Partial list of Junji Ito manga
| "Black Paradox" "Deserter" "Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection" "Gyo" "The Liminal Zone" "Lovesickness" | "No Longer Human" "Sensor" "Shiver" "Tomie" "Uzumaki" |
Comic-Con is over but you can still enjoy some of the creators highlighted at the show.
Junji Ito, the creator of such horror mangas as "Uzumaki," "Gyo," "Tomie" and "Shiver," was at Comic-Con last week for a pair of panels and an exhibit called Welcome to the Ito-Verse.
Kudos to VIZ Media for recognizing that U.S. fans are eager to meet the creators of the Japanese mangas (comic books) that they love. Back in 2008, VIZ brought "Bleach" creator Tite Kubo for a panel that was packed and filled with elaborate cosplay. This year VIZ has brought Ito, who is probably less broadly popular but more widely acclaimed.
Ito's "Uzumaki" was nominated for Comic-Con's Eisner Award in 2003 and 2009. Then in 2019, he received his first Eisner Award for his manga adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein." And this year he was nominated for Best Writer/Artist for "Black Paradox" and "The Liminal Zone," and "Black Paradox" also received a nomination for Best U.S. Edition of International Material — Asia.
I love horror. And I especially love horror that explodes genre expectations. Ito's work does not fit neatly into any category and that is what makes his work so exciting, striking and memorable.
He sought out horror at a young age and read Kazuo Umezu's manga "Mummy Teacher."
"That was the very first horror manga that I read," Ito said through a translator. "So the main character I thought she was pretty. And there's also a female teacher who is beautiful as a human. And then when she becomes a mummy, she's very grotesque. So that dichotomy of beauty and grotesqueness, that balance really left an impression on me."
At the Ito-Verse exhibit there was a pair of original drawings depicting a mummy that Ito noted was probably influenced by the manga he read as a child.
The intricate detail of Ito's art mixes the mundane with the horrific and truly bizarre. Any single panel from his mangas is immediately recognizable as his, because no one else comes close to his wild inventiveness and beautifully disturbing images. But there are also moments with dark humor.
"I'm coming up with these gags and side jokes, and I don't want to throw them out, so I end up putting them in," Ito said. "Of course without losing the scary element. I think of funny things as much as scary things. I try to put them in."
Ito was impressed by the scale of Comic-Con.
"I've been to many cons around the world, but San Diego Comic-Con definitely is the biggest," Ito said. "I really understood why SDCC has such worldwide reputation."
There have been attempts to make films and anime from Ito's work but nothing so far has captured his unique style and innovative sense of horror. But Adult Swim is working on a new adaptation of "Uzumaki" due out this year and it looks very promising.
I wish I had had more time to speak with Ito about his particular brand of horror. I had so many questions about his sources of inspiration. I have only read a couple of his books so I look forward to a summer of deliciously disturbing reading. I hope you will join me.
