by
M.I.K.
The cover of The Mammoth Book Of Best Horror Comics, claims that it contains “OVER 50 OF THE GREATEST HORROR COMICS AND GRAPHIC SHORT STORIES EVER PRODUCED”.
It doesn’t.
Something being the “best” or “greatest”, is of course, a matter of opinion, (and there is some good stuff in here), but that doesn’t alter the fact that whether you agree with that part of the claim on the cover or not, there are only 48 stories in the book. This is probably a genuine mistake on the part of the publisher, but it’s an odd one to make, especially since all the stories are quite clearly listed in the contents section. Stranger still, if you google the title of this book, you’ll find it on sale alongside a picture of what is obviously an earlier version of the cover which claims it contains “60″ stories.
This isn’t the only mistake in the book. Two of the stories have their pages printed in the wrong order, which rather messes up the structure of the tales.
However, these are just minor niggles, as overall this is a very well put together and varied collection. The Book is divided into four sections, each devoted to a different era of horror comics and each preceded by a small chapter on the decade in question, all written by the editor, Peter Normanton. Normanton also provides a foreword and notes on each story. He’s no stranger to horror publications himself, having edited the horror fanzine From The Tomb for the last eight years.
The stories are reprinted in black and white and while a few pages of colour wouldn’t have gone amiss, the reproduction is good enough. There’s plenty here to satisfy anyone’s craving for horror.
Overall rating 7.5/10
If you like this volume, as I’m sure you will, The Mammoth Book Of Zombie Comics is out in October and The Mammoth Book Of Best Crime Comics is out in a few days time.
The Mammoth Book Of Best Horror Comics
ISBN : 978-1-84529-641-4
Publisher : Constable & Robinson Ltd
544 pages Price : £12.99
by
Countess Duckula
Junji Ito is currently Japan’s top horror “manga-ka”, and, with his “Museum of Terror” series, I had a lot of fun finding out why.
Currently there are three volumes of “Museum of Terror”, a reprint in English of his short stories, which also follow the right-to-left reading format. His “Tomie” stories are well-known, and are collected in “Museum of Terror” vols. 1 and 2 as well as being made into movies.
Ito’s style is realistic and atmospheric, but strongly Japanese. His stories tend to disturb with grotesque twists, instead of just relying on violence and gross-outs…although there’s certainly no absence of gore, either.
His characters seem to be trapped in a capricious world where there isn’t any objective good or evil, only evil consequences. At first glance, I felt bored by the absence of flashy art and the rather simple page layouts, but one plot twist later, and I’d pretty much lost my taste for big-eyed manga pap.
(As a quick digression, I have fond memories of my first contact with his work, which was MoT vol 3. I really didn’t know what to expect, except that buying a volume of short horror stories instead of one long story seemed like a good idea with a new manga author. )
So, I was waiting for the train home, listening to some pleasant lounge type music, and reading “Bio House”, a story about a powerful old businessman who tries to tempt his pretty young secretary to join him in indulging her more…interesting appetites. So there she is, sitting at the lavish, gruesome dinner table, and casually holding up a refreshing glass of “snake’s blood?”… that was when I knew I’d found something…special. After devouring, sorry, enthusiastically reading, the rest of the book, I moved on to read Ito’s “Tomie” stories.
Tomie is an eternally young, perfectly beautiful Japanese schoolgirl who drives women mad with envy and men crazy with desire. In fact, they become so obsessed they usually feel the need to dismember her for some reason…but she just won’t stay gone. Men, women, children, Tomie destroys the lives of everyone who is unfortunate enough to come across her…
Interestingly enough, the characters meet their doom through their own actions rather than hers. But these tales are not morality plays, because in Tomie’s world, it seems that no-one is too innocent or too sane to escape untouched. There is a certain sense of fatalism about these stories.
The variety of the stories comes from the widely different characters who meet Tomie, and the different ways she works on their individual psyches to the inevitable, destructive conclusion. But the violence against Tomie isn’t some sad, mysogynist fantasy, because somehow Tomie always seems to win in the end. She regenerates, and propagates, with the inevitability of a virus, and in one story involving jealous brothers, her attempted destruction results in multiple Tomies, once again stalking their way into an unsuspecting world.
It’s a fascinating, disturbing look at sexual desire, obsession, and beauty, taken to a very…Japanese…extreme, and I do mean that as a compliment. Japanese horror tends to be more disturbing than our fare over here in the Tame West.
This is some of the best horror manga around…recommended to anyone who likes a true femme fatale…
Recommended 10/10
(The images in this article are from the Tomie stories and are © Junji Ito and Dark Horse Comics.)
by
Ghastly McNasty
Uzumaki is a manga horror comic written and drawn by Junji Ito. It has recently been made in to a live action movie but this review focuses on the manga stories currently available as a 3 volume graphic novel series.
Uzumaki (translated means spiral) tells the story of the town of Kurozu-cho a small Japanese fishing village that has been cursed by spirals. Residents find themselves increasing obsessed with the shape and form of the spiral which leads to countless horrific deaths and bizarre events throughout the town. These events are viewed through the eyes of Kirie Goshima a young high school student who bears witness to the increasing madness as friends and family are taken over by the curse.
The first 2 volumes are filled with individual stories of terror while the third volume brings the whole tale to conclusion. The stand-alone stories are the most chilling of this entire macabre series but Junji Ito does well to actually finish such an unusual and original story without ever fully explaining exactly what has taken place.
Opinion
What makes this story so interesting is that Junji Ito has taken a completely random everyday shape, the spiral, and turned it into something unknown and fearful. The ‘creature’ in this horror story is impossible to define and the horror comes from the actions of the characters who fall for the spirals charms. It gives you a certain sense of paranoia and uneasiness because these seemingly innocent shapes are all around us.
What really sets this manga apart from other horror manga is Ito’s excellent artwork. It follows the basic manga style but he manages to draw some really disturbing images throughout the series. He is able to produce big scares with the revolting imagery alone. When you add to the mix the extremely spooky storyline the result is a modern horror masterpiece.
Rating
This is the first comic book review on this site and maybe I chose Uzumaki because it’s the easiest to review. It’s certainly not the easiest to explain but as a reviewer I can only come to one, easy to make, conclusion. This is manga at its very best!
Heartily recommended to anyone who is a fan of horror, fantasy, surrealism and comics. A very worthy 10/10
Ghastly 
M.I.K.
Countess 
Jova