Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show: Blast Books

MR. ARASHI'S AMAZING FREAK SHOW
by Suehiro Maruo

One of the most extraordinarily talented graphic novel artists in Japan today, Suehiro Maruo has created a riveting masterpiece with MR. ARASHI'S AMAZING FREAK SHOW. Maruo's retelling of this classic Japanese tale, his childhood favorite, is like the grimmest of Grimm's fairy tales.

With masterful illustrations, Maruo portrays the plight of Midori, a cute, goodhearted orphan girl enslaved in a traveling carnival freak show. Suffering the bizarre torments Arashi's evil menagerie inflicts on her, Midori hopes and prays someday to escape this living hell. Out of the blue comes Masamitsu the Bottled Wonder, a Peter Lorre-esque midget, who with an incredible magic act saves the day not only for the struggling sideshow, but for the adoring Midori as well--until a tragic twist of fate shatters her dreams forever.

Suehiro Maruo lives in Tokyo. His surrealistic style of artwork has won him praise throughout Japan, and his work was included in the 1991 exhibition Manga at the Pomeroy Purdy Gallery in London. MR. ARASHI'S AMAZING FREAK SHOW is the first of his graphic novels to be published in English. His work is also included in COMICS UNDERGROUND JAPAN, published by Blast Books.

"Exquisite . . . adult comic art of high visual sophistication."--New York Press