February
9
Something Stinks (But Not This Book)
GYO
Creator: Junji Ito
$12.95, 200 pgs, Viz Communications
So? Vacationing couple Kaori and Tadashi notice a strange smell in the air that is revealed to come from an odd fish taken to land with spiderlike legs -- and from there the wild ride begins.
Ito takes full advantage of the medium in telling the story, by giving readers an invading menace that would make ILM proud, and in using an open page count to control the story's tempo in ways American publishers would not allow. Ito uses space liberally to slow for suspense or accelerate for action as needed. One melee comes in at almost 24 consecutive pages.
At times this book feels like vintage Alfred Hitchcock; at others, ID4. It doesn't have a lot of depth as far as characters go, but this wildly entertaining sci-fi horror tale is about as much fun as you can have reading comics.
Grade: B+
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