DeForgeo
09-09-2005, 12:27 PM
I went to a used bookstore a few weeks ago and saw a fat stack of manga collections being sold for about 4 dollars a pop. The covers tended to feature drawings of big headed children with maggots devouring half their faces, or giant sewer bugs munching on dead fetus things.
They were completely twisted and totally perverted, so I obviously bought the whole lot.
These books were all part of Hideshi Hino's Hino Horror series put out by DHP (http://www.dhp-online.com/HinoHorror/index.html), and I can't believe I haven't heard of this guy until now. Hino apparently has over 150 graphic novels in print, a few movies to his name, and is considered a manga legend and pioneer (proving just how little about manga I know.) Each HH volume is a self-contained story, but they all share the themes of social isolation, injustice, and a constant, looming fear of mortality-- a perfect reflection of the anxious post-war japan that Hino grew up in.
I should caution that anyone without a stong stomach for bad taste, cheap thrills and shock value probably isn't going to find Hino horror their cup of tea. Oninbo and the Bugs from Hell (my favourite of the series) is a thoroughly ****ed up bit of psychedelia littered with images of rotting dogs, head wounds and the occasional hallucination of a butchered child roasting in a kitchen oven (so don't say I didn't warn you.)
But if I know Penciljack, there are people reading this who love horror, love having their sensibilities offended, and most importantly, love seeing creepy looking children transform into vengeful giant larvae and massacre their uncaring parents and schoolmates.
They were completely twisted and totally perverted, so I obviously bought the whole lot.
These books were all part of Hideshi Hino's Hino Horror series put out by DHP (http://www.dhp-online.com/HinoHorror/index.html), and I can't believe I haven't heard of this guy until now. Hino apparently has over 150 graphic novels in print, a few movies to his name, and is considered a manga legend and pioneer (proving just how little about manga I know.) Each HH volume is a self-contained story, but they all share the themes of social isolation, injustice, and a constant, looming fear of mortality-- a perfect reflection of the anxious post-war japan that Hino grew up in.
I should caution that anyone without a stong stomach for bad taste, cheap thrills and shock value probably isn't going to find Hino horror their cup of tea. Oninbo and the Bugs from Hell (my favourite of the series) is a thoroughly ****ed up bit of psychedelia littered with images of rotting dogs, head wounds and the occasional hallucination of a butchered child roasting in a kitchen oven (so don't say I didn't warn you.)
But if I know Penciljack, there are people reading this who love horror, love having their sensibilities offended, and most importantly, love seeing creepy looking children transform into vengeful giant larvae and massacre their uncaring parents and schoolmates.