Suehiro Maruo is a self-taught high school dropout and former shoplifter who began drawing comics at the age of eighteen. His first work, submitted to the weekly manga Shonen Jump, was promptly rejected. His dark style fantasy dreams didn't fit in the commercialized, mass-market magazines. It took five more years before he started drawing comics again, this time for Ero-manga.
Besides trying to make a living out of his talents, it was also part of a quest for artistic freedom. Maruo draws nightmares. In the tradition of muzan-e (atrocity print) woodblock masters of the 19th century, he drew short stories of axe murders, abortion, rape and incest in as much graphic detail as the obscenity codes allowed.
But Maruo is not just another "sex and violence" manga artist - he is one of the greatest retro-artists working in the manga field today. His drawings are elegant, and he uses innovative page designs. Today, Maruo's art and stories go far beyond the readers of Ero-manga; his work is sold in deluxe hardback book format, and limited editions of his lithographed prints sell for high prices. He has realized that his work is most powerful and lyrical when he refrains from sex and violence, and so today he is working on a new series for the mainstream manga magazine Young Champion. Maruo's most famous works are 'Planet of the Jap' and 'Mr. Arachi's Amazing Freak Show'.
In 2012 he was interviewed for the documentary 'Sex in the Comics' (2012).
