By d. emerson eddy — “We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.” - Tool, Lateralus

You probably knew that it was only a matter of time before the spiral brought you in. It's inescapable. No matter what, you'll eventually fall within the path of the pattern and start seeing the shape everywhere. Because, seriously, when you're talking about horror comics, you're really going to have to mention a horror tale that transcends borders and medium, Junji Ito's seminal Uzumaki.

Originally serialized in Japanese in Big Comic Spirits weekly, Uzumaki is a bunch of tales set in the small port town of Kurouzo-Cho, following high school student Kirie Goshima as she uncovers the spiral curse that plagues the town. The format allows Ito to explore a variety of different horror stories, often taking the form of some kind of ironic and tragic monster, while also developing a bit of romantic drama between Goshima and her boyfriend, Shuichi Saito. We get giant snails, girls with spiral faces, families becoming obsesses with spirals, bloodsucking mosquito children, and more. Then things get really weird in the final third of the series, when all of it starts coming to a head and the story transitions even more into a continued narrative for the conclusion.

Like comedy, a large portion of horror can rely on the timing and pacing, and I'd argue that there are few in comics, possibly even the genre of horror itself, that achieve what Ito does. In a medium where the reader is basically in control of the pacing, Ito utilizes detail and multiple panels to keep your attention and follow through to big reveals and shocks. Just in the first chapter, breaking down Kirie's stumbling across Shuichi's father into various shots of him and the wall he's staring at, it adds to the creepiness of the scene and the overall obsession with the spiral. I think that Ito's cartooning style also contributes to this, choosing fairly simplified, natural looking characters, making a greater impact when something horrifying happens to them and the body horror in his monsters comes out. And, boy, are there some really disturbing body horror moments.

Overall, I feel like Junji Ito's Uzumaki (with Oniki and Dutro) serves as a beautiful exhibition of how to do both short-form and long-form horror tales in comics. You've got the overarching narrative of the spiral curse and then the monster of the week coming in with the individual chapters. It gives you a tantalizing mystery, an emotional hook in the relationship between Kirie and Shuichi, and a whole lot of weird.

Note: I have the separate three volume editions from 2001-2002. I know that there was a new print edition in 2013 (that I believe is the same as the digital edition) that preserves the right to left reading format from the original manga. Although I do know the it looks like the lettering was tightened up a bit, I don't know if there were further updates to that text from Viz's original English releases.

Uzumaki by Junji Ito

Uzumaki
Writer & Artist: Junji Ito
Translation: Yuji Oniki
Letterer & Touch-Ups: Steve Dutro
Publisher: Viz
Kurouzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but a pattern: UZUMAKI, the spiral -- the hypnotic secret shape of the world. The bizarre masterpiece horror manga is now available all in a single volume. Fall into a whirlpool of terror!
Release Date: October 2001 – October 2002 (individual English releases) | October 16 2018 (single digital edition)
Price: $15.99
Buy It Here: Uzumaki by Junji Ito

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d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.