Path of the Assassin, Vol. 9 - Softcover

Kazuo Koike

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1593075103 ISBN 13: 9781593075101

Publisher: Dark Horse, 2008

Synopsis

The world of samurai and ninja is not just killing, politics, intrigue and actioin. It's also about family, spirit, love and sex. If there were ever an issue of Path of the Assassin that could be entitled "the sex issue," this would probably be it. Not just the act of sex, but the feelings, doubts, methods, results and politics of sex. The results can mean a son or daughter fated to the politics of advantage and danger. The doubts can lead to an unfocused mind. The methods can be a resullt of doubt, but can be there own distraction as well. The feelings can be good, bad, and ugly. And all of these elements amount to the politics of sex. However, if you fear that all this talk of sex means this volume of Path of the Assassin lacks the the expected swordplay, gushing blood, and drama you've come to love, well please don't worry. Rather the sexplay only provides a framework for those standards, making for an oddly exciting volume of our samurai/ninja tale of conquest. As always, pocket size and full of the best in gekiga, Koike and Kojima's Path of the Assassin continues with a fever.

About this title

About the Author

Kazuo Koike is a prolific Japanese manga writer, novelist, and entrepreneur. Early in Koike's career, he studied under Golgo 13 creator Takao Saito and served as a writer on the series. Koike, along with artist Goseki Kojima, made the manga Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub), and Koike also contributed to the scripts for the 1970s film adaptations of the series, which starred famous Japanese actor Tomisaburo Wakayama. Another series written by Koike, Crying Freeman, which was illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami, was adapted into a 1995 live-action film by French director Christophe Gans.

Goseki Kojima was a Japanese manga artist known for his collaborations with Kazuo Koike. The team was often referred to as the “Golden Duo.” Kojima’s best-known work was Lone Wolf and Cub. Other titles attributed to Kojima are Samurai Executioner and Path of the Assassin. In 2004, Kojima won an Eisner Award.

Reviews

The tiny strike force launched at the castle commanding Mino Province at the end of Shinobi with Extending Fists (2007) succeeds as this volume of Koike and Kojima’s epic opens. Soon after, ninja hero Hanzo’s son is born, and a chillingly “principled” wild-card samurai enters the factional struggle to control all Japan. The story that names the volume closes it, beginning in earnest the long conflict eventually resolved by Hanzo’s master Ieyasu’s establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. The historical names fly thick and fast, the plotting gets dense, and “reading” Kojima’s art becomes, besides a pleasure, a necessity. --Ray Olson

Edition details

• Publisher: Dark Horse
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1593075103
• ISBN 13: 9781593075101
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Goseki Kojima
• Number of pages: 304