Review by Comix
Japan has no luck. If it’s not a natural disaster destroying half the coast, then it’s Godzilla or some other godforsaken monstrosity tearing apart whatever’s left. After so many crises and near brushes with death, you’d think the Land of the Rising Sun would be prepared for the possibility of anything, but sometimes, even the most carefully laid plans can’t foresee the danger right under its nose. Enter Parasyte, a comic of epic proportions which starts with something incredibly small: spores. One of the earlier adult horror comics to have made the transition over to English, Parasyte is still fondly remembered and read as one of the pinnacles of alternative manga. At a time when Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z were forming the minds of young kids, Parasyte – along with Viz’s adult collection Pulp and early Dark Horse manga – was shaping the imaginations of the older readers who were looking for more mature titles following the immense popularity of Ghost in the Shell, Akira, and Vampire Hunter D. Parasyte offered up exactly what they were looking for, along with blood, boobs, aliens, and a possessed left hand that craves human flesh. In short, good times.
There are two versions which got released in English, one with Americanized names and one with the original Japanese (I’ll get into that later), but for the sake of the review, I’m going to stick with the Japanese originals. The comic begins with our hero, Shinichi Izumi, who lives with his parents in the suburbs of Tokyo. Shinichi is pretty much your average teenager; he likes music, girls, and being awkward. One night, as he’s chilling in his room, strange, alien spores flutter down from the sky and settle over Japan. As they land, worm-like creatures crawl from the shells and begin to body-snatch anything they can get their ‘hands’ on. One, though, has the unfortunate luck to try to take over Shinichi and while attempting to crawl in through the kid’s ear, is suddenly stopped by a pair of headphones and mistakenly enters his arm. Here begins a journey of strange relationships and bloody adventures, as the now dubbed arm-parasite Migi, is forced to share a body with Shinichi, who is less than excited to have his arm possessed. As they learn to get along, other body-snatched humans/parasites begin coming out of the woodwork, curious and disgusted by Migi’s failed attempt to take over Shinichi’s body and keen on eating and taking over the entire human race. In classic heroic tale style, the pair’s destiny becomes clear as they realize they are the only thing standing between Earth and a total alien invasion.
Parasyte is a classic tale of aliens and savior-of-the-universe type story, but what really stands out are the parasites themselves. They are incredibly gnarly. The way the parasites work is that not only do they take over people, but they snatch up anything that moves and, for food, they eat the same type of creature that they had become. Essentially, they became cannibals. As they take over the brain, they kill the host and adapt to their surroundings, only to come out when they have to eat or fight other parasites for resources and man, oh man, do they fight dirty. The parasite can manipulate the host body into various shapes, a la The Thing, and attack with various shape shifts (such as splitting their heads open or making blades with their arms), reinforcing human strength, and dodging bullets and knife attacks with quickened speed. They lack emotion and would run over a squadron of grandmas if it meant having a nice old lady goulash for dinner. This comic perfectly plays on our fear of other people, especially if you’re paranoid; but on a side note, it does have its share of lighter moments. Despite everything, Shinichi is still a teenager with plenty of girls coming and going. So, if I really had to to summarize Parasyte, it would be as a horror high school story aimed at adults.
Now, when I say it was one of the first horror comics to be translated into English, that doesn’t mean it was one the first horror comics in general. Japan has an incredible history of horror comics, some even reaching cult status among horror circles, but Parasyte (first released by Mixx/Tokyo Pop) was one of the initial comics to transition into English. Also, since it was one of the earlier mangas to hit the translated comic market, it was first adapted in a flipped format (left-to-right instead of Japan’s right-to-left) and the names were changed to sound more American, so as to appeal to audiences abroad. Shinichi became just Shin, a character named Reiko Tamura became Tamara Rockford, and Migi (whose name means ‘right’ in Japanese) became Lefty because as they flipped the comic for the English-speaking audience, Migi wasn’t a right hand any more. There was also a second version released by Del Rey that printed a translated version as well, but this time keeping the Japanese format and all the names went back to their originals. Really, it comes down to preference, but it’s an interesting observation at the lengths foreign countries used to go to just to appeal to other domestic industries.
Parasyte is written and illustrated by sci-fi/horror mangaka (manga artist) Hitoshi Iwaaki, who, along with his characters during the Mixx/Tokyo Pop run, also got his name romanticized, but only to Hitosi Iwaaki. Though he has written tons of other comics, only Parasyte has managed to hop over the pond. His art style, while not exactly distinctive, does break away from the standard big-eyed cartoons and goes for a more subdued style, focusing more on story than large and flashy splash panels (which actually made the monsters more intense.) This was especially noticeable when Parasyte was getting big in the nineties; a time when long legs and short skirts were all it took to get famous. Parasyte was first published in Japan’s manga magazine Morning, but moved over to Afternoon after a few issues, where it remained for its entire run from 1990 to 1995. When it was finally collected into books, Japan released a total of ten volumes, whic,h oddly enough, became twelve volumes through Mixx/Tokyo Pop, then eight volumes through Del Rey after Mixx/Tokyo Pop edition went out of print. Why the volumes were different is beyond me, but there you go.
As I mentioned, there are a couple of different versions for you to pick up. As always, there is the Japanese version, but unless you know Japanese, there’s really no point. While the Mixx/Tokyo Pop edition is easier to read with the flipped format and less Japanese-y names, it’s also more censored; it tends to Americanize cultural references and cuts out like, tons, of boobs (yet keeps all the violence). Also, the Mixx/Tokyo Pop editions are out of print, so while some books can still be bought for a dollar, others are going to be harder than hell to get. I suggest getting the Del Rey version. Along with the proper art and names, the volumes are thicker, so you don’t have to buy so many books, and they are way easier to find. It’s a great read for fans of body horror who have been looking for a fix after a John Carpenter marathon.