Vagabond: Nagaoka's Deal

I read Vagabond, Vol. 37

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.  Follow me on Twitter or at Grumble.  Support me on Patreon.

Review: GYO Deluxe Edition

GYO DELUXE EDITION
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTONIST: Junji Ito
TRANSLATION & ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Yuji Oniki
LETTERS: Stephen Dutro
ISBN: 978-1-4215-7915-3; paperback (April 2015); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
400pp, B&W with some color, $22.99 U.S., $26.99 CAN, £14.99 UK

Gyo is a horror manga written and drawn by Junji Ito.  Gyo was originally serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, Big Comic Spirits, in 2001 and 2002.  Gyo follows a young man and his girlfriend who witness the beginning of an invasion of the Japanese island of Okinawa by mutated sea creatures.  They return to Tokyo only to discover that the invasion has followed them.

VIZ Media first published the series in English in 2003.  In 2007, VIZ released a second printing that collected Gyo in two paperback graphic novels.  VIZ Media is publishing Gyo in English again.  Gyo Deluxe Edition is a 2-in-1 book collecting both paperbacks in a single hardcover edition.  This definitive edition of Gyo features a new cover design and full-color end papers.  The Gyo Deluxe Edition will be published under the VIZ Signature imprint, is rated ‘T+’ for Older Teens, and will carry an MSRP of $22.99 U.S. and $26.99 CAN.  Gyo Deluxe Edition also reprints two short stories by Junji Ito, “The Sad Tale of the Principal Post” and “The Enigma of Amigara Fault.”  Both stories were reprinted in Gyo Volume 2.

Gyo finds a young man named Tadashi and his girlfriend, Kaori Sawahara, vacationing on the Japanese island of Okinawa.  Kaori is whiny and neurotic, and that is why Tadashi mostly ignores her complaints about a terrible smell.  After a peculiar encounter near their hotel, they find a strange fish with spider-like legs in their room.  Soon, Tadashi and Kaori discover that the horrible death-stench is just the first sign that many strange denizens of the sea are invading the island.  They return to Tokyo only to discover they have escaped neither the stench nor the grotesque visitors from the sea.

This is my second reading of the Gyo manga.  I think that no matter how times I read this masterpiece of 21st century horror it will retain its ability to unsettle me.  Junji Ito is the illustrator that H.P. Lovecraft (one of Ito's influences) would have wanted to bring his writing to life as black and white drawings.

Graphically, Gyo has the power to transform the reader's mind.  It actually made me feel itchy; in fact, many sequences made me feel like I immediately needed a hot shower or two.  The chapter, “Shark Attack,” is one of the scariest, most visually striking comics sequences that I have ever read.  It is genius.  I'm jealous.  I wish I could create a comic book that did what Gyo does to me.

I recommend Gyo Deluxe Edition without hesitation or qualification to fans of horror comic books.  It is a masterpiece by one of the international masters of the comics medium.  Anyone who has ever read and enjoyed a horror comic will find joy in Gyo Deluxe Edition, and those who have never enjoyed horror comics will finally discover one that they can like.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for syndication rights and fees.

Vagabond: The Weight of Water

I read Vagabond, Vol. 35

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.

UZUMAKI: Deluxe Edition

UZUMAKI: DELUXE EDITION
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTOONIST: Junji Ito
TRANSLATION & ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Yuji Oniki
LETTERS:  Susan Daigle-Leach
ISBN: 978-1-4215-6132-5; hardcover (October 2013); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
656pp, B&W, $27.99 U.S., $32.00 CAN, £17.99 U.K.

I would put Uzumaki, the masterpiece of horror manga from creator Junji Ito as one of the greatest horror comic books every published.  It is one of the few horror comic books that I would place on parity with the horror comics produced by the legendary American comic book publisher, EC Comics.

Uzumaki was originally published in 1998 and 1999 in the manga magazine, Big Comic Spirits.  In 2001, VIZ Media first published the series in North America in three volumes, and re-released the three volumes in 2007 in new editions.  Now, VIZ Media has collected this tour de force of fear in a deluxe hardcover edition, simply entitled Uzumaki: Deluxe Edition – a 3-in-1 edition that collects all three Uzumaki graphic novels.

Uzumaki is set in Kurôzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan and focuses on one of its citizens, Kirie Goshima, a quiet, reserved teen girl.  Being quiet and reserved makes Kirie an astute observer of the peculiar events that strike her hometown.  The pattern uzumaki – the spiral – haunts the town, and the inhabitants of Kurôzu-cho are pulled into something from which there is no return.

In Uzumak, Volume 1, Kirie Goshima gets strange news from her withdrawn boyfriend, Shuichi Saito.  He tells her that their town is haunted not by a person or creature, but by a pattern, the spiral (uzumaki), but Kirie quietly has her doubts.  Eventually, even she cannot deny how the spiral pattern manifests itself all over town – in seashells, in the clouds above, and even in the whirlwinds (or dust devils) that plague the streets.

In Uzumaki, Volume 2, the horror of the spiral is actually becoming increasingly more bizarre.  First, Kirie finds herself plagued by a practical joker who is obsessed with her.  Then, Kirie’s hospital stay becomes a lesson in pre and post-natal care when hungry mothers and their infants become very picky eaters.

In Uzumaki, Volume 3, the citizens of Kurôzu-cho find themselves cut off from the outside world.  Titanic typhoons (hurricanes) and whirlpools keep the Japanese Navy from reaching the village.  As the pattern of the spiral completely takes over the town, Kirie and her boyfriend, Shuichi Saito, embark on a final quest.

It opens with a benign landscape of a young woman standing on a mountain road that overlooks her coastal hometown.  The second and third pages, a double-page spread, are decidedly less benign.  Now, the young woman, our heroine, is ever so close, yet not so close, to a vague maelstrom of swirling, imprecise wind.

This is Uzumaki, and we are about to follow heroine/lead character/protagonist, Kirie Goshima, into a bizarre tale of a cursed town.  Through her, we experience one of the weirdest of weird horror stories.

Uzumaki is “manga;” in fact, it is a manga masterpiece.  However, creator Junji Ito offers a work that goes beyond borders.  Some may call it manga simply to keep it in a ghetto, away from other kinds of comics.  Comic book, graphic novel, bandes dessinee, manga:  This is visual storytelling that transcends language and national origins.

Many comics and graphic novels make little sense to readers other than to their intended audience.  [This is the case with some superhero comic books.]  Uzumaki does not suffer from this because Ito’s story is built around the kind of fears with which we can all identify – the specter of death, loss of control of our lives, and our own paranoia.  Like the citizens of Kurôzu-cho, our lives are often delicately constructed.  Hit a weak point and much if not all of it comes tumbling down.  Some people don’t even have the strength or the time to save or rebuild their broken lives.

As it begins, Uzumaki presents a town full of people slowly sinking into madness, unable to stop decay and eventual death.  All the readers have to hold onto is Kirie, who’s sane… for now, because it is going to get worse.  Reading Uzumaki again, I am struck by how the story feels not so much fresh as it does feel like an old horror that is always ready to get inside the reader’s mind.

Readers who are looking for the best of the best comics and manga will find it in Uzumaki: Deluxe Edition.  Readers who are searching for crazy/cool horror will find a big massive serving of scary in Uzumaki: Deluxe Edition.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux


The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Review: VAGABOND Volume 34

VAGABOND, VOL. 34
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

CARTOONIST: Takehiko Inoue
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Yuji Oniki
LETTERS: Steve Dutro
COVER: Takehiko Inoue and Izumi Evers
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4930-9; paperback (March 2013), Rated “M” for “Mature”
200pp, B&W with some color, $9.95 U.S. $12.99 CAN

When it comes to samurai and chanbara, the historical manga, Vagabond, is the comic book to read. Vagabond is published in North America by VIZ Media under their VIZ Signature imprint.

Vagabond, created by the acclaimed Takehiko Inoue (Slam Dunk), is based on Eiji Yoshikawa’s 1935 novel, Musashi. Both the novel and the manga present a fictionalized account of the life of Miyamoto Musashi, perhaps the most celebrated samurai of all time. He was a swordsman, duelist, and author (The Book of Five Rings), who lived from the late 16th century to the mid 17th century. In Vagabond, Musashi strives for enlightenment by way of the sword and is prepared to cut down anyone who stands in his way.

As Vagabond, Vol. 34 (Chapters 297 to 303) opens, Sasaki Kojirō, the deaf and mute swordsman prodigy, finds himself gaining a new position. He becomes a sword instructor for the powerful Hosokawa Clan in Bozen Kokura, the family’s home. That makes him the fifth instructor, and some in the clan believe one of the five must be relieved of his duties. That pits Kojirō against the eldest instructor, Ujiie Magoshiro and Kaede, the smelly instructor. Meanwhile, Kojirō bonds with Doryū, the devil horse that belongs to clan leader, Hosaokawa Tadatoshi.

Meanwhile, Musashi faces the remnants of the Yoshioka School, which he single-handedly destroyed. As he confronts nature and existence deep in the forest, Musashi meets a rather strange boy named Iori.

One of the truly fantastic manga reads is the Vagabond manga, which is also one of the few comic books being published today that can accurately be described as magnificent. Vagabond is also somewhat miraculous, as it leaves me speechless. During and after reading it, I suddenly forget most of the words I need in order to describe just how good Vagabond is.

So let me say, it’s supa-dupa good. The art is a symphony of lush brushwork, intricate inking, precision line work, and lovely layers of toning. This is museum quality artwork.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux