Hell's Belles its... Junko
Mizuno
Even within the extraordinarily diverse and often disturbing realm
of Japanese Manga, the very distinctive and wilfully perverse graphics
of Junko Mizuno are simply unique. Juxtaposing the hyper-cute with
the grotesque, in the dark, fantasy world of Mizuno, big-eyed, semi-naked
Lolitas with ribbons and rattlesnakes in their hair, play with giant
syringes and slice themselves with razor blades (don't try this at
home kids!), and that's just for starters...
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In one of her older strips; The
Life of Momongo, our eponymous heroine, is born into an over-populated
future world riven by famine. But fortunately, she just happens
to be a 'human
insect' with the ability to mate with any organism and incorporate
its genes. So, aware that jellyfish adapt by physically shrinking
when they run out of food, canny Momongo ensures her survival
by mating with just such a multi-tentacled beast.
Marginally less outlandish, is Mizuno's freakish take on Cinderella.
In this particular version of the classic fairy tale, young
Cinders has to adapt to life amongst the 'undead', when her
deceased father announces that he is to remarry, and wed his
similarly deceased girlfriend, who has two zombie daughters
from a previous marriage!
But for those who are not devotees of the comic format, Junko's
wonderfully garish, full colour masterpieces of lowbrow art,
can be enjoyed in their own right, in the book, Hell Babies.
For, beneath its enticing, baby pink, puffy-textured cover,
you'll find an engagingly lurid collection of comely-yet-vaguely-sinister,
jailbait-types who look, quite frankly, like a whole buncha
female trouble. Notable amongst many, are Sukeban; the girls-school
gang leader with her spiked, bamboo sword: The Tattoo Sisters
who, 'love to tattoo each other's bodies and go out in scandalously
revealing clothing' and my favourites, the Meaty Pair; beautiful
Sakiko and her sidekick Minnie, who, 'love the taste of freshly-killed
wild game, butchered and roasted on the spot'. |
The Hell Babies of the title, were all penned
and coloured by Junko between 1998 and 1999, but as an unannounced
bonus, the book also includes the fabulously-titled 'Vulgarity Babies'
section, which features later creations from 2000. Less textured
than the preceding work, they represent a further refinement of the
artists style and include some of the most charming images in the
collection.
Part of the attraction of Japanese pop culture of course, is how
it effortlessly assimilates Western influences into its own creative
traditions, to create something that to us, is both bizarrely alien
yet curiously familiar. As such, not only does Junko Mizuno's illustrative
style, draw then, from the classic shojo manga (girls comics) of
the 1970s, but to my eyes, also incorporates such elements as the
flowing lines of Sixties Art Nouveau Revival and even Bill Asprey's
cloying, Love Is... series of cartoons from around the same period.
Like her own characters,
29-year-old Mizuno is both petite and cute, though again, like
her beguiling, not-to-be-tampered-with, ultra-feminine creations;
there's more to her character than that.
'As a kid, I always wanted to be pretty but, at the same time,
I wanted to be strong,' she says, before professing an admiration
for Russ Meyer's decidedly larger-than-life, femmes fatales
and the brash, 'Girl Power' of the late lamented, Spice Girls.
For the record, other Mizuno favourites include American shock
rocker, Rob Zombie, the beatific art of Pierre et Gilles, Paul
Verhoeven's camp and glitzy movie, Showgirls and Alexandra
Jodorowsky's surreal and blood-soaked, Santa Sangre.
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Junko's website is www.mizuno-junko.com. The Life of Momongo can be
found in the anthology Secret Comics Japan (Cadence Books) £14.95.
Meanwhie, her graphic novel Cinderalla (Viz) is available at £8.95
from good comic shops, and you can turn up a copy of Hell Babies (Pan
Exotica) at Magma Books and other specialist bookshops, priced around £25.
Highly desirable Junko Mizuno merchandise, including T-shirts and action
figures can be obtained from WeloveFine.com © 2003 Nude Magazine. Originally published in Nude Magazine
# 1, August/ Sept 2003
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