All of Johnny's friends knew him as the homicidal maniac, hence the title of the comic after all. Not to say that was a bad thing, but Johnny was just a bit tired of being type cast of that "homicidal guy". The title of "Homicidal Maniac" had meant so much to Johnny, back when that was a fresh and novel idea and made for a more compelling sort of person.

At one time Johnny would present the mutilated and disgraced corpse of one of his victims to his friends, and was met with beautiful and hilarious disgust that both Johnny and his friends enjoyed and got a good laugh out of (at least in hindsight). But now, things were different. Now it was rare that his friends would even pay attention to a good decapitation or limb tearing.

What was Johnny to do? For it was only one day until Johnny had promised to meet with his other friends tomorrow and he had to have something prepared, as they were surely expecting something juicy. Johnny madly paced throughout his messy room, which hadn't been cleaned in at least a couple weeks and began to smell of rotting flesh.

"I've got to try something even more insane if I'm ever to keep them as my friends. Without my cool murderous tricks, I'm just some boring hack with no personality" said Johnny to himself.

Johnny looked around his room for some inspiration, surely something amongst his gruesome display of torture equipment would inspire him. Meat hooks? no. Chainsaws? Nope. Not even the waterboard was doing the trick.

"Darn it." said Johnny "Oh well, I guess I'll just show them a box of the severed limbs of Lucy from down the street... kinda boring but it'll have to do." said Johnny.

Suddenly, his mother knocked on the door.

"Honey, I've brought lunch, it's your favourite... Chicken Nuggets!" said Johnny's mom, walking through the door. And she was right, chicken nuggets were Johnny's favourite, so he couldn't wait for his mom to give him the plate.

But suddenly, both the ghastly smell of Johnny's untidied room and the sight of the many corpses, festering with maggots caused Johnny's mother to faint right on the spot. Looking down at his unconscious mother gave Johnny a terrible, yet amazing idea. He could lure his friends into his room, and surely this sight would reinvite the spark that had been lost for quite a while. Johnny could hardly sleep that night with this perfect image in his head.

The next day, Johnny showed up to his friends on the street, who were just chilling out. As soon as they sighted Johnny, a feeling of tension arose. They were scared of Johnny, or at least feared what he was up to, as he hadn't been around for the past few days, as he was busy planning his next prank.

"Hey guys... what's up... fellas" Johnny awkwardly tried to interject.

"Oh... hey Johnny, uh, we were just hanging out, I guess." said one of Johnny's friends Nancy. Of course it was no secret that Johnny had a secret crush on Nancy, and was hoping he could win her over with his biggest prank yet today.

"Say, were you planning on doing anything, cause I have a great idea... if you need one that is..." said Johnny, almost too excited to spur his plan into motion.

"Is this one of your horrendous pranks? If so then I'm out." said Dylan, who was the cool guy of the group, and also Nancy's boyfriend. Johnny began to sweat, as it seemed that his plan was going to be spoiled.

"Whaaat? No way, I was just going to invite you guys to my place, so we can hang out." said Johnny, sweating more than usual, and the stink was beginning to put of his other friends.

"Darn it, we already know what your place is like and we're not going there again, its awful and smelly." said Brad, one of Johnny's friends

Johnny couldn't help but be a little offended, but he still didn't want to give his special surprise away.

"Look Johnny, we know what you're trying to do. Actually, that's why we wanted to meet you... because we need to have a talk." said Dylan, cool as ever, yet still in a serious tone.

"Wh-what do you mean?" said Johnny as he began to shake from fear.

"Johnny, look, we've never liked your little pranks. Frankly they're really disgusting and disturbing. We only played along with you because we felt bad for you and wanted you to have a higher self esteem. But we can't take it anymore." said Brad.

"You mean you don't like my pranks? I thought they made me an interesting person." said Johnny, with tears in his eyes. His voice made it clear he was on the verge of crying.

"No Johnny," said Nancy, putting her hand on Johnny's shoulder "you were never an interesting person. We only hung out with you because we felt bad for you, and thought that perhaps you were really cool and misunderstood. But now we only understand that you are a terribly person and friend, which is why we wanted to tell you that we'll never be talking to you again, Johnny."

Before Johnny could say anything, the group began to walk away without Johnny. Johnny tried to give chase.

"Guys? Come back! I swear I won't pull any pranks on you guys anymore, promise!" yelled Johnny, trying to give chase. But it was too late, and Johnny now knew that there was no point in trying. Johnny was now left all alone on the side of the street, left to contemplate his life and his actions which led to this failure.

THE END