The
publisher Last Gasp Publishing has confirmed the English
license of the manga The Caterpillar by Suehiro Maruo,
an adaptation of the disturbing short story Imo-mushi written
by Rampo Edogawa in 1929. The work will be published in 2026 in
two editions: hardcover and paperback.
Literary
origins and cultural impact
The
original story follows the return of a disfigured and limbless World War I
veteran to his wife, exploring a tale fraught with psychological tension and
tragedy. Rampo Edogawa, famous for his mystery and suspense novels
written over four decades, had already seen this work translated into the
book Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination. In addition, the
story inspired a live-action film in 2010, directed by Kōji
Wakamatsu and nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlin International
Film Festival.
The
journey that manga has had
Maruo
serialized The Caterpillar in Enterbrain's Comic Beam magazine
between May and August 2009, and was subsequently published in a compilation
volume in October of the same year. The work received a nomination for Best
Comic at the Angoulême International Comic Festival in 2010.
Suehiro
Maruo and his outstanding works
A renowned
master of ero-guro, Maruo is also the author of Mr.
Arashi's Amazing Freak Show (Shojo Tsubaki), adapted into anime
in 1992 by Hiroshi Harada and into a film in 2017, as well as The
Strange Tale of Panorama Island, published in English by Last Gasp in 2013
and nominated for the Eisner Awards in 2014. His most recent manga, An
Gura, was published in Monthly Comic Beam between November
2021 and March 2023.
Recent
recognitions and releases
In 2009,
Maruo won the New Artist Award at the 13th edition of the
Osamu Tezuka Cultural Awards. In February 2025, the publisher Bubbles
Zine published his manga Beautiful Monster in
English, with translation by Ryan Holmberg. Last Gasp, meanwhile, will release
a new paperback edition of The Strange Tale of Panorama Island in
October 2025.
