Reptilia

By Kazuo Umezu
IDW Publishing, 320 pp.

Reptilia is an early work from the father of horror manga, Kazuo Umezu. The story centers around Yumiko, a young girl, who, for whatever reason, becomes the obsession of a freakish Snake Lady she encounters while visiting her mother in the hospital.

The story is simplistic. Yumiko finds the Snake Lady. The Snake Lady escapes from her prison and proceeds to terrorize Yumiko for the rest of the book. She chases her and takes control of Yumiko’s family members. Why? We’re not really sure, although the Snake Lady does display the desire to eat Yumiko. (You’d think she’d move on to easier prey after a while.) Through various means Yumiko is able to ward her off, or otherwise avoid capture. The third and final chapter is a story deviates from this formula a little bit, making it the most interesting part of the book. It’s essentially an extended flashback to events that take place prior to the first two chapters, shedding light on the mysterious origins of the Snake Lady. If anything, Reptilia reminded me of a classic Universal horror flick. And while I’m not quite ready to put Umezu’s Reptilia on the same level of Lugosi’s Dracula, or Karloff’s Frankenstein, I think it might appeal to fans of those kinds of monster flicks.

Umezu makes heavy use of blacks to create an eerie mood. The way he depicts the Snake Lady slithering across the ground, mouth distended as the snake aspect of her being rises to the surface… well, that’s very creepy. For my money, the stand-out moment is a full page shot of the Snake Lady wrapped around a post of some sort. She looked fantastic! Most of the other characters are fairly simple in design. Umezu gives his young female protagonists an innocent, endearing look that makes them seem more vulnerable. It’s most noticeable in their eyes, which sometimes seem to be filled with twinkling stars. A bit cheesy maybe, but it seems to fit with the mood and tone of the story.

Reptilia is an interesting first outing for IDW in the manga field. I have to admit, I think IDW fans would want something with bit more kick too it, and that most manga fans wouldn’t think to try something from IDW. The translation job is pretty good, though I did notice what appeared to be an empty voice bubble or two. Oddly enough, these missing words didn’t seem to interrupt the flow of the dialogue at all, so it might have just been the way the background was designed (or something inherent to the original). I had no problems with the printing or the paper quality either. The cover was a different story. Ashley Wood’s design is fine, but the stock felt a bit flimsy. I also couldn’t find a credit for the translator, either.

Overall, Reptilia is an okay read that’s nothing like most of the horror series currently on the market, especially those emphasizing splatter and gore. It provides a glimpse into the early days of one of Japan’s most influential horror creators and, while I wasn’t enamored with it, I did find it enjoyable.

Reptilia is available now.