4 out of 5

Some of Ito’s most haunting work; some of his most surreal work; and a couple sillies thrown in.

This VIZ Alley collection – 10th or something in this current Junji cycle – reprints a spattering of Ito’s shorts. It’s always hard to source exactly when these were crafted, but the art feels mid-period to me (90s-ish?), when characters drifted between a few models, with the environments and general mood containing a lot of personality. ‘Alley’ is frontloaded with some particularly affecting works – including the title story – and really only gets into “typical” Ito, where he kind of wanders until he gets to a weird idea, with ‘The Ward,’ but even this tale benefits from Junji’s general inability to find an ending, as its abrupt conclusion is almost perversely silly.

Elsewhere, the relative surrealness of ‘Descent,’ and especially ‘Town of No Roads’ call back to more haunting works like ‘The Enigma of Amigara Fault,’ but feel even more personal. (And I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some socio-political angles I’m missing in both stories.) ‘Mold’ is also classic Junji obsessive gross-out – take an image that tweaks him, and just go with it – but I love how far he digs into it, and keeps pushing and pushing.

Lastly, we have the sillies: ‘Smokers’ Club’ and ‘Ice Cream Bus’ are kind of “damn, I hate smokers” and “damn, kids are annoying” toss-offs; but they’re short and smartly deposited at appropriate points – midway through the collection, then right at the end.