I Feel Sick #1

I Feel Sick #1
Vasquez, Jhonen(Author, Creator, Illustrator) and Simons, Rosearik Rikki(Colourist)
Paperback, 32 pages, ASIN:B000KE3N6O
Published 2000 by Slave Labor Graphics 

I FEEL SICK  #1 is the first full-color comic book written and drawn by the comic artist Jhonen Vasquez who was responsible for the super popular Invader Zim and JTHM.

This really is just a book about a girl. A girl called Devi d. (who appears in the JTHM comic as a side character) who is an artist and a goth.  This two part story follows her battle to retain her sanity while afraid of social interaction due to a past full of awful experiences. Convinced a supernatural force is trying to interfere with her social life and her art devi withdraws from society and fights an internal stuggle to retain her grasp on what is real and what is in her head.

Vasquez has a great grasp on how real people talk and Devi could be any girl in her teens or early twenties, struggling to find herself and her place in the world.

The art is both simple and full of detail, with backgrounds and rooms filled to the brim with entertaining little details, while stark focus and dedicated panels are given to important reactions and items when needed.

Devi ‘s constant anxiety about her lack of inspiration and motivation, the realisations that she should be doing more in her life is so relatable it is scary. It’s a compelling story to see a normal real female character pull out some strength from hardship.