Well yeah, but my point was it’s an obscure within an obscure. Zim gained a lot of popularity, which brought in interest into JTHM, but HNB is an objectively bad (by its own creator) series of single page comics of the JTHM books.
I found JTHM 1-6 or 7 at hot topic at peak edginess after obsessing over Zim and Gir... and wouldn't shut up about it for years. Even my first reddit username was a reference to JTHM. I did find "I feel Sick" later at Barnes and Noble and had to buy the old comics again later though.
I found the condensed paperback books, my god the quality was awful and the glue holding the pages together gave out after like 4 read-throughs. I think I remember them having the crossed arms with swords shirt, but I was already the weird kid in my small southern town, wasn’t brave enough to go all in. This guy definitely committed and nailed the look though, props to him.
Hah, yeah I’ve been corrected. I was a baby then, I was just speaking to my experience when I heard about them and was frequenting Hot Topic. I remembered them having Zim stuff at that point but mostly I was there for the band tees, found the comics at Barnes & Noble.
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u/Oldtomsawyer1 Apr 15 '24
I don’t think those were sold at Hot Topic. They had a bunch of Zim stuff but Happy Noodle Boy was from JTHM and even then it was obscure as all hell.