Greetings, true believers! When not snapping photos for the Daily Bugle, defeating psychotic alien symbiotes, or forcing MJ to wear a Gwen Stacy wig during sex games, Spidey likes to relax how? By flipping through weird and despondent Japanese comics, natch! Here are a few books he’s read lately! Enjoy, web heads! And happy Turkey Day!

Museum of Terror Vols. 1-2
By Junji Ito
$13.95

MUSEUM OF TERROR 1-2: The Lovecraft-inspired Ito might be the best pure horror creator in comics, which means this series is one of the essential releases of the year. These first two volumes collect the superb “Tomie” stories, a series of darkly humorous tales about a beautiful, manipulative Japanese girl/demon/ghost/something who can’t be killed but inspires psychotic obsession and stomach-turning violence. Excelsior!

Abandon the Old in Tokyo
By Yoshihiro Tatsumi
$19.95

ABANDON THE OLD IN TOKYO: As you can tell from the title, these dark, gritty tales of sexual and social repression among Tokyo’s lower classes are the height of hilarity! One of the best books of the year.

Who Fighter
By Seiho Takizawa
$11.95

WHO FIGHTER: Three superbly drawn weird war tales that take themselves much too seriously and don’t really go anywhere. Zzzzzz.

The Walking Man
By Jiro Taniguchi
$16.99

THE WALKING MAN: A series of Buddhist parables? A portrait of a dissolving marriage? A portrait of a dissolving society? A suggestion to slow down one’s life and pay attention to the world around you? However one interprets these quiet and plaintive tales about a man walking around suburban Japan, Taniguchi’s work contains a strange and affecting power. It’s devil horns for you, Taniguchi!

Sincerely,
Your Pal Spidey

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