GIVE NOTICE OF NIGHTMARE

I think i was like 13 the first time i was exposed to a Suehiro Maruo comic. It was a short story in a theme issue about dreams that a major comic magazine had published. I don't have the issue at hand, and i can't remember what the fuck his story was about (something pretty usual when dealing with Maruo), but i do remember being totally freaked out and disturbed by it, even though, as i recall it, it wasn't heavily loaded with twisted sex and violence as usual, it was just scary, in a 'burn-out-acid-freak-spewing-mindless-drivel' way. Back then I only owned one Black Flag record, 'Loose nut', and I found the Pettibon images quite matching to Maruo's ugly nightmarish vibes.
With time, i grew up to know and develop a love/hate relationship with his work, I mean, yeah, I'm aware his stories are supossed to be "the artistic vision of a nightmare", which basically means he's not really supposed to have a decent storyline that makes sense, just some kind of stream of conciousness graphic rant for him to go crazy and/or get all poetic on us. And it's better off that way. When he tries to actually tell a story, he usually sucks at narrating, or else his storylines are bland and predictably cliché-manga in the worst way possible. Yeah, they are entertaining sometimes, but it's best to not pay too much attention to them.


His latest offering, The Strange Tale Of Panorama Island is pretty much the perfect example of this. Graphically, Maruo is unhinged in it, the story lends itself to it: it tells the tale of a millionaire who decides to build a small utopian world in a island, so you know what you're getting: huge landscapes, a fantasy world inhabited by wild life, outdoor orgies, crazy architecture, circus life, diverse character studies, are all given the special treatment. The storyline, however, is a different story as it has suffered greatly from Maruo's lack of ability as a narrator when it came to adapting it from the original novel (published in 1926) and thus comes across as somewhat dull and unspirited. Apparently, Maruo has been working and delaying this project for over ten years, and i really can't imagine why during all that time he the thought of quiting the project and sticking to his usual stab-your-heart-then-lick-your-eyeball/bad acid trip on a group sex session routine didn't cross his mind.

Yes, that was pretty pointless as a review. Fuck you.


Also, I'm curious about Maruo's alleged ties to the early Japanese punk scene, if anybody has any info, please drop a line.


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Listening:
Brain Handle 'smiling/smiling again'
Destino Final 'atrapados'
Danzig 'II'
Roky Erikson 'the evil one'