In the manga industry, countless manga artists prevail in every genre of writing. But, in the horror genre, no one can de-throne Junji Ito. Junji Ito has dominated the genre with this horrifying art style, masterclass writing and creative thinking. He has even been recognized internationally by other artists and named “The Master of Horror” by them.
ICv2, a popular media website, made a post about Viz Media announcing the publishing of a new horror manga anthology, Betwixt. Junji Ito will do the art and introduction part of this anthology.
On 14 March 2023, ICv2 made a post regarding the publication of a new horror anthology named Betwixt. This anthology will comprise 200 pages and will include six one-shot horror stories by some well-known Japanese and American artists. The most significant update about this manga is that its cover and forward (the start introduction of the manga) will be done by Junji Ito. The anthology is set to release on 10 October 2023. No update has been provided yet for the names of the short stories.
The Artists Taking Part in this Anthology
The six artists who will be drawing in this manga are:
- Leslie Hung (Canadian Comic Artist)- Works include Snotgirl, The Mighty Zodiac, etc.
- Hua Hua Zhu (Chinese Comic Artist)- Works include Spirit Fingers, Garden Club Detective Squad, etc.
- Sloane Leong (American Comic Artist)- Works include Prism Stalker, A Map to the Sun, etc.
- Ryo Hanada (Japanese Manga Artist)- Works include Devil’s Line, Fragile, etc.
- Aki Shimizu (Japanese Manga Artist)- Works include The Stellar Six of Gingacho, etc.
- Shima Shinya (Japanese Manga Artist)- Works include Shi ni Itaru Yamai, Hinowa ga Yuku, etc.
- Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad (American Writers)- Works include Wonder Woman, Gotham Academy, etc.
- Junji Ito (Japanese Manga Artist)- Works include Tomie, Uzumaki, Black Paradox, etc.
Sloane Leong has been nominated for the renowned Eisner Award (a highly acclaimed award in the comic industry) for his work “A Map to the Sun”. A Map to the Sun is a drama comic series which centres around teenage girls dealing with emotions as they grow up. The comic series was nominated for its beautiful art style. Unfortunately, it did not win the award.
Junji Ito has been nominated for this award three times and won it twice. He was nominated for his works Smashed, Shiver and No Longer Human (an adaption of Osamu Dazai’s Novel) and won the award for Shiver and Smashed. Both Shiver and Smashed are Short story collections by Junji Ito. Winning this award twice internationally shows how great Junji Ito is at drawing horror.
Junji Ito is a Japanese Horror Manga Artist who started drawing horror manga in 1987. His inspiration from the start was Omezu Kazuo, a horror manga legend. His first work was “Tomie”, which made him a name in the manga industry. This manga series lasted 13 years and became the foundation of Ito’s career. His other manga series include “Uzumaki“, “Gyo“, “Smashed-Junji Ito Story Collection“, “Venus In The Blindspot“, “No Longer Human“, and many other masterclass manga series. His upcoming projects include “Tombs-Junji Ito Story Collection” and “Soichi-Junji Ito Story Collection“.
What are your thoughts on this? Are you also excited about the upcoming horror anthology Betwixt? Let us know in the comments down below.
Source: ICv2
