Suehiro Maruo "The Strange Tale of Panorama Island"

Hardcover and in English, a stunning manga from Suehiro Maruo (“Mr. Arashi’s Amazing Freak Show”/”Midori”).

On a remote and mysterious island, one man builds a playground of hedonistic excess. His world is filled with splendor -- replete with waterfalls, grand palaces, and gardens -- a grand back-drop for decadent feasts, orgies, and dark secrets. 

Set in 1920s Japan, The Strange Tale of Panorama Island follows the twisted path of failed novelist Hitomi, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the son and heir apparent of a rich industrialist family. 

Hitomi learns of the rich man's sudden passing and creates a desperate plan. He fakes his own death, digs up and hides the other man's body, and then washes himself up starving on a beach near the home of the dead man's family. After successfully impersonating the now-dead son, Hitomi takes over all aspects of the man's life, including his company, his fortune, and eventually his wife. The failed author soon redirects the family's wealth to his own perverse aims.

Maruo, the comic master of ero-guro, adapts a story from Edogawa Rampo, the genre’s literary founder. Maruo crafts a world of decadence and mystery in “The Strange Tale of Panorama Island.”

Hardcover

English language

276 pages of black and white comic art.