Mother Please Don’t Give Birth To A Monster

Shirakawa Marina

Living the Line 

MOOOO! Lady Momon cries out, ready for her meal. MOOOO! Baby sister bleats, cold and miserable. As a young teen, sweet Miki learns the bizarre truth about her family: for centuries, they have harnessed half-cow, half-human beasts known as “kudan” for their wealth and power. And soon, another shall be born. The hour approaches. Her mother moans in pain as the contractions begin. All poor Miki can do is plead, MOTHER, PLEASE DON’T GIVE BIRTH TO A MONSTER!

Published in 1988 at the end of horror manga’s classic era, MOTHER, PLEASE DON’T GIVE BIRTH TO A MONSTER is a revoltingly zany tour de force by the incomparable Shirakawa Marina. Never before reissued even in Japan, this graphic novel is the ultimate elaboration of Shirakawa’s creepy, crackpot synthesis of Japanese history, legend, and the occult, as made famous by his UFO MUSHROOM INVASION. With an essay exploring Shirakawa’s enigmatic life and career, MOTHER, PLEASE DON’T GIVE BIRTH TO A MONSTER is the eighth volume of SMUDGE, a line of vintage horror and dark fantasy manga curated by award-winning historian Ryan Holmberg and published by Living the Line.