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Graphic Novel Review: Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito

Cover art for Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito

 

Lovesickness: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito

Viz Media, 2021

ISBN: 9781974719846

Available:  Hardcover, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com

 

In Lovesickness, originally published in 1996 and told in 5 parts, Ryusuke Fukuda and his parents move back to the town of Nazumi after his father accepts a job there. The story opens with a teenage girl approaching the crossroads of an empty street where a man is emerging from the fog. She quickly places her notebook over her face and asks for a fortune. The older man responds and they part ways. When the man meets his family at the Nazumi train station, it is revealed that he is Ryusuke’s father. He relates the story to his wife and son, the latter shaken by the chance meeting.

 

When he starts at school the next day, he is greeted by an old friend, Midori. Eventually the topic of rumors comes up regarding teenage girls committing suicide after encountering a mysterious handsome young man. Ryusuke, in an attempt to calm his own guilty conscience when he reveals a terrible fortune he gave to a woman in distress, which led to a grisly suicide, hunts for the shadowy figure delivering his own tragic fortunes to innocent strangers at the crossroads.

 

The artwork in Lovesickness is probably some of my favorite in Ito’s work. The effect of the fog and shadows is excellent, and the body horror is fantastic. The handsome stranger is eerily beautiful. The character design reminds me of Fukusuke from the visual kei band Metronome.

 

Four other stories are included in this volume. “The Strange Hikizuri Siblings,” told in two parts, are a strange family, often at odds with each other while still trying to support each other the best they know how… to a degree. The first story, “Narumi’s Boyfriend”, shows the cruelty of the siblings and how they all take part in driving Kotani, the titular boyfriend, albeit in a forced relationship, to madness. In “The Séance”, we see family power dynamics play out in the worst possible way, with the two eldest brothers being just awful people.

 

The next story in the collection, “The Mansion of Phantom Pain”, relates the story of Kozeki, a young man employed to be a live-in caretaker for Yusuke, the son of a wealthy family. Yusuke’s condition is a strange phantom pain that extends beyond his normal body. A team of caretakers who can never leave the bricked up mansion manage the boy’s pain, day and night. When they start to experience their own maladies, and the death of Yusuke’s father, his mother still refuses to let them leave. Some of the caretakers slowly succumb to infections and hallucinations, but those remaining can’t leave, with the promise of the family’s wealth at stake, no matter how much Kozeki pleads for doctors.

 

Following that is “The Rib Woman”,  a cautionary tale of rib removal surgery and  obsession with the perfect figure. Yuki laments the lack of an hourglass figure like her friend Ruriko’s, and decides surgery is the best option. Throughout the story, Ruriko is tormented by strange and discordant music. One evening Yuki and her brother, who is also dating Ruriko, find the latter in agony on the sidewalk as she is trying to find the source of the song. They offer to help, and when they do find the source, they see a mysterious woman in the park playing a small instrument. She flees and leaves behind her instrument, which looks to be a large rib. After Yuki’s surgery, she too can hear the music. She also finds the woman and discovers there is more to the story than she believed. There is some deliciously good body horror in this one.

 

The final story in the collection is the inexplicable “Memories of Real Poop.” It’s the shortest chapter in this collection, at only four pages, but it’s memorable. I’ll just leave it at that. Highly recommended.

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Posted on February 7, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: Marriage by Wol-vriey

cover art for Marriage by Wol-Vriey

Marriage by Wol-vriey

Burning Bulb Publishing, 2023

ISBN: 9781948278621

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Amazon.com

 

Marriage is the equivalent of a silly 80’s B-grade horror film. There’s plenty of gore and graphic sex, a crazy plot, and little depth or making sense.  The last third of the story finishes out the book with a bang that helps make up for a lackluster beginning.

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The protagonist, Adam Norwood, has an affliction that causes his skin to catch on fire when exposed to sunlight, so he inhabits a darkened mansion on an river-island, with his wife and father in law.  Drunken debauchery takes place at the mansion every couple weeks, with a somewhat rotating cast of overage party animals.  Sounds like fun, but Adam keeps having dreams of his wife killing him, in vivid detail–, vivid enough to seem real.

 

That’s the plot for the first part, and it’s pretty thin.  There’s no real character development of interest, rather they are standard caricatures of 30-something drunken lechers.  Most readers probably won’t find them interesting, since they are all interchangeable: it would have helped the story to flesh the characters out. As it is, if anything, you’ll be rooting for them to all get killed off!   Adam also needed further character development. What does he do every day, living in a darkened mansion on a permanent basis?  Binge-watch old WCCW wrestling matches?  Write a memoir of the trials of living with his affliction?  Deify plums?  And how in the world did his father-in-law become a genius at witchcraft?  This part of the book is rather tedious, and tough to get through.

 

BUT… on page 83, the narrative moves away from its early repetitiveness and shifts into gear, introducing a black magic element.  On page 128, it kicks into overdrive, and it’s a wild ride to the finish of the 171 pages.  There are worm-hole creatures that remind one of the movie “Tremors”, some resurrection, and a wacky but entertaining set of explanations for the weird happenings on the island.  They may be pretty outlandish, but this IS horror fiction: realism isn’t required.  The most intriguing part is Adam’s sleuthing, to find if what he sees is really happening, or all in his head.  It’s the best part of the book: it keeps you guessing, and holds your interest.

 

Bottom line: it’s short on making much sense, but the last part of the book provides enough of a payoff to make getting through the first part worth it.  It’s not on the level of the author’s real bell-ringers like The Final Girl and Women, but it’s still fun.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

Posted on February 4, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: String Them Up by William Sterling

Cover art for String Them Up by William Sterling

String Them Up, by William Sterling

Crystal Lake Publishing, 2023

ISBN: 9781957133591

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com

 

For horror fans, books like this are cotton candy for the brain.  There’s nothing especially memorable in the story, but there’s enough in the 158 pages for the equivalent of a quick sugar rush.  It’s pure entertainment, enough to make reading it worth it. Think back to the 80s, when there were a LOT of horror books published that were uuite enjoyable, if not especially original, and you get the idea (although since then, the average page count has gone down and the sticker price has come up. Readers with Kindle Unlimited are in luck if they want to check it out).

 

Speed synopsis: a cop loses his family in a tragic accident, moves to a small town with secrets in its past,, joins the police force with old friend, messy murders happen, and mayhem ensuest.  The End.

 

There’s enough spice thrown in the story mix of this for the reader to keep the pages flipping:: one poor fellow is found hung in a tree by his torn out ligaments and tendons. The toymaker, an eccentric hermit, is the standout character, although the other players carry their parts fine in the narrative.  The best part is undoubtedly the dolls that appear throughout the book, whether they are hanging in trees or dismembering people.  Dolls are always creepy when used correctly, and the author uses them very well. They add a nice touch of cold air to the book, enough to make your skin crawl a bit.  And, when the dolls go to work on people with fishhooks and line… (shudders and hides under the covers)  Toss in a dose of small town politics and secrets and a dash of crystal meth, and you have a quick, entertaining read that is worth the few hours of time needed for the investment.

 

Bottom line: this won’t shatter your senses, but it will keep you involved and get the job done.  It’s worth a look.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on January 31, 2024 by , Reply
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