Rerun: Jose and DC present ... The who and what of Suehiro Maruo (orig. 06/04/09)

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Suehiro Maruo (1956 - ) is a self-taught high school dropout and former shoplifter who began drawing comics at the age of eighteen. His first work, submitted to the weekly manga Shonen Jump, was promptly rejected. His dark style fantasy dreams didn't fit in the commercialized, mass-market magazines. It took five more years before he started drawing comics again, this time for Ero-manga.



Besides trying to make a living out of his talents, it was also part of a quest for artistic freedom. Maruo draws nightmares. In the tradition of muzan-e (atrocity print) woodblock masters of the 19th century, he drew short stories of axe murders, abortion, rape and incest in as much graphic detail as the obscenity codes allowed.



Maruo's nightmarish manga fall into the Japanese category of "erotic grotesque" (エログロ; "ero-guro"). The stories often take place in the early years of Showa Era Japan. Maruo also has a fascination with human oddities, deformities, birth defects, and "circus freaks." Many such characters figure prominently in his stories and are sometimes the primary subjects of his illustrations. His most recent work is an adaption of the story "The Strange Tale of Panorama Island" by Edogawa Rampo.



Though relatively few of Maruo's manga have been published outside of Japan, his work enjoys a cult following abroad. His book Shōjo Tsubaki (aka Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show) has been adapted into an animated film (Midori) by Hiroshi Harada with a soundtrack by J.A. Seazer, but it has received very little release. In Europe it was marketed under the name Midori, after the main character. It was recently released on DVD in France by Cinemalta (the DVD includes English subtitles). -- text collaged from various sources






Midori, La Ragazza delle Camelie - Suehiro Maruo


Suehiro Maruo - Le Lézard Noir


Suehiro Maruo Tarot Deck & Magic Equation


lumaca (suehiro maruo - kim jun-sun)




La chenille V.1 & 2.0 - Suehiro Maruo - Edogawa Ranpo


The Strange Tale of Panorama Island


Rencontre internationale : Suehiro Maruo / Atsushi Kaneko








Suehiro Maruo's Official Website (Japanese)
Suehiro Maruo Fan Shrine
Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show
Ero-Garu: The Erotic Grotesque of Suehiro Maruo
the strange fruit of suehiro maruo
The books of Suehiro Maruo
Suehiro Maruo @ Delicious Ghost
Suehiro Maruo @ I Was Ben





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p.s. Hey. I'm away. Six years ago, Jose and I wanted to prop the work of Suehiro Maruo, and I can't speak for Jose, but apparently I still do.