Product Description: The epic continues! Among the five stories in this issue: Cub has been captured while Lone Wolf lies unconscious! All of Cub`s captors are cruel, all but the osue (the lowest maid). But her help may be her undoing. The household waits for the feared Lone Wolf to come looking for his son...and when he does...pick up Volume Two to find out what happens -- plus four other great stories, as this classic epic continues!
Short Samurai Tales "Lone Wolf and Cub" is Kazu Koike and Goseki Kojima's samurai series centering around a lone traveling samurai and his son. All of the stories in "Volume 2" are individual assassination assignments, with no direct connection other than the two main characters.
They're never straightforward assignments, however; they are often more about trickery and cunning (such as murdering allies to trick your enemies into taking you into their confidence) than anything else, although there is frequent and very violent fighting. The explicitness and brutality of the work is surprising; the depiction of feudal Japan is intricate and detailed, both in the writing and the art.
It's also very cramped, though; between the small size of the printed book and the obsessive detail of the art, the book never really has a chance to breathe on the occasion it needs to. This prevents the individual episodes from gaining the sweep they sometimes try for, even when Kojima eases back on the shading that dominates a lot of the panels. But when it avoids the cramped feeling, or feeds on it, the stories are engaging samurai tales.
Graphic SF Reader At the end of the previous volume we find out why Lone Wolf, if you want to call him that, left the Shogun and his official killing job to become ronin, and wander around the place taking assassin jobs for money from whoever will pay.
In one of the stories in this volume the kid actually manages to get into a bit more trouble than usual, as well.
Simple Complexity These elegant short stories are deceptive. On the surface hardly anything seems to "happen" in each "episode" other than a sword fight or two. Actually there is a LOT going on. Koike is in touch with humanity in ways many of us never will be.
Lone Wolf & Cub artwork is anything but simple. These stories are CARRIED by the masterful drawings. I am constantly amazed.
The main storyline continues to build from volume 1. I highly recommend BOTH books, and I also suggest you read them in order.
How to Kill a God If the first volume didn't hook you (and I don't see how that's even possible), this one will do it. Lone Wolf takes on one of his strangest assignments here, and you get a peek into what set him and his son on this road.
This saga runs approximately 8,400 pages in 28 volumes. It's cinematic in scope and quite a history lesson, too. Don't be afraid of the tale's length. The stories fly by, and you'll end up wishing there was more.
For those of you who know of this story only through First Comics' adaptation many moons ago, this set (with this one being volume two of it) is the entire tale in the proper order. In a word -- incredible.
Getting better all the time The series begins to take shape in LW&C2. I found the first volume repetitive due to the similar narrative structure employed throughout every chapter, but I mind that structure less and less in Vol. 2 as the characters develop. I'm hoping Vol. 3 continues this trend.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Not Available Comics
Trevor
