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Graphic Novel Review: Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito

Fragments of Horror - Ito, Junji

Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito

Viz Media, 2015

ISBN: 9781540050465

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com

 

 

Junji Ito’s Fragments of Horror, consists of eight original manga horror stories published in Nemuki+ in 2014, created after a hiatus from horror. Tales have a wide range in terms of content and atmosphere.

 

In “Futon,” new wife Madoka is lamenting her husband Tomio’s strange affliction. He refuses to come out from under his futon because of strange visions. Soon, Madoka experiences her own visions. Is there something supernatural going on, or is there a more mundane explanation for the strange occurrences the couple is witnessing?

 

Megumi and her father are quite proud of their old house and accept a new boarder in “Wooden Spirit.” The young woman eventually charms her way into the family, but it isn’t Megumi’s father that is attracting her affection.

 

“Tomio: Red Turtleneck” is one of the strangest stories in this anthology. Tomio returns to his ex-girlfriend Madoka, desperate for help. He has his hands covering his ears when he arrives at her house. At first, she tells him to return to “that woman” when the story turns to three days earlier. We see Madoka breaking up with Tomio for being unfaithful with a fortune teller they consulted. He goes back to the fortuneteller who turns out to have a unique collection, and she wants to add Tomio. If he removes his hands from his head, she will surely get her new addition.

 

“Gentle Goodbye” is a touching story, a departure from Ito’s usual horror fare. Riko, who is afflicted with nightmares of her deceased father, marries Makoto Tokura, although the family disapproves of their marriage. When she sees ghosts in the familial home, Makoto explains that his family has the ability to create afterimages of family members who have passed on. Through this ability, Riko discovers the shocking secret about her own nightmares.

 

In “Dissection-chan,” a class in the dissection lab at Chuo Medical University is preparing to dissect a cadaver. When they open the body bag, however, the body within is not dead. One of the students recognizes her as a childhood friend, and when the young woman realizes who he is, she won’t leave him alone, begging him to cut her open.

 

Rescued and injured hiker Kume is taken to the hospital in “Black Bird.” When he reveals how long he was lost- for a month– nobody can believe it. Then, there is the strange woman who visits him and feeds him every night..

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“Magami Nanakuse” is a somewhat problematic story in this anthology. Kaoru Koketsu finally meets her favorite author, the titular Magami. The author is strangely obsessed with people’s nervous tics and uses them as a sort of muse for their work. They’ve gotten bored with the current run of tics their associates have and needs to find new ones. Hence the reason for Kaoru’s presence. Can Kaoru provide the ultimate tic the author is searching for? The problematic part of the story is that it is revealed the villain is a transgender woman, where the main character exclaims, “She’s a man…?” with a disgusted facial expression. It could also be a look of surprise–it really can be viewed both ways. The character is written as a fairly distasteful person. Regardless, this could have been written without the “man in a dress” stereotype.

 

In “Whispering Woman,” Mayumi cannot make decisions on her own. She requires someone to tell her what to do constantly. Mitsu Uchida has been hired as the girl’s latest attendant. Mitsu has an uncanny ability to be at Mayumi’s side at all times, despite the fact that her health is clearly being effected. Mitsu becomes frail and emaciated, but she is faithful to her charge. What would happen if Mayumi’s external voice fails?

 

Fragments of Horror isn’t my favorite Ito collection. It feels like more of an exercise or warm-up to get back into his rhythm of horror. However, I would recommend this for the Ito completist. There are a few strong chapters, such as “Tomio: Red Turtleneck”, “Gentle Goodbye”, and “Dissection-chan”, so it is worth reading. Just do not expect Ito’s best work in this volume. Recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Book Review: Through the Witches’ Stone by Scott A. Johnson

Cover art for Through the Witches' Stone by Scott A. Johnson

 

Through the Witches’ Stone by Scott  A. Johnson

Timber Ghost Press, 2023

Available: Paperback

Buy:  Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com

 

 

12 year old  Hadley and her younger twin brothers are stuck for the summer on her grandma’s isolated farm. It isn’t as boring as she expects: she learns she is descended from a long line of witches, and her grandmother starts teaching her magical spells. Hadley’s grandma has only three rules: stay out of the locked rooms upstairs, stay out of the woods, and don’t invite strangers into the house. But while the twins have each other, Hadley has no one her age to talk to, until one night she spots a girl in a white dress and sneaks out to meet her.

 

Although her brothers are uneasy, Hadley keeps it a secret from her grandma. There’s a magical barrier that prevents the girl from crossing between the house and the woods, so she lets the girl lead her into the woods, and they become friends. Then Hadley makes the mistake of inviting the girl into the house. She turns out to be a changeling, who kidnaps Hadley’s brothers and grandma. Hadley must go into the inhospitable woods alone and attempt to find and defeat the changeling to rescue her brothers and grandma. She saves a pukwudgie (a short creature with hedgehog quills down its back and a large nose that originates in Native American mythology) She is also accompanied by a duo of brownies she calls Tom and Jerry. Despite the unfriendly folk and forest, Hadley wins them over and eventually, after some really creepy and compelling adventures, rescues her family.

 

There’s a lot of grief work going on. Hadley’s father was killed in a car accident she blamed her mother and herself for. Her mother is grieving her sister, husband, and father. The pukwudgie is grieving his family. Much of this is about making peace and letting go of grief and fear, but it does not overwhelm this fantastical, scary tale reminiscent of Mary Downing Hahn’s books, the Spiderwick Chronicles, and Outside Over There.

 

 

Book Review: Jedi Summer by John Boden

Cover art for Jedi Summer by John Boden

Jedi Summer by John Boden

Cemetery Dance Publications, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1587678356

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

 

Jedi Summer is a fictionalized coming-of-age memoir by John Boden, taking place in 1983, the summer Return of the Jedi came out, when Boden was 12 and his brother Roscoe was 7. It meanders through a summer filled with the brothers playing, fighting, and just living through their days. Boden’s mother worked several jobs and he was both responsible for and unpleasant to Roscoe in the way siblings can be. Boden reflects on how his perspective has changed since then. Stylistically he uses italicized text in brackets for digressions. This would work in oral storytelling (it reminded me a bit of Donald Davis) but disrupts the flow on the page.

 

There are three additional stories. “Possessed by a Broken Window” is a powerful piece on grief and guilt.”Trick” is relatable to anyone who has meant to call someone important but never quite does. “The One Who Closes the Door”, a story about caretaking for the adults of your childhood, will stick with me for a long time.

 

The fictionalized darker and supernatural events that take place during the story range from gentle (Boden’s brother can see and interact with the ghosts of dead pets) to believable (a Ferris wheel that crashes to the ground) to the gruesome (a dead man hanging from a tree whose body has been turned into a birdhouse). Even without these, the story of these boys on summer vacation with plenty of time and imagination, and the pieces at the end, are worth reading.