“The Hell of the Doll Funeral” is one such disappointing story with a great premise. These are the most incomplete-feeling tales in the whole collection, as they bring up some great ideas just to end almost immediately afterward. There are also a few stories at the end of the volume that have nothing to do with Frankenstein or Oshikiri. There are a number of dangling plot threads that, rather than generating a sense of anxiety in the reader by being unresolved, just leave one feeling disappointed. With that said, the individual stories frequently feel too incomplete to stand alone outside of their loose relationships to one another. The stories star different versions of Oshikiri from alternate universes, so naturally they won’t all fit together perfectly. There are a number of great ideas and visuals in them (such as people dying by over-elongation of their limbs, or by being absorbed into walls), but they don’t always gel together. Unfortunately, the Oshikiri stories in this collection aren’t as consistently good. Frankenstein’s monster is especially stunning thanks to Ito’s reinterpretation of the character, which hauntingly conveys its origins of literally being stitched together from pieces of dead flesh. All the moody atmosphere, intense loathing, body horror, and themes of godhood from the original novel are present, but delivered in ways that take advantage of manga’s visual nature.

Ito delivers what is essentially a masterclass in creating a successful comic book adaptation of a work from another medium. The titular story in this collection is fantastic. This is certainly a unique collection, but is it good? There are alternate universes at play, delivering a much different sort of horror than present in Frankenstein. Most of these revolve around a school boy named Oshikiri, but they don’t all intertwine–at least, not immediately. Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection, out this week from Viz Media, features an adaptation of the titular novel, as well as a number of original short stories. An Ito adaptation of one of Shelley’s works, then, sounds like a recipe for greatness.

Likewise, there are few horror novelists more renowned than Mary Shelley. There are few names in horror manga more famous than Junji Ito. For the month of October we’ll be sharing various pieces of underappreciated scary books, comics, movies, and television to help keep you terrified and entertained all the way up to Halloween.Īs we close in on October 31, AiPT! will be reviewing and recommending various pieces of underappreciated scary media-books, comics, movies, and television-to help keep you terrified and entertained all the way up to Halloween. Welcome to another installment of 31 Days of Halloween! This is our chance to set the mood for the spookiest and scariest month of the year as we focus our attention on horror and Halloween fun.

Frankenstein manga junji ito