Another Junji Ito collection from VIZ. It’s good but I think I prefer the overall group of stories in Shiver: Junji Ito Selected Stories more. This book contains a lot of comics revolving around one of Ito’s reoccurring characters, Soichi. These stories are tonally comedic and more irreverent compared to Ito’s more horrific works. They seem heavily inspired by Kazuo Umezz‘s works like The Drifting Classroom that are targeted for younger readers, and in that sense they don’t appeal to me compared to Ito’s other works.
A manga about a struggling novelist who steals successfully steals identify of a recently deceased friend and uses his wealth to build an extravagant island amusement park.
I really liked this book. Since this is an adaptation of Edogawa Ranpo novella, you get all of Suehiro Maruo‘s elegant artwork without any of the extreme content he’s known for. Maruo does a fantastic job creating the beautiful and almost otherworldly scenery within the island paradise. His take on the aquatic tunnel is especially impressive.
I recommend The Strange Tale of Panorama Island to readers who want an easy entry point into Suehiro Maruo‘s work. It’s available in English from Last Gasp.
This is my first Shintaro Kago book and the experience feels extremely similar to when I read Ultra Gash Inferno. Kago’s work has also been called erotic grotesque like Suehiro Maruo but Kago himself says that is actually limiting compared to the wide variety of stuff he creates. If you search for his art pieces you’ll find a wide variety of works that tend to be on the surreal side, which makes sense since Kago was heavily inspired by Salvador Dali.
The problem with Super-Dimensional Love Gun is that some stories focus on really disturbing content. This book contains stories about feeding body parts to others, cutting away skin, and scratching yourself until you skill turns raw. Compared to visuals of extreme violence like decapitations and dismemberment, Kago’s beautifully drawn images invoke relatable injuries that make your skin crawl. Strangely, many of these stories are dark comedies that end with punchlines.
I also want to issue a content warning for this manga because it includes a lot of female exploitation. Rape is abundant in these stories but I don’t think female exploitation is a necessarily a central theme for all of Shintaro Kago‘s works. Super-Dimensional Love Gun just happens to be a collection of these types of stories. I didn’t really like this but it did make me interested in checking out Kago’s other stuff.
A horror manga about a hideous newborn who is thrown away by the father. After spirits possess her dead body she revives as a monster who must constantly feed on blood and flesh to survive.
This is another out-of-print book by Hideshi Hino. I continue to be impressed by Hino’s distinct character designs and surprisingly beautiful backgrounds. When the hell baby travels into the city the buildings are dark rectangles with bright windows on them. The stark contrast really caught my eye.
I think the story here is more melancholy then some of the disturbing themes in The Panorama of Hell. The hell baby eventually finds her family and beautiful twin sister but is unable to bring herself to take revenge. This is a great sympathetic monster story and a real shame that it’s not available in English anymore.
A novel where Vampire Hunter D is hired to rescue a young woman from a vampire lord. D must pursue the escaping vampire while competing with the deadly Marcus family bounty hunters.
This is the third book in the Vampire Hunter D series and was the base for the Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust movie. Compared to the movie, it’s filled with more risque content involving the treatment of Leila within from the other Marcus brothers. I think Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is such a great adaptation of this book that you really don’t need to read this unless you’re a huge fan of the franchise. They’re available from Dark Horse Books.
317 – Triple Dip 44 – Chainsaw Man, Blood on the Tracks, Super-Dimensional Love Gun
For our next October Extravaganza we have a trio of horror series perfect for Halloween! We’re checking out Super-Dimensional Love Gun, Blood on the Tracks, and Chainsaw Man! dakazu also talks about some new anime and we revisit the dark history behind the creator of the recently licensed Kirby Manga Mania!!!
This is a great collection of Junji Ito manga. You get a wide selection that even include some of his most iconic works, like Fashion Model and The Long Dream. I love that Ito did a bonus follow with Fashion Model: Cursed Frame. Some of the other stories aren’t that scary but Greased is the stuff of absolute disgusting nightmares. Actually, if you have trypophobia you should really just avoid this book like the plague. Otherwise I’d fully recommend this to fans of Junji Ito who want to read more of his shorter one-shots.
A horror manga about a group of delinquents in a juvenile correction facility who have to survive a zombie apocalypse.
A decent horror series. There’s some tense storytelling and interesting characters from Yuu Kuraishi and really grotesque monster designs from Kazu Inabe. The same creative duo went on do makeStarving Anonymous and Denjin N, both of which are decent horror manga.
Fort of Apocalypse is a little similar to I am a Hero in the sense that it starts with regular zombies and then they evolve into more monstrous designs. I think Inabe deserves a lot of praise for his “creepy monster pasta” drawing skills. I recommend this if you’re looking for some good horror art.
A manga about a veteran novelist who plagiaries the work of a woman. When she commits suicide he is visited by a woman claiming to be her twin sister. What does this woman want and is she who she claims to be?
This book is more of a psychological thriller than a violent horror manga. Asumiko Nakamura draws equally elegant and erotic art. While the story itself might suffer from some confusion Nakamura’s artwork alone makes this series worth reading.
A horror manga about a mysterious planet that gets named Remina after the daughter of the astrologist who discovers it. When the planet reveals itself as a planet eating monstrosity headed towards Earth, people’s fears turn them into a vicious mob blaming Remina and her father.
This is an absolute banger from Junji Ito. It might be one of his few science fiction themed horror series but it’s fantastic. There’s some real cosmic horror stuff happening with the design of the hell planet Remina, terrifying mobs revealing the ugliest of humanity, and strangely comedic world ending situations as Remina escapes hundreds of pursuers pushed by winds and low gravity. The only scenes that bothered me a bit were some extended torture scenes of Remina being restrained and whipped. Still, I personally think Remina is fantastic and might be my go to recommendation for Ito’s work, only second to Uzumaki! It will be available soon in English from VIZ!
