5 out of 5

I’ll admit to being discouraged whenever I got a new issue of ’47 Ronin.’  I bought it ’cause of Stan Sakai, and I could tell I was reading something that was undoubtedly a very classic epic, but I get a little restless with historical fiction – even when comic-ized – and month to month I was getting lost with character names and faces.  Our principles are all distinct enough, for sure, but this happened with ‘The Secret History’ too, where being grounded in reality and history means names that maybe don’t stick in memory so easily (and in ‘Ronin’ they’re not boiled down to Americanized one or two syllable deals, instead giving us the full family names) and with a human cast of many Regular Joes, there are only so many variations you can doodle before it’s apparent that you’re trying for variations.  But – again, as with ‘History – reading it in one sitting is what seals the deal.  The secondary characters fade appropriately to the background and there’s no issue identifying who’s who in the major elements of the tale.  Mike Richardson includes some pretty traditional attributes to denote our hero and villain characters, but his scripting is patient and maintains the reverent tone of most Japanese samurai films.  Sakai’s work, meanwhile, is on par with his vibrant visuals from Usagi, with the added boon of an amazing color palette (done, partly, via inspiration from some classic wood cuttings relating to this tale) and a different and almost more nuanced sense of pacing since he’s working from someone else’s script.  That’s not a knock on Usagi, of course – lord knows I love that series to god damn death – but just to say that it’s not the same feeling, and that’s for the best, since this is the same genre as UJ, but told from a new perspective.

It’s essentially a tale of revenge, but one that matches with the devout Bushido code.  A daimyo (Asano, I believe… pardon if I remember the name wrong) is singled out by a greedy diplomat when visiting the shogun, and events escalate such that he is sentenced to death, his clan and retainers disbanded and dismissed.  But 47 of his most dedicated followers discover the truth behind the happening, and swear to reclaim Asano’s honor over the head of the man responsible.  What follows is then a year long plan, executed much in secret, and thrillingly detailed over five issues.

There’s so much more to praise here.  The pacing seems a little fractured – a year is not so long but its portrayed as such – but Richardson makes a smart choice in breaking up the months into chapters as a sort of forced pause.  The framing story, seemingly simple, with a man telling a priest the tale, is a necessary and helpful way to smooth us into the past, sort of guaranteeing the reader that all of the details will fall into place.  And the exact reveal of such detail-placing is masterfully done.  Often mini-series will do a reveal in a penultimate issue and then save a battle for the last, and it can’t help but feel rather anti-climactic.  ‘Ronin’ follows this model, but Mike makes sure to keep the focus on the endpoint, making the battle the proper climax it should be – the twists along the way are just seasoning, not the point.

The editorials in each issue are also appreciated – one from Mike, one from the editor, one from Stan, one letter from a fan, and a piece about ‘Lone Wolf’ writer and consultant on the series Kazuo Koike.  Each piece is worth reading (even the letter) as it sheds a little bit of light on how much history is behind not only this story (which is apparently a classic Japanese tale) but each person’s connection to it.  Lastly, the covers are especially striking – again due to Stan’s figures and the colors, but often I find the Yojimbo covers awesome, but not necessarily directly impactful on my read.  They connect to the tale inside, which, since most of the books are one shots, only holds meaning after the fact.  ‘Ronin,’ on the other hand, offers a fairly good indication of where you will be next issue, and so seeing the cover is exciting – it’s truly a preview of what’s contained and I couldn’t wait to dig in (…on the single sitting reading, heh).

An excellent series.  And from Richardson, who’d apparently wanted to do it for years, it was worth the wait.