Path of the Assassin Vol. 3: Comparison of a Man

Koike and Kojima's story of the famed ninja, Hattori Hanzo and his trials and tribulations protecting the shogun-to-be, Tokugawa Ieyasu. Each page builds upon the relationship between the two samurai and the women they love. Path of the Assassin, printed in the same size format as Lone Wolf & Cub and Samurai Executioner will be a wonderful addition to the Koike and Kojima samurai collection.

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.