Guest
How this artist turns your own brain against you. *Junji Ito Reading Guide* Beginner’s Guide: Uzumaki - If you’re just getting into Ito, Uzumaki is a great starting place. It begins as almost self-contained short stories, but they do gradually build into an ongoing narrative, so it gives you a taste of his larger narrative arcs as well. Shiver - I personally feel that Ito’s talents are best on display in his many short story collections, and this one is a “best of” selected by Ito himself along with commentary on each story. A must have. Tomie - Ito’s earliest work, Tomie is an example of Ito’s approach to some series, where stories are independent but feature recurring themes or characters. Advanced Guide: The rest of Ito’s work generally breaks down into longer works like Uzumaki, and short story collections. I haven’t read all of it, but I’ve read a lot, and nothing has ever been a letdown, so it’s really about choosing what format you like and diving in. Short Story Collections: Fragments of Horror - Tombs - Smashed - Deserter (early stories) - Venus in the Blind Spot (includes his best story) - The Liminal Zone - Frankenstein (Adaptation of the novel other stories) - Longer Works: Black Paradox - Gyo - Remina - Dissolving Classroom - Sensor - Interconnected Short Stories: Soichi - Lovesickness - Other: The Art of Junji Ito - Junji Ito’s Cat Diary (yes, a manga about his cats) - No Longer Human (novel adaptation) - *Non-Ito Comics I mention* Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud - This book changed my life when I read it 20 years ago and still blows my mind every time I reread it since then. Kazuo Umezu’s The Drifting Classroom (Perfect edition complete in 3 volumes) 1 - 2 - 3 - Hideshi Hino Sadly, while there ARE solid translations of Hino’s work, they are all out of print. If you work for a publisher please fix this!! Someone tweet at Viz or something. If anyone publishes them I will promote it for free. *Sources* :// :// :// :// #:~:text=As it went, Golowin who,found Lovecraft's work an inspiration *Credits* Nic Cage Illustration by Laura Racero:
