Previously on Zombos Closet of Horror:
When last we saw Iloz Zoc, Zombos, and Chef Machiavelli, they were rushing down the stairs toward the kitchen, It was there that Chef Machiavelli, in the course of preparing dinner — to his horror! — found another large hole in the pantry. What is causing these holes? Where is the exterminator that was summoned hours before? Will Glenor Glenda the maid ever make up her mind? And will Chef Machiavelli decide to roast, bake, or saute the evening meal? Stay tuned for these thrilling answers and more!
ChapTer One: The Phantoms Menacing From the 8th Dimension
"What's that watermelon doing on the windowsill?" asked Zombos, as he bounded down the stairs.
"It's resting on top of my copy of Hideshi Hino's Lullabies From Hell," I said.
Zombos stopped short and looked at me. "What is your copy of Lullabies From Hell doing on the windowsill?" he asked.
"It's resting under the watermelon," I answered.
"Oh, I see." He continued bounding down the stairs. Simple answers always worked best for Zombos.
Hideshi Hino's Lullabies From Hell is an essential tankōbon in any horror-head's manga library. Mr. Hino is a queer duck, to be sure, and often incorporates much of his personal experience into his bizarre, often disturbing stories. According to an interview he gave for The Comics Journal, it was after reading Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man that he felt the need to combine horror with a sense of fairy tale. This led him to mix monstrous birth defects, other-worldly transmogrifications, and hideous characters with Japanese folktales, producing unique, creepy, and culture-transcending stories of terror.
There is a whimsical grotesqueness in Mr. Hino's artwork, as he fills his panels with people with oversized, misshapen heads staring madly at the reader with bulging, blood-shot orbs filled with large zigzagging veins. All is definitely not right in his world, as body parts, disgusting creatures, blood and corruption — both physical and psychological — splash amid more normal scenes of home, work and play.
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