Leroy Douresseaux Reviews: SAMURAI’S BLOOD VOLUME 1

SAMURAI’S BLOOD VOLUME 1
IMAGE COMICS/BENAROYA PUBLISHING

CREATORS: Michael Benaroya and Owen Wiseman
SCRIPT: Owen Wiseman
PENCILS: Nan Kim
INKS: Matthew Dalton
COLORS: Sakti Yuwono of Imaginary Friends Studios
LETTERS: John Aitken
COVER: Jo Chen
ISBN: 978-1-60706-488-6; paperback
172pp, Color, $14.99 U.S.

Samurai’s Blood is a six-issue miniseries produced by Benaroya Publishing and published by Image Comics in 2011. Created by Michael Benaroya and Owen Wiseman, the series is set in Japan. The story takes place during the early Edo period in the middle of the 17th Century and follows three teenagers’ quest for revenge. The entire series is collected in a trade paperback, Samurai’s Blood Volume 1, and includes a short story set in the world of Samurai’s Blood written by Wiseman, who wrote the script for the series.

Samurai’s Blood begins when an embittered noble, Lord Gakushi, first betrays his daimyo, Sanjo Dewa, and then, goes on a rampage to destroy the Sanjo Clan. He also kills Sanjo Goro, but three clan members escape. Two of them are Goro’s son Junichi (or “Jun”) and his sister, Mayuko (or “Yuko”). The third is a young man named Kajiro Katashi, who is the son of one of Goro’s retainers. Kajiro plans to marry Yuko, and he is also training to become a samurai.

Leaving their mountain village of Eiwa, the three eventually reach the city of Yamagata, where they plot revenge against Gakushi and his second-in-command, the evil Araku. They take on new identities. Jun becomes Kaio Fukuyama and Kajiro becomes Haniya Toshimitsu. Their path to vengeance, however, fits all the stereotypes about paths to vengeance. It is fraught with peril; it is long and winding. It is filled with so many sidetracks and tributaries that these teenagers may lose themselves before they gain any of what they want.

The first issue of Samurai’s Blood that read was issue #2. Back then, one of the things that immediately stood out to me was how dense and layered the storytelling was. Not only was there a lot of dialogue, but there were also many captions and some of those contained philosophical expositions about the way of the samurai.

The script for this entire series, written by Owen Wiseman, is convoluted and confused, but I don’t mean that as a criticism. This is a well-written graphic novel in which strong characters are the spine that joins bloody fight scenes with intense and dramatic confrontations of the non-killing sort to create a unified whole.

I call this convoluted and confused because those words describe what becomes of the characters’ lives and their journey. I think Wiseman gets that revenge is an end, and that everything between the beginning (the declaration that one is seeking revenge) and the end is either shadowy or certainly more complex than it might appear. Beginning the quest is easy, but it is far easier to lose oneself in the disorder and uncertainty. One must solve the mysteries and see through obstructions to get to the end (revenge). The surprise of Samurai’s Tale is that there are so many surprises and changes that by the end, you will likely not see the characters the way you did in the first issue.

Wiseman’s tale is told in beautiful art by Nam Kim (pencils) and Matthew Dalton (inks) that superbly captures the drama and the violence in an energetic graphic style. Their art resembles Joe Madureira’s art during his tenure on Uncanny X-Men back in the mid-1990s. Kim and Dalton take Wiseman’s potent storytelling and turn it into melodramatic splendor – the Joe Mad thing is a bonus for me.

A

I Reads You Review: KULL: THE CAT AND THE SKULL #4

KULL: THE CAT AND THE SKULL #4
DARK HORSE COMICS

WRITER: David Lapham
ART: Gabriel Guzman
COLORS: Garry Henderson
LETTERS: Richard Starkings & Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt
COVER: Jo Chen
28pp, Colors, $3.50 U.S.

Kull the Conqueror (also known as Kull of Atlantis) is a fictional character created by Robert E. Howard (who also created Conan the Barbarian). Marvel Comics published the first comic book adaptations of the character in 1971. Now, Dark Horse Comics has the license to published Kull comic books.

The publisher’s latest Kull comic book miniseries is Kull: The Cat and the Skull. This story is an adaptation of a Kull short story first published in 1967, “Delcardes’ Cat” (also known as “The Cat and the Skull”). The series revolves around Kull’s encounter with Delcardes, one of the most beautiful women in the Seven Kingdoms, and an even more interesting creature, Delcardes’ traveling companion, the cat named Saremes. Because it is rumored that Saremes is of the old race, Kull is anxious to hear her counsel, as he takes on a serpent cult that is rallying under a powerful and mysterious wizard.

As Kull: The Cat and the Skull #4 begins, Kull’s trusted ally, Brule, returns to the palace, as Queen Igraine lies stricken. Meanwhile, the great serpent carries Kull to the world beneath the Forbidden Lake, where he encounters an ancient people enraged at his trespass. However, it is here where Conan will learn more about the fortune-seeing cat. Also, the identity of his true enemy is revealed.

I did not read the first three issues of this miniseries. I had forgotten about its existence until Dark Horse Comics was nice enough to send me a box of comics and books for review, and Kull: The Cat and the Skull #4 was among the books. First, I must say that the art by Gabriel Guzman and Garry Henderson (colors) is quiet pretty. It has an old timey feel that recalls Burne Hogarth’s Tarzan comic strip and Alex Raymond’s work on Flash Gordon. Thus, Guzman and Henderson’s work looks as if it belongs to the era when the Robert Howard short story, upon which this comic book is based, was written. [“Delcardes’ Cat” was first published three decades after Howard’s death.]

As for the script for this issue, it offers what amounts to at least two issues worth of story, yet there is no tension and little sense of conflict. Writer David Lapham presents every confrontation here as a chance for conversation. Seriously, everyone talks, threatens, begs, or makes grand proclamations. It’s so odd… and a little boring, and that’s a shame. There are imaginative scenarios and scenes here and some interesting soap-operatic subplots, but it all sort of dribbles away to anticlimax.

C+

I Reads You Review: ANGEL AND FAITH #1

ANGEL & FAITH #1
DARK HORSE COMICS

WRITER: Christos Gage
ART: Rebekah Isaacs
COLORS: Dan Jackson
LETTERS: Jimmy Betancourt
COVER: Steve Morris (alternative cover by Jo Chen and 25th anniversary cover by Georges Jeanty, Dexter Vines, and JD Mettler)
32pp, Color, $2.99 U.S.

Angel & Faith is a new comic book series that ties into Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine, and both reportedly will run for 25 issues. Angel and Faith are characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the television series created by Joss Whedon. Angel (portrayed by actor David Boreanaz) is a vampire whose soul was restored as punishment for his crimes. Faith Lehane (played by Eliza Dishku) is a Slayer, a girl endowed with supernatural abilities who battles evil creatures like vampires and demons.

Angel & Faith #1 (“Live Through This” Part One) opens after the events of Twilight, which saw Angel kill the Watcher, Rupert Giles. Now, with access to the Watcher files, Angel is picking up Giles’ old cases with rebel Slayer, Faith, along for the fun. Meanwhile, two figures from Angel’s Twilight past, Nash and Pearl, are looking for some serious payback.

You don’t have to be familiar with the recent Buffy or Angel spin-off comic book series to enjoy or understand Angel & Faith, although knowing even a little about the two characters helps. First, I should say that I enjoyed reading this… for the most part. The art by Rebekah Isaacs is well-drawn and the storytelling is good. The writing by Christos Gage is technically good. Why technically?

Like most comic books published over the last decade (and longer for some publishers), Angel & Faith #1 is the first chapter in a serialized “graphic novel” or story arc that will eventually be published in a trade paperback edition. This first issue hops around from one subplot to the next, and there are multiple points of view or narrators. There is so much exposition and dialogue that one could see this as an illustrated short story or chapter of an illustrated novel more so than it is a comic book. Still, I must emphasis that this is a good comic book, but it’s like reading a part of a story instead of being a story.

B

Leroy Douresseaux on SAMURAI’S BLOOD #2

SAMURAI’S BLOOD #2 (OF 6)
IMAGE COMICS/BENAROYA PUBLISHING

CREATORS: Michael Benaroya and Owen Wiseman
SCRIPT: Owen Wiseman
PENCILS: Nan Kim
INKS: Matthew Dalton
COLORS: Sakti Yuwono of Imaginary Friends Studios
LETTERS: John Aitken
COVER: Jo Chen (Variant cover by Nan Kim and Matthew Dalton with Jessica Kholinne)
28pp, Color, $2.99

Benaroya Publishing is a recently launched entertainment company that publishes comic books through Image Comics. Samurai’s Blood is a historical drama set in Japan from Benaroya Publishing.

Created by Michael Benaroya and Owen Wiseman, Samurai’s Blood is a six-issue miniseries that follows three young samurai from the destroyed Sanjo Clan. The trio follows an elaborate plan to get revenge on the men responsible for betraying their clan.

As Samurai’s Blood #2 begins, Jun cautions patience in their quest for revenge. Kajiro is mightily impatient, especially after Jun’s sister, his bethrothed, Mayuko is kidnapped. Jun and Kajiro takes on new identities, and they meet Horitomo, a sensei who trains Kajiro to be a better fighter.

One of the things that immediately stood out to me was how dense and layered the storytelling in this second issue of Samurai’s Blood was. Between the dialogue, captions, and philosophical exposition about the way of the samurai, this issue reads like a 56-page comic book instead of a 28-page one. Via his script and story, Owen Wiseman is determined to immerse his readers in this world, and if he fails, it won’t be for lack of information.

Artist Nam Kim is a good storyteller, and Matthew Dalton’s inking polishes some of the awkward aspects of Kim’s figure drawing. That aside, this composition and design capture the look of an authentic jidaigeki. I look forward to more.

B+