Junji Ito Story Collection: Frankenstein
Publisher: Viz Media
Story: Mary Shelley/Junji Ito
Art: Junji Ito
Translation: Jocelyne Allen
Viz Media has been re-releasing many of Junji Ito’s works in these hardcover collections and this latest focuses nearly half of it on Ito’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s first novel, Frankenstein, Or The Modern Prometheus. Ito ends up being a great artist for how you can make a horrific creation that still has some features you could find yourself sympathizing with even when he’s truly monstrous. Frankenstein is one of my favorite stories of all time and Junji Ito is one of my favorite modern day horror creators. The story is for the most part a very true adaptation with a few exceptions, without spoiling anything one of the changes makes the creature a bit less sympathetic in his deeds.
Ito’s art is perfect for mixing the grotesque work of Victor’s obsession with making new life from the dead. Early on you will see Victor collecting the parts for his creation and it shows that nothing about this is right from visuals alone. It’s not just bodies you see, but the desperation in Victor’s experiments and work. The adaptation is roughly 100 pages shorter than the prose version but a lot of that is to speed up the pace since the book will have Victor bed ridden for months at a time at several points in the book with him lamenting his and his creations decisions that were fine to be cut for an adaptation.
Most of the writing is from pre-existing text from the original book that Ito used to make his version. While this is the first story in the book there are plenty of others for your Junji Ito cravins including one of his adorable animal stories that aren’t scary but just a nice little slice of life. The stories after Frankenstein start strong with a Junji Ito’s take on a story reminiscent of the Telltale Heart but with more body horror, of course.
If you enjoy Ito’s work, buy this. If you like Frankenstein, buy this. If you like both of these things a whole lot, buy this as soon as you can. Ito’s Frankenstein adaptation has been a sought after story for me for several years and it’s finally mine to own and it’s got a nice cover to put on the shelf for display. Perfect for this, or any other, season.
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
