Junji Ito's "Shiver" collection
I recently purchased Junji Ito's Shiver collection, which has nine of his self-descirbed "best" shorts inside:
- Used Record
- Shiver
- Fashion Model
- Hanging Blimp
- Marionette Mansion
- Painter
- The Long Dream
- Honored Ancestors
- Greased
And while overall I would say the collection was well worth the £16 it cost, I will say I was somewhat disappointed in the varying "shivers" delivered by each short.
For example, I found the Fashion Model short to be quite frustrating: compared to the creativity and build up of horror present in some of the other shorts such as Hanging Blimp, it was essentially "creepy looking lady is serial killer". Others such as Used Record seemed as though there was a lot of wasted story.
Meanwhile, some such as Marionette Mansion did a grand job of building a suspenseful atmosphere and The Long Dream was certainly scary to dwell on.
I understand variable impact on the reader is to be expected for so many different works, but for what Ito described as nine of his best I was a little disappointed.
Outside of this collection, the only work of Ito's I have seen is the one where people enter holes carved out for their bodies (which for the record I also enjoyed).
Are others familar with Junji Ito's work? Recommendations for his or similar artists work would be very welcome.
Edits: paragraphing.
I've read most of his comics and I really enjoy his style, I wish there were more artists like him. I suggest reading "Gyo" -- it's the source of this internet-famous pic. Thing That Drifted Ashore is pretty good, but it's pretty short. Is "Greased" the same as Glyceride? That's a decent one. Uzumaki is a great series too, I highly recommend that.
You're very welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed it so much!
Fashion Model was a disappointment to me too. There were many alternative twists that would have made it better to me.
The one Junji Ito story I would really recommend is Uzumaki (may be sold under "spirals" iirc?). It's a serial so it ends up building up on the terror as the story continues. It gets really weird towards the end but it is definitely worth the read.