Hino Horror #3: Oninbo and the Bugs from Hell
by Hideshi Hino
DH Publishers
Japanese Graphic Novel (Printed in USA)
English Language version
ISBN 0-9745961-2-4
$9.95

I love these cute little books from Japan. I love the way you read them from the back. I love the way DHP has lovingly amended the text into English. And I love Hino’s wry outlook on life. I particularly love the way Oninbo, the star of this third book, uses his retractable eyeball to first capture and suck into his brain the evil bugs from Hell.

He’s such a cute little demon, Oninbo.

As in all these Hino Horror comics, the Demon wanders about noticing those unfortunate humans who have a Bug from Hell inside them and finally extracts the bug from them a) ridding the human of the Satanic infestation and b) getting a good Bug meal in the process. Demons love to eat Bugs.

Bug eating aside, these comics are mostly morality tails about Japanese life and the stresses and strains parents and industry put on their offspring to be successful and to rise to the top of the heap – it’s tough being a kid in Japan and this series of books really disgorges its worst visualisations out into the readers’ psyche. .

This is really full-on demon possession material for adults only – some of the highlights involve a demon-drowned swimming tale, a wonderful axe-murderer sequence, a baby’s cot that emanates pure fear for its poor, suffering mother and lots of yummee shrinking down to the size of a microbe to enter the eyeball of possessed victims to check on the ripeness of their fattening Hell Bugs.

It’s all good stuff and this time Oninbo isn’t alone.

Enter Mumashino and he’s after the same Demon Bugs as our little cute hero Oninbo. Mumashinbo is mister nasty though and takes no prisoners, he certainly isn’t gonna share a Bug he believes is rightly his with any other Demon. He sends his caterpillar army out of his cracked forehead and they devour the screaming Oninbo before he can retaliate with magic of his own. But surely Oninbo isn’t that easily defeated...

Hino Horror #4: Oninbo and the Bugs from Hell 2
by Hideshi Hino
DH Publishers
Japanese Graphic Novel (Printed in USA)
English Language version
ISBN 0-9745961-1-6
$9.95

Oninbo is back and cuter and more disgusting than ever. This time our Bug eating Demon is joined by two other equally cute and equally evil side-kicks, the street-wise Mamushinbo and the lace and polka-dot attired Himenbo. This evil trio have nothing in common except for their insatiable hunger for Hell Bugs. Lord only knows where these little demons put it all. Maybe they’re like crocodiles who only eat every few months or so...

But hidden inside a tormented student who’s slacking on her grades is a monster demon that’s bigger than any single demon either of the trio has ever encountered. Only by co-operating as a force for good against this evil monstrosity will they be able to defeat (and eventually devour) this beast. But these are three highly strung Demons. It’s gonna take a miracle to bring their talents together in one concerted effort of Bug defeat.

On this disjointed trio go, through the haunted house of an ex-serial killer unearthing multiple Bugs from Hell, generally kickin’ the shit out of all sorts of evil things and feasting like a pack of ravenous grizzly bears. It’s never a wholly convincing group mentality though, it’s merely three bug hunters who have a common enemy. This relationship however is tested to the max when the baby-like fourth Demon Sasonrinbo makes an appearance.

Yup, you heard me right, a baby Demon. But Sasorinbo is nastier than all three of the cute little Demons put together. The trio will have to discover a hitherto missing sense of team effort to finally defeat this little snivelling runt.

Mike Philbin is the man behind the surrealist writing entity Hertzan Chimera R.I.P. who gave us SZMONHFU (novel), UNITED STATES (novel), ANIMAL INSTINCTS (collection), SPIDERED WEB (non-fiction interviews), CHIM+HER (collaborations), CHIM+HIM (collaborations), the annual CHIMERAWORLD anthology and website Weird Space's FUCK STAR series (co-written with MF Korn and Alex Severin). He is now relaunching his writing career with a fresh style of writing. Mike is the editor of the HORROR QUARTERLY ezine and will continue to edit future CHIMERAWORLD editions. His new novel Yôroppa is due from HELLBOUND BOOKS in early 2006.