A Manga You Probably Won't See Appearing In Shonen Jump Any Time Soon

I don't really read many scanlations (I have too many officially licensed manga sitting unread in my office, for one thing) but occasionally I stumble upon something that sucks me in. My current scanlation obsession [discovered on scans_daily] is Franken Fran. SnoopyCool.com, which hosts the scanlations, describes the series as follows:

Franken Fran is a manga that I'm not exactly expecting a lot of people to like as much as I do. This is basically a super dark, slighty gore-ish comedy about being careful what you with for. Fran can make anyone into anything, raise the dead, switch heads and bodies and give you those eyes that you've always wanted. But do you actually want them? Is it a good thing to raise the dead? Do the ends justify the means? And does Fran care?

I'd describe it as an amped up Tales From The Crypt for the new generation. (Imagine that there'd been no comic code to worry about so EC could have shown disembowelments and other gruesome fates in graphic detail.) Still, despite the gore, the series does have a heart... even if that heart is frequently ripped out and stepped on at the very end. My personal favorite so far is chapter two, which has my vote for the most disturbing ending you'll ever read. I'd reproduce the final page here, as it has a scene that still haunts me days after reading it, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone. If you do read it, let me know if I'm sick for finding it darkly humorous and a clever twist on an old cliche as well as horrific and heartbreaking all at the same time.

Labels: Horror, Scanlations, Scenes That Will Scar Me For Life

11:02 PM | |