Sequential Scholars
@sequentialscholars.bsky.social
Academics reading and celebrating the style, substance, and sublimity of all kinds of comics. By scholars, for everyone. Led by @annapeppard.bsky.social & Dr. J. Andrew Deman.
Ultimately, the most effective horror comics embrace the supposed limits of the comics form as its fundamental strengths–things that make comics capable of doing things no other form can do. And Junji Ito’s adaptation of #Frankenstein masterfully showcases these strengths. 9/9
November 10, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Ultimately, the most effective horror comics embrace the supposed limits of the comics form as its fundamental strengths–things that make comics capable of doing things no other form can do. And Junji Ito’s adaptation of #Frankenstein masterfully showcases these strengths. 9/9
Comics can also create tension by influencing the reader’s perspective through judicious framing & juxtaposition. Here, Ito presents restricted close-ups of the Creature’s awakening body, teasing but deferring a full reveal. This involves us in the birth of the Creature–& its horrific affects. 8/9
November 10, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Comics can also create tension by influencing the reader’s perspective through judicious framing & juxtaposition. Here, Ito presents restricted close-ups of the Creature’s awakening body, teasing but deferring a full reveal. This involves us in the birth of the Creature–& its horrific affects. 8/9
But comics do have their own version of the jump scare, in the form of page turns: creators will force you to turn the page to witness the monstrous climax of a spooky set-up. Page turns add a visceral quality to static images, physically involving the reader in revealing a shocking tableau. 7/9
November 10, 2025 at 7:34 PM
But comics do have their own version of the jump scare, in the form of page turns: creators will force you to turn the page to witness the monstrous climax of a spooky set-up. Page turns add a visceral quality to static images, physically involving the reader in revealing a shocking tableau. 7/9
Because comics are static and make multiple moments visible at once, horror comics are, in some ways, at a disadvantage in terms of pacing. Compared to horror movies, it's more difficult to produce “jump scares”–sudden, unexpected cuts & sound cues meant to physically startle the audience. 6/9
November 10, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Because comics are static and make multiple moments visible at once, horror comics are, in some ways, at a disadvantage in terms of pacing. Compared to horror movies, it's more difficult to produce “jump scares”–sudden, unexpected cuts & sound cues meant to physically startle the audience. 6/9
Ito also exploits the symbolism of haunting in how he positions Victor in relation to the Creature. The enormous Creature often looms over Victor, a monstrous weight casting dark shadows across Victor’s body & mind, evoking both physical & psychological threats and the impossibility of escape. 5/9
November 10, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Ito also exploits the symbolism of haunting in how he positions Victor in relation to the Creature. The enormous Creature often looms over Victor, a monstrous weight casting dark shadows across Victor’s body & mind, evoking both physical & psychological threats and the impossibility of escape. 5/9
Symbolism contributes to this horrific atmosphere. In this opening sequence, close-ups on the Creature's monstrously gooey eyes are juxtaposed with views of the lonely Arctic where Victor will die. Connecting these seemingly disparate images involves us in Victor’s journey–and his nightmare. 4/9
November 10, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Symbolism contributes to this horrific atmosphere. In this opening sequence, close-ups on the Creature's monstrously gooey eyes are juxtaposed with views of the lonely Arctic where Victor will die. Connecting these seemingly disparate images involves us in Victor’s journey–and his nightmare. 4/9
This hyper-detailed linework evokes Jack Halberstam’s definition of Gothic horror: “The production of fear in a literary text… emanates from a vertiginous excess of meaning. Gothic, in a way, refers to an ornamental excess… a rhetorical extravagance that produces, quite simply, too much.” 3/9
November 10, 2025 at 7:33 PM
This hyper-detailed linework evokes Jack Halberstam’s definition of Gothic horror: “The production of fear in a literary text… emanates from a vertiginous excess of meaning. Gothic, in a way, refers to an ornamental excess… a rhetorical extravagance that produces, quite simply, too much.” 3/9
Ito’s Frankenstein creates a horrific atmosphere through the use of dark shadows and obsessively detailed linework that, in key moments, forces the reader into close, claustrophobic proximity with the detailed architecture of monstrosity, making it hard to look away. 2/9
November 10, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Ito’s Frankenstein creates a horrific atmosphere through the use of dark shadows and obsessively detailed linework that, in key moments, forces the reader into close, claustrophobic proximity with the detailed architecture of monstrosity, making it hard to look away. 2/9
Ito’s efforts would earn him his first ever Eisner Award. He has since gone on to win 3 more and was recently inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame. 7/7
November 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Ito’s efforts would earn him his first ever Eisner Award. He has since gone on to win 3 more and was recently inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame. 7/7
“I wondered why he didn’t use the perfect material — the head of his female servant who was executed by the guillotine — so in the manga, I had him use her head to create the companion.” As Ito notes, Kenneth Branagh’s film made the same creative choice (though Ito had not yet seen it). 6/7
November 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
“I wondered why he didn’t use the perfect material — the head of his female servant who was executed by the guillotine — so in the manga, I had him use her head to create the companion.” As Ito notes, Kenneth Branagh’s film made the same creative choice (though Ito had not yet seen it). 6/7
Ito’s commitment to fidelity is marked by one key point of departure: his rendering of the monster’s companion, Victor’s second creation: “In the original, the monster asks Dr. Frankenstein to make him a companion, but in the end, his companion was never finished.” 5/7
November 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Ito’s commitment to fidelity is marked by one key point of departure: his rendering of the monster’s companion, Victor’s second creation: “In the original, the monster asks Dr. Frankenstein to make him a companion, but in the end, his companion was never finished.” 5/7
“The original is a classic, so I didn’t particularly feel constrained. In fact, I actually wanted to be as faithful as possible to the original…the original novel is a piece of literature that poses deep philosophical questions, so I wanted my adaptation to reflect that aspect.” 4/7
November 8, 2025 at 3:37 PM
“The original is a classic, so I didn’t particularly feel constrained. In fact, I actually wanted to be as faithful as possible to the original…the original novel is a piece of literature that poses deep philosophical questions, so I wanted my adaptation to reflect that aspect.” 4/7
Ito is widely regarded as a managaka of incredible imagination and vision, and thus the idea of spending his time and talent on an already much-adapted work might seem counter-intuitive, but Ito never felt constrained by the process, noting that: 3/7
November 8, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Ito is widely regarded as a managaka of incredible imagination and vision, and thus the idea of spending his time and talent on an already much-adapted work might seem counter-intuitive, but Ito never felt constrained by the process, noting that: 3/7
Ito was recruited to make the manga in order to coincide with the release of the 1994 “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” film – directed by Kenneth Brannaugh and starring Robert DeNiro as the creature. 2/7
November 8, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Ito was recruited to make the manga in order to coincide with the release of the 1994 “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” film – directed by Kenneth Brannaugh and starring Robert DeNiro as the creature. 2/7
In all instances, the stylistic effect is to create a sense of blurred boundaries and, within the dark and evocative worlds that Carroll constructs in “Through the Woods,” there are consequences for transgressing boundaries. 11/11
November 6, 2025 at 11:49 PM
In all instances, the stylistic effect is to create a sense of blurred boundaries and, within the dark and evocative worlds that Carroll constructs in “Through the Woods,” there are consequences for transgressing boundaries. 11/11
“…Often the capacity of her images to seep beyond the borders of the panel helps to contextualise her stories within an immense wilderness or sinister space; in other instances of seepage, the bleed suggests moral ambiguity or existential threat.” 10/11
November 6, 2025 at 11:48 PM
“…Often the capacity of her images to seep beyond the borders of the panel helps to contextualise her stories within an immense wilderness or sinister space; in other instances of seepage, the bleed suggests moral ambiguity or existential threat.” 10/11
“…the line between pictorial representation and blank nothingness is rendered tenuous and meaningless.” In consequences of this, “Carroll’s bleeds are an integral and ubiquitous motif throughout her work…” 9/11
November 6, 2025 at 11:48 PM
“…the line between pictorial representation and blank nothingness is rendered tenuous and meaningless.” In consequences of this, “Carroll’s bleeds are an integral and ubiquitous motif throughout her work…” 9/11
“…Carroll’s panels more often than not simply dissolve into the darkness that lurks at their edges so that there is no longer an identifiable distinction between the image and the negative space that constitutes the rest of the page;…” 8/11
November 6, 2025 at 11:48 PM
“…Carroll’s panels more often than not simply dissolve into the darkness that lurks at their edges so that there is no longer an identifiable distinction between the image and the negative space that constitutes the rest of the page;…” 8/11
Corcoran observes that “Bleeds are a recurring stylistic feature in Through the Woods. Carroll’s work assiduously avoids anything resembling the conventional nine-panel grid so often deployed by mainstream comics…” 7/11
November 6, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Corcoran observes that “Bleeds are a recurring stylistic feature in Through the Woods. Carroll’s work assiduously avoids anything resembling the conventional nine-panel grid so often deployed by mainstream comics…” 7/11
Now, as defined by Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics, a bleed occurs when “a panel runs off the edge of the page…Time is no longer contained by the familiar icon of the closed panel, but instead hemorrhages and escapes into timeless space.” 6/11
November 6, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Now, as defined by Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics, a bleed occurs when “a panel runs off the edge of the page…Time is no longer contained by the familiar icon of the closed panel, but instead hemorrhages and escapes into timeless space.” 6/11