I Feel Sick - Issue 1

Issue 1

As the first issue opens, we find the protagonist Devi yelling while she is destroying her own painting in an attempt to remind herself she is not talking to herself. When she finishes and looks back at her painting, it's as if she never destroyed it. Her friend Tenna, upon overhearing Devi's yelling comes upstairs to check on her. However when Tenna asks her to tell her why Devi was yelling, Devi simply responds by saying "I don't think I can just yet." We then cut to a flashback a few unspecified years ago, when Devi was sixteen. While going out on a date with a boy named Eddie, it becomes apparent that they are not connecting, however Eddie is sticking through the date under the impression they might have sex at the end of the night. When Devi realizes this she asks to go home, however Eddie instead decides to make a forceful move on her whilst driving, this results in a car accident when they hit a tree. Devi is trapped in her seat belt unable to leave, however Eddie loses an eyeball and has glass shards inside of his brain, the only thing keeping him alive is the thought he may still have a chance of sleeping with Devi. They are trapped in the car overnight until the airbag deploys on Eddie, possibly killing him.

The flashback ends with Devi trying to explain to Tenna in a complex way what she is experiencing without avail. Tenna then suggests all Devi needs is Chinese food and after much convincing, Devi decides to go out to eat. While at the Chinese food restaurant Tenna finally manages to convince Devi to tell her what she is going through. Devi explains that the same painting she was destroying earlier, is a painting she never finished that has started talking to her. She also explains the only way to silence the painting is to work, and the voice seems to just be her own that is personified in the unfinished painting she named "Sickness". Tenna suggests that she is merely working too hard despite Devi's objections working has nothing to do with the voice. While driving home from the restaurant the two women bicker about Tenna's style of advice, and Devi's antisocial tendencies. Devi then tells Tenna she is under the assumption supernatural forces are trying to interfere with her painting, but either way her past experiences with humans have more than motivated her to stay in all together. As an example to prove her point she tells a story about one man she was dating who defecated himself at the diner table (as seen in Issue 2 of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac), we then cut to another flashback once again an unspecified time ago, Devi is at a night club thinking about the music that is playing, when a man dressed as a vampire named Eric strikes up conversation. While talking Devi clearly attempts to get to know Eric despite his strange obsession with vampires and use of smokebombs in order to have dramatic entrances and exits. However, this talk with this boy too goes horribly, as when Eric uses a smokebomb to leave the conversation he sets himself ablaze possibly killing himself.

As this flashback ends and the girls get back to Devi's apartment Tenna is still not convinced there are evil powers interfering with Devi's social life, but Devi is still under this impression. She says that the thought of having another social life other than the one she has would simply be a joke, Tenna says that thought is stupid however as Devi is clearly overreacting. Devi then uses another flashback to help prove her point, once again she is out on a date with another boy an unspecified time ago, but clearly much more recent. While three hours into the date the two of them are talking over dinner, Devi gets increasingly paranoid however because of her past experiences with boys and attempts to calm herself down making a joke about how possibly the boy she is with is a zombie. However this turns out not to be to far from the truth when the boy bites the waiters brain out of his skull, prompting Devi to go home.

After the flashback Tenna is still unconvinced asking her why the "spooky painting" wants to make her go insane. Devi says she has no idea, but is figuring out how it is doing it, just not why. She tells Tenna how she was always used to horrible things happening to her, but ever since she took on her new freelance job things have been getting ridiculous and now she is miserable. She tells Tenna that since she is always working her tedious painting job, she never has time to paint what she wants to do as her hobby and calm herself down, what's worse is there is always distractions keeping her from finishing her painting job such as phone calls or people stopping by, however whenever she has the time she can't think of anything to paint which is driving her mad. She then tells Tenna that she herself is clearly a part of this, because she has spent much time with Tenna before but Tenna has never distracted her like she is now when she is trying to finish her work, she then asks Tenna to leave. Devi then walks over to her painting and asks it what it wants, and why it is distracting her from her work. The painting reminds Devi that it is simply a voice in her head personified in her painting called "Sickness", however the painting is amazed that Devi realized she was talking to a painting, as most people do not realize they are talking to themselves until it is too late. The painting goes on to tell Devi to not bother fighting them, as it and its colleagues are professionals that have done this before. Devi then tells the painting she vows to fight it until the end by working as hard as she can until the painting dries up and she can't hear Sickness's voice any longer; Devi, in a fit of rage, accidentally injures her hands, meaning she can no longer paint to fight Sickness.