An expected end.
Creative Staff:
Story: Anthony Bourdain, Joel Rose
Art: Irene Koh, Francesco Francavilla
Colors: Jose Villarrubia
Letterer: Sal Cipriano
What They Say:
In the frozen Nigata Prefecture, a country cook learns discretion the hard way after an encounter with the cryptic, but irresistible Snow Woman, and Hungry Ghosts seal the insatiable fate of famine-stricken villagers in the most voracious, unthinkable way possible when a stranger comes to town
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The final installment of the Hungry Ghosts series is one that works well enough with what Bourdain and Rose have put together in story but will leave some feeling unfulfilled, likely viewing it as leftovers. For what I expect is most of the audience, the tales here are either fresh and new or something they’ve heard once or twice. For those that come from the manga and anime background, this is very treadworn material that’s executed in a solid way but without anything that stands out from what’s been presented for decades. I can remember some of this going back to the late 80’s in my first dabblings of TV anime series and some manga. It’s done in a good serious way here and it brings the story of the series to a close, but it’s left me by being an unmemorable work.
The first tale that’s illustrated by Irene Koh delves into the story of a young man and father traveling rural Japan centuries ago where they were caught in a snowstorm and found themselves some respite in an abandoned home. It’s there that the son sees his father die late into the night when a beautiful spirit of a woman sucked it from him and then made the son promise to keep it a secret and she’d let him live for some other purpose. It’s no surprise that some time later she returns in human form, works in the inn that the family owns, marries him, and leads a great life with children with him. But he’s unable to say nothing eventually when a certain look reminds him of the spirit, Yuki Onna, and he tells her about it. This is essentially the most basic of presentations of the tale over the years and while Koh illustrates it beautifully as I expected as I love her artwork, it’s a by the numbers presentation of the story.
The second tale is illustrated by the incomparable Francesco Francavilla where another tale of the past is told of a village that underwent a famine. The levels that they go down in describing what was eaten and how far into the darkness the villagers went is well done as Francavilla really does some great stuff in layouts and design, which are perfectly colored here in his style. When a half man half cow beast arrives and tries to talk to the villagers, it’s no surprise that they just seed food and sustenance but they gorge themselves on him, which leads to the darker side of it basically being a way to impregnate people with more creatures. That all wraps into the present day storyline with the chef telling this tale essentially recreating that here with those in attendance, again going on about those with much doing nothing for those with little or nothing, and erasing them from the world.
In Summary:
Hungry Ghosts isn’t a bad series but it is one that I’ve seen far too many times. I had perhaps hoped for something that touched on tales outside of Japan more and had a worldly feeling to it but it leaned heavily into that side and didn’t add anything new to it. The artists that were used across the run were great and we get that here as well with Koh and Francavilla definitely delivering in wonderful form. The execution is solid and there’s a lot to like that I hope those unfamiliar with many of the Japanese tales of horror of old can enjoy, but it was something that largely has been used as standard Japanese storytelling in so many things for so many years that it has no impact for me.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: May 9th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
