YUMEKUI KENBUN NIGHTMARE INSPECTOR, VOL. 1

VIZ MEDIA
CARTOONIST: Shin Mashiba
TRANSLATION: Gemma Collinge
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Kelly Sue DeConnick
ISBN: 978-1-4215-1758-2; paperback; Rated “T” for “Teen”
184 pp., B&W, $9.99

When people suffer nightmares, they seek out the Silver Star Tea House.  There, they will find Hiruko, who is a “Baku,” a dream eater.  Hiruko will rid you of your worst nightmares (or at least help you fix them), but the price is that he gets to dine on your nightmares.

In Yumekuikenbun (Nightmare Inspector), Vol. 1, Hiruko helps the dream challenged.  Some of the stories include, a young servant trying to free his mistress’ tormented soul, which is trapped in his own dreams.  A young woman finds that in her nightmares, she is cutting of parts of her body and leaving them in a garden.  Why?  A son who cannot forgive his cold father finds the moment of his father’s death haunting him in nightmares, and a fan seeks to save a suicidal actress.

THE LOWDOWN:  As the copyright date on Yumekuikenbun is 2002, one could assume that creator Shin Mashiba has seen Neil Gaiman’s 1990’s comic book series, Sandman, one of the best comic book series ever published in the U.S.  Lacking the complexity and various social and literary themes of Gaiman’s seminal work, Nightmare Inspector is kind of like a mix of “The Twilight Zone” and “Quantum Leap.”  Readers will also find that the artwork occasionally bears a passing resemblance to Death: The High Cost of Living-era Chris Bachalo.  Engaging and beautifully drawn, these stories are a pleasant diversion and provide a strange look at the unsettling nature and creepiness of obsession.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Young readers who like short, dark fantasy, particularly anthology-style fantasy, will like this.

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