Review: LONE WOLF AND CUB

It's time once again for Old School Month, and not even a disastrous windstorm can keep us away forever!  Let's kick things off with one of the first manga to find an audience in the US, all the way back in the 1980s.

LONE WOLF AND CUB (Kozure Okami), written by Kazuo Koike & art by Goseki Kojima.  First published in 1970 and first published in North America in 1987.

PLOT:

Ogami Itto was once the executioner for the shogun until his family was betrayed and his wife was murdered.  Instead of accepting death, he instead choses to fight back.  With his son by his side, he becomes a wandering samurai, taking the jobs that no one else wants so that both he and his clients can get their bloody vengence.

STORY:

I'm going to be perfectly frank: I'm not particularly interested in samurai stories.  It's not that this era of Japanese history can't be interesting, but it's one that's been hashed and rehashed in just about every form of media possible.  I just can't find it in me to care about yet another stone-faced samurai making countless bandits, nobles, and hapless peasants explode in blood while sexing up every prostitute and lonely lady that crosses their path.  That said, I always give every book I review a fair chance, and this one in particular is a formative one not just in the history of samurai manga, but for the history of manga in the US.  After reading this, I think I can see why this one is still considered one of the best samurai manga, 50 years after its debut.

It starts off rather episodically, with few indicators of how much time has passed between chapters beyond the changing of the seasons.  These chapters tend to follow a fairly firm formula: someone hires Ogami to kill someone, he stakes them out, a fight ensues and Ogami always comes out the victor.  Sometimes his son Daigoro gets involved (despite being a literal toddler), sometimes not.  Sometimes Ogami employs a lot of subterfuge before hand, and sometimes he storms in sword a-swinging.  It makes the man feel less like a human and more like a walking death machine.

It's only halfway through that we get any glimpse of his humanity, with a literal fever dream that does double duty as a flashback to Ogami's backstory.  We get a few more moments in the chapters that follow, but otherwise the only thing that connects him to the world is his son.  Of course, he's far from a conventional father.  He treats Daigoro less like a baby and more like a partner in crime, right down to the iconic scene where he gives his son the choice of a sword or a toy.  Yet it's this relationship, as unconventional as it may be, that lends this story the sense of humanity it needs.  It's the beating heart behind all the chambara cliches, and I think that's why this story has stuck around with English-speaking readers.

ART:

I'm glad Dark Horse has given this a modern omnibus rerelease (to say nothing of that giant coffee-table book of the original manuscripts).  I can't imagine trying to read this in those tiny single volumes from back in the day.  It's finally giving Kojima's art a chance to truly shine.

His art takes a lot of cues not just from the gritty look of his peers, but also from the ink-and-brush art of the period it portrays.  The inking is dark and lush, full of thick dark brushstroke and hatching.  This even shows in the character designs, with Ogami standing out with his bushy brows and square jaw.  This artistic choice truly shines during Ogami's fever dream, where the world seems to melt into a flurry of animalistic demons that seem to swim in a sea of smoke and clouds.  

Kojima's framing can be downright cinematic at points, as horses gallop towards the reader or wide panoramas of samurai squaring off silently against one another.  Opponents fall in stages as if in crude animation, swords sweep across the page, and the landscape rolls on as far as the eye can see, fading into the hazy distance.  When contrasted with the smaller, more self-contained art around it, moments like these are breathtaking.

PRESENTATION:

The omnibuses include an extensive glossary, which is all but necessary at points unless you're really up to date on your Japanese history.  Also, don't be alarmed that the art was flipped - from the start, it was printed to read left to right.

RATING:

Lone Wolf & Cub is not always easy to love if you're not already inclined to like samurai stories.  It's a manly man's story, full of blood, sex, and grim discussions of the nature of honor.  Yet there is beauty and humanity to be found within its pages, and it's those moments that justify its status as a classic.

This series is published by Dark Horse.  This series is complete with 28 volumes available.  All 28 volumes are available in 12 omnibuses and are currently in print.