THOUGHT BALLOONISTS

Uzumaki (CH replies)

Craig has pointed out that Uzumaki is a supreme example of horror as a body genre (in Linda Williams' sense). Yes, its horrors and its appeal have everything to do with the human body: hybridized, distorted, violated, twisted and parodied, and grotesquely aestheticized. As Craig says, Ito's bodies become "€œfusion figures"€ which are carthartically nauseating.

Uzumaki is also horror based on obsession. In essence, it'€™s about a town full of people who, individually and communally, become obsessed with a shape.

Uzumaki

by Junji Ito. Viz, 2007-2008. 3 Volumes, $9.99 each. 

Charles and I usually review new books on Tuesday, but we're making an exception with Uzumaki. The original Japanese version of Uzumaki was written and drawn by Junji Ito in 1998-99, and first translated into English in 2001-02 as one of Viz's early forays into manga book publishing, so it's been around for years in both languages. Uzumaki was also made into a Japanese movie in 2000, so its bizarre plot--of a small town haunted by spirals(!)--is familiar to Asian movie fans as well as comics otaku. Viz's English-language edition of the Uzumaki manga lapsed out of print, though, until last year, when they began to republish the entire story in three paperbacks with stylish, pitch-black covers engraved with portraits of tormented teenagers.

It was time for me to catch up with Uzumaki.