Uzumaki: Spiral Into Horror

Writer and artist: Junji Ito
Publisher: Viz Comics

What's it about?
From the Viz website:
Kurozou-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed.  According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but by a pattern: uzumaki, the spiral: the hypnotic secret shape of the world.  It manifests itself in everything from seashells and whirlpools in water, to the spiral marks on people's bodies; the insane obsession of Shuichi's father, and the voice from the cochlea in our inner ear.  As the madness spreads, the inhabitants of  Kurozu-cho are pulled ever deeper into a whirlpool from which there is no return!

Sexy Voice And Robo

written and draw by Iou Kuroda
Publisher: Viz Media

What's It About?
Nico Hayashi is girl with a part-time job: she works for a phone dating scam, acting innocent and enticing on the phone to keep men talking long enough to run up huge bills. She wants to be a spy when she grows up (or maybe a fortune teller) and she uses her after-school job to hone her skills in reading people's character from what they say and how they say it. One day she's plying her trade in a corner booth of a local diner when the old man sitting behind her asks her for a consultation on a phone message that has been brought to his attention, a recording of a kidnapper's demands.

Thus Nico begins a new career as a detective consulting on cases for the old man. Aided by her sidekick (and former scam victim) Iichiro Sudo she is about to embark on an intense education in the dark side of human nature.

The Drifting Classroom

Writer and Artist: Kazuo Umezu
Publisher: Viz Media

What's it about?
This is a superbly spooky horror tale.  Leading the cast is Sho, an 11 or 12 year old boy who attends Yamato primary school.  One day the school disappears and is replaced by a gaping rock and sand filled hole.  From the perspective of those inside the school there is a different scenario - to the students and teachers it seems that the outside world has disappeared.

Cut off from everywhere the children and adults soon panic.  Phone lines are down, radio stations don't work and no one can understand what has happened.  Some scream, some cry, some fight.  All are despairing.