Genre Horror
Age Rating 16+
Price $13.95
Dark Horse Comics is very proud to present Museum of Terror, a series of horror stories by Japan's foremost creator of horror manga. Full of compelling and charming characters and relationships, and featuring some of the finest comics art available, Junji Ito has seen his works translated into successful films in Japan.
Ito's Uzumaki, the thrilling and grotesque manga and film, have already found success in America, and now we present "Tomie," the first story in this fantastic series. "Tomie" is the story of an eternally youthful and beautiful high school girl, whose admirers are obsessed to the point of murdering her. But to their horror, she is reincarnated over and over. "Tomie" also became a popular film in Japan, and now it launches Dark Horse's series of Ito's horrific works, Museum of Terror.
Hands down, Junji Ito is the master of horror of this generation, at least when it comes to manga. Museum of Terror is a compilation of his various short comics on one of his more infamous characters, Tomie. There are actually several comics on Tomie and this is merely the first half of the collection which includes nine stand-alone stories. Tomie, for the most part, is a very beautiful but vain girl who has the ability to regenerate and is the antagonist that plagues the collection. Ito plays on various horror aspects that includes gruesome scenes, the nature of Tomie, and the psychological state of the various characters.
What made this collection interesting for me is how the first six stories are all inter-related even if they are capable of standing well on their own. The first six comics feature some recurring characters (aside from the immortal Tomie) and call can be read in order to fill a graphic novel of their own. While I wasn't honestly terrified with the stories, they do make for some interesting reading and Ito is excellent when it comes to depicting them.
While Museum of Terror isn't what I'd call the best Ito has to offer, that's really a credit to him rather than a criticism of this particular volume. In fact, when it comes to the short comic format, this is easily one of the better collections out there. If there's any title that I'd recommend to acquaint yourself with Japanese horror and manga, this is easily my best bet.
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