however. First thing I did when born was punch my mother in the stomach and storm off." That's sarcasm, for those keeping score at home. We assume.