There’s honestly no other story quite like “Hanging Balloons.” Ito’s horrifically surreal imaginings are quite frankly the fucking best. One of my all-time favorite horror comics, “Hanging Balloons” is an exercise in artistic vision and unique storytelling. Once again an atmospheric experiment, what should be a simplistic tale takes on a haunting quality after the protagonist sees a terrifying model in a fashion magazine and becomes slowly more and more obsessed until a fatal meeting in the real world. Exploring the idea of what constitutes a monster story, this short focuses on a group of young teens aiming to make a successful film who hire an actress who may or may not be an otherworldly creature. The annotations on “Fashion Model” are a perfect example, highlighting how a simple moment of observation in the author’s life can transform into a nightmarish horror story. Ito’s annotations are a joy and add an extra layer of pleasure to the experience of reading his comics. It’s a fantastic example of the author’s power in taking a chilling image and turning it into a visceral, frightening story. The titular tale “Shiver” is one of Ito’s most visually horrifying stories about a cursed artifact that causes anyone who owns it to become covered in holes. It’s a wonderfully atmospheric vignette that perfectly showcases Ito’s skill as a storyteller focused on youth and in particular young women. “Used Record” spins the tale of a vinyl recording that captured the ghostly vocals of a recently dead jazz singer. The anthology stacks nine of Ito’s favorite tales together including one new story from 2015, each bookended by the author’s personal annotations and process sketches.

All 400 pages of Shiver: Junji Ito Collected Stories are a complete delight, and each story is a testament to Ito’s horror chops. The original title isn’t an overstatement.

So it was with utter joy that I jumped into Viz’s gorgeous English language reprint of 2015’s Itō Junji Self-Selected Masterpiece Collection. There was something in it that spoke to me on a primal level and cemented me a lifelong Junji Ito fan. Too often I’d seen men destroy women but now I was seeing a young woman destroy the men who would’ve likely hurt or disappointed her. Ito’s stark linework and bleak-yet-beautiful storytelling sucked me in and most importantly left me rooting for Tomie. The timeless tale of a deathless young woman who drives any man who meets her to madness, I adored the book and reread it till the spine fell apart. That’s where I would pick up Tomie, one of the most well-known entries in Ito’s horror back catalogue. But it was right next to a comic book store, a place I would spend most of my afternoons and weekends. When I was 12 we moved to a new part of London, one that was utterly detached from the place I’d grown up. Junji Ito’s work was some of the first manga I ever came across.

Shiver junji