
In the horror manga Manhole, a worm-like parasite squirms up the infected’s face and attaches itself to an eye, rendering it useless, before burrowing into the brain. It spreads between people via an exchange of blood, and raises the host’s body temperature to attract carnivorous insects like mosquitoes, resulting in one of the nastiest panels yet, when the skin of an infected girl, confined to her apartment, is literally swarming with mosquitoes and horse-flies. The humid, sticky stench is palpable. Why call it ‘Manhole’? When the summer cools, flies retreat to darker, danker places, like the sewers.