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The Masterful Terror of Junji Ito

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When it comes to modern horror comics, there is perhaps no one more unsettling or terrifying than Japanese manga artist Junji Ito. Heavily influenced by Kazuo Umezu, whose own work is rather horrific, Ito’s works have haunted readers for nearly three decades now. His stories vicious, cruel, and strangely believable, which makes them all the more prone to inducing nightmares, the worlds he creates are never safe, dangers lurking in the most unusual and fascinating of places.

Born in 1963 in the Japanese prefecture of Gifu, Ito didn’t fall immediately into the path of a manga artist. Rather, he wrote stories and practiced his art while he was a dental technician, only submitting his first story, Tomie, in 1987 to the manga magazine “Gekkan Halloween”. This story went on to get the Kazuo Umezu Prize, no doubt a huge honor for Ito.

Since then, Ito has released a large amount of highly detailed and intricately designed works. He continued the Tomie series, which has since been turned into a long-running J-horror franchise. His series Gyo, which ran from 2001-02, was turned into an anime in 2012 (it’s mediocre), while the multi-chapter series Uzumaki was converted into two video games and one live-action film, which came out in 2000.

Related: [Visions Of Horror] Junji Ito’s ‘Tomie’

I became introduced to Ito’s works by renting the first few Tomie films, as well as Uzumaki. It was here that I got a taste of the master storyteller/artist and the horrors he creates. Later on, I would stumble across “The Enigma of Amigara Fault”, a one-off manga that is absolutely horrifying. Essentially the ultimate case of Freud’s “death drive”, the act of venturing into something with the knowledge that it might, and most likely will, result in a poor outcome. It’s like when people stand on the edge of a cliff and suddenly have the urge to jump, even though there is absolutely no reason to do so.

Later, I would buy Gyo and borrow copies of Uzumaki, inexorably drawn into those worlds, much the same as the characters within are powerless to resist the forces that beset them.

Then, the ultimate cocktease occurred: Guillermo del Toro announced that Ito would’ve been a part of Silent Hills, the cancelled Konami game that would’ve also featured Hideo Kojima and Norman Reedus. Suddenly, many of the visuals in P.T. and the official Silent Hills concept trailer made so much sense, their freakish appearances perfectly in line with the artist’s works. Alas, we’ll never know what was in store for us as the game is undeniably dead in the water.

Having recently reread Uzumaki, I found myself wanting to spread the gospel of Ito’s work. Much like how some of his characters are harbingers of impending doom, death, and destruction, I am here to hopefully usher forth a resurgence of interest in his work. Go to your local comic book store, Barnes & Noble, etc…, and see if they have any of his material. If so, just get it. Don’t think about it. You’ll thank me, even if your nightmares and restless sleeps won’t.

Managing editor/music guy/social media fella of Bloody-Disgusting

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[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

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Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

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