BRIDE OF DEIMOS: Vol. 1

Originally published in Japan in 1975, and now translated into English, this story retains all its power to chill. Ikeda's collection of eerie episodes is wrapped up in a larger story of forbidden love. Minako, a schoolgirl with flowing blond hair, is approached by a stranger who declares Minako is to be his bride. Suddenly he reveals himself as the devil and informs her there is no escape: all those whom she loves will be destroyed piecemeal until she agrees to be the Bride of Deimos. The rest of the book follows Minako as she attempts to continue her ordinary life, but things aren't the same. A new chum turns out to have killed his mother a few years ago; a favorite teacher ends up being a werewolf who rips out the throat of another of Minako's favorite instructors; and the very cement of the walls of local buildings turns out to be evil, having been mixed with the crushed bones of unfortunate factory workers. Ikeda's vision of love is grim; the book's happiest couple is a maimed race-car driver and his lover, who puts out her own eyes to prove her fidelity. Even they end up dying in a fiery inferno due to a momentary misunderstanding. By the time readers discover why Minako is the chosen one, they've been hung out to dry emotionally. Ashibe's drawings, a dizzying b&w whirl that splashes and curls across the page, use all manner of odd angles and perspective to convey Minako's off-kilter world as she travels a landscape that veers between ordinary and mystical. (June)