REVIEW: Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 1

Lone Wolf and Cub

By Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, introduction by Frank Miller

Originally published in 1970

·         There are many ridiculous forms of martial arts that is used in the series, like the “Hawk style” where the assassin’s against the Wolf and Cub used a hawk as the major part of their martial arts. (Pages 17-19)

·         A lot of the comedy of the manga comes from the interaction of the child with his environment, like with the daimyo threatening our protagonist while the child was crying to pee and they had to let the protagonist go so he could let his son piss. (Pages 23-25)

·         The action is notably defined by the lines used with the deadly slashes seen in the manga. (Page 28-29).

·         There is a lot of iconography of the father and son motif in this manga, like the image of introducing the Wolf and Cub assassin with dialogue with the image of a literal wolf and its cub and the two animals heading to the readers. (Page 37)

·         It is to note that the horse stampede is drawn realistically, but also that the assassin Lone Wolf is willing to use his son and the environment around him to throw his opponents off track: like how people are unwilling to slash at him because his son is on his back and then Lone Wolf cuts them down due to this flinch in weakness. (Pages 52-55)

·         The cart is notably its own character in Lone Wolf and Cub, as it is not only bulletproof but also can be used as a tool besides the sword and his son for Lone Wolf. (Page 85)

·         The child is notably very intelligent for being a three year old boy, being able to recite music and choose the way of the sword compared to the way of normalcy. This would imply he’s as much a warrior as his father yet this requires the suspense of disbelief that a child could be so capable at such an early age. (Page 114-117, 224-228).

·         Much like Miller’s work, women in Lone Wolf and Cub are notably capable of being adversaries alongside the normal brutes that make up the enemies of the protagonists. This is included with the eight deadly femme fatales that Lone Wolf and Cub had to surpass and kill in one story arc. (Pages 137-157)

·         Women are also victimized in the series as one lady was raped and strangled to death in front of the Lone Wolf and Cub, which contrasts with what we read in the previous chapters with femme fatales and with the gentle ladies. (Pages 173-174) This is to contrast with Miller, however, as he does not include gentle ladies in his works, only femme fatales and ‘whores.’

·         Overall, this is an excellent series but it is noted compared to other manga works due to the outlaw style of storytelling. This is a huge contrast with the manga that was designed for children that we saw with Tezuka.

Bibliography:

Koike, Kazuo, and Goseki Kojima. The Assassin's Road. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Comics, 2000. Print.

Miller, Frank, Klaus Janson, Lynn Varley, John Costanza, and Bob Kane. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. New York, NY: DC Comics, 2002. Print.