It’s time for the final course in this food-influenced horror anthology and, with two stories of ghosts and demons, how does “Hungry Ghosts” end? Read on for our review, which contains minor spoilers
Written by Anthony Bourdain & Joel Rose
Illustrated by Irene Koh and Francesco Francavilla
Colored by Jose Villarrubia
Lettered by Sal CiprianoThe last candles are lit and the final, most forbidden tales told in this shocking finale!
In the frozen Niigata Prefecture, a country cook learns discretion the hard way after an encounter with the cryptic, but irresistible Snow Woman, and Hungry Ghosts seal the insatiable fate of famine-stricken villagers in the most voracious, unthinkable way possible when a stranger comes to town.
“Hungry Ghosts” has managed to shake the curse that afflicts most anthology series by having a strong, consistent, and entertaining series of short stories throughout its run, without any particularly bad tales across its four issues. Here, in this final issue, we’re treated to two more stories, with art by Irene Koh and Francesca Francavilla making this the most attractive issue to date. Throw in the fact that Paul Pope does the cover and you have a gorgeous looking book from start to finish.
The first tale, ‘The Snow Woman,’ takes place on a dark winter’s night up in the mountains of the Niigata Prefecture. A man and his son are caught out in a snowstorm and forced to take shelter in a cold, abandoned cabin overnight. They are visited by a beautiful spirit called called Yuki Onna, and the memory of her presence plagues the boy for years afterwards. Writers Bourdain and Rose veer slightly from the central concept of food here to bring us a tale only tangentially linked to their theme, with a story more about morality, hubris and responsibility than it is about any nightmarish culinary creep-fests (that’s saved for the second tale).
Koh’s art is very fitting for ‘The Snow Woman,’ as she has the ability to depict beauty in almost anything. Without a particularly gruesome plot, Koh is free to explore the serene beauty in the wintery landscape, as well as do justice to the titular spirit, whose looks are meant to be greater than anything the boy has ever seen. Likewise, his life is spared because the Snow Woman claims he is too pretty, and thanks to the art you can really tell. Koh utilises a variety of different panel sizes to bring emphasis to the page, and the structure of the story is reminiscent of old folklore, a nod to both the writing and the pacing of the art.
Villarrubia’s colors here are perfect, choosing to give the central spirit a clean, blue-white color that’s almost flat, and inking her outline in the same blue that matches her word balloons. Temperature is key to the narrative in numerous places, but the heat of any given scene is captured best in the colors. For example, when the son, Minokichi, first meets the woman he will later marry, the hue of the backgrounds is changed to a warmer tone to accentuate their blossoming romance. In contrast to this, the earlier scenes of Minokichi and his father trapped in the storm have a far colder palate to emulate their desperate situation.
The second and final tale in “Hungry Ghosts” #4 is ‘The Cow Head,’ and is a grisly tale of a village driven to drastic measures to overcome their insatiable hunger. Following a drought and a famine, ‘The Cow Head’ depicts a small village that slowly, over the course of the story, commit more and more horrific acts in order to prevent starvation. The arrival of a stranger in the town twists the tale into something much darker and surreal than you’d expect, and seals he fates of the villagers in a shocking way.
‘The Cow Head’ encompasses not just this grim tale but also adds closure to the framing narrative that’s run through “Hungry Ghosts” since the beginning, namely the dinner party in which guests are telling spooky stories in the tradition of the ancient Japanese game of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, or The 100 Candles. It’s no surprise that Francavilla produces art that’s both gorgeous and horrifying, and his style is, as always, perfectly suited to this genre. His dark, thick inking of the framing story is contrasted with the thin, lighter linework of the story itself, and and while his inking gets thicker the more horrific the images he’s depicting get, his art is always crisp and atmospheric.
Continued belowThe story being told is said to be one that no one survives hearing, and as such it’s an appropriate tale to end the run on. Thematically it captures the idea of how important food is in our everyday lives, as well as the greed and hubris of consumption. ‘The Cow Head’ takes a demonic turn at the end of the story, but it’s no less about the failings of man because of it. It’s also true that throughout “Hungry Ghosts,” Bourdain and Rose have maintained a consistent message about the consequences of greed, and that message returns full circle here and concludes the tale in the only way it can.
Francavilla excels at depicting the horrific and the bizarre, but he’s also a master of structure and inventive page design. One page in particular within ‘The Cow Head’ illustrates this point extremely well. As the villagers commit their final atrocious act, the scene becomes a montage of angry people and violent flashes of carnage, all the while the panels are laid out on the page to show the outline of a humanoid figure, the exaggerated white space between each panel highlighting that this figure has been dismembered in a brutal way. It’s a stunning page to look at, one that’s appropriately made up of several interconnected yet separate parts.
Overall, “Hungry Ghosts” has been an extremely successful horror anthology, which may surprise those who thought that the central theme of food would potentially limit the tales that could be told. Instead, by basing stories around that most essential of activities, Bourdain and Rose (along with a wealth of talented artists) have tapped into something almost primal, and have been able – especially in this last issue – to engage a very physical sensation of nausea upon seeing the act of consumption become twisted and distorted in such horrific ways. The final few pages of this issue are especially graphic, but morbidly entertaining in a way that both captures the essence of the series and provides a satisfying final course.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – Creepy and satisfying, “Hungry Ghosts” #4 boasts gorgeous art that’s a feast for the eyes.
