Samurai Double Feature: It's safe to say that Dark Horse knows the way of the samurai. You might have heard that Mike Richardson and Stan Sakai's graphic novel depicting the true story (as opposed to the Hollywood film) of the 47 Ronin is one of the titles nominated this year for Best Limited Series at the Eisner Awards (actually, it was one of the three Dark Horse titles nominated in that category, together with The Black Beetle: No Way Out and Colder!). The author and artist both did a great deal of research, but one thing that also helped keep 47 Ronin authentic was some editorial consultation from none other than Kazuo Koike, who with artist Goseki Kojima made Lone Wolf and Cub, the most famous of all samurai graphic novels. This week, Dark Horse releases another collaboration by Koike and Kojima: Samurai Executioner, in the popular omnibus format.
[Insert image Samurai Executioner.jpg here]
Samurai Executioner returns you to the era of Lone Wolf and Cub, but sees its violence and drama from a strikingly different angle. Lone Wolf's Itto Ogami was an assassin, seeking out his victims, but those who die by the sword of Yamada Asaemon are brought to him—for, as the title speaks, Asaemon is the protagonist of Samurai Executioner—he is the man who carries out the death penalty on those condemned by the Shogun's law.
People shudder as "Decapitator Asaemon" passes in the street, his eyes hidden by his trademark parasol; mothers tell their children Asaemon will get them if they're bad. Yet although he is a master at the gruesome details of his craft, Asaemon is no mere butcher of bound criminals, but a man unafraid to risk his own life in the pursuit of justice, and a headsman not without empathy for those whose lives he takes.
Just as with the assassinations in Lone Wolf and Cub, the crimes in Samurai Executioner involve eternal human passions—lust, love, greed, envy, hatred—yet they express themselves through the fascinating and curious details of life in Edo Japan that Koike and Kojima return to life in these violent, lurid stories. Often Asaemon is the last confessor of the condemned...and the executioner knows how many stories could be told, even in the short space between their necks and his raised blade! The first of the four Samurai Executioner omnibus books is in stores this week!
–Carl Horn
Manga Editor
[Insert image Blade of the Immortal.jpg here]
Also in stores this week is the return of Dark Horse's second-longest running manga (behind only Oh My Goddess!), with Blade of the Immortal Vol. 29: Beyond Good and Evil.
And when you pick it up, remember that you’ll be reading Hiroaki Samura's third-to-last Blade collection ever! After ending his epic series earlier this year in Japan, Dark Horse Manga is now in the homestretch with its English-language Blade releases, and our final, Vol. 31, will be an oversized, heart-wrenching excursion into Samura’s gory, grudge-filled, anachronistic Edo-era Japan.
It’ll also be the end of our time with the odd pair of polished, dojo-raised Rin and her foul-mouthed, streetwise bodyguard Manji. Arguably as much of a complex coming-of-age story for Rin as a vehicle for the supposedly immortal Manji to slice up evildoers (and get ridiculously maimed in the process each time), Blade of the Immortal will come to an end soon. So now’s the time, if you haven’t been reading, to catch up and see if your favorite Samura character is alive and fighting, maimed and watching the final battle...or dead already!
In Blade of the Immortal Vol. 29, the devious, former Edo general Habaki goes to gross extremes to rid Japan of the Itto-ryu crew, led by Anotsu. Habaki and his Rokki-dan thugs (former death-row prisoners under his command) turn a seemingly innocent harbor into a port of death—killing everyone who’s docked there in case they’re working with Anotsu!
Well, that’s one way to get his—and the local government’s—attention. When wounded, recovering Rin, battle-ready Manji, and desperate leader Anotsu arrive on the scene, there are plenty of surprises waiting for them! And Samura has packed plenty of edge-of-your-seat moments into the final three volumes of his ambitious Blade run for us! Rin’s quest nears its end, and other story arcs come together in unexpected ways. Everything is building to an exciting, earth-shattering, steel-on-steel final volume, as the violence and bloodshed begin to crescendo with Blade of the Immortal Volume 29: Beyond Good and Evil!
—Philip Simon
Editor
It's safe to say that Dark Horse knows the way of the samurai. You might have heard that Mike Richardson and Stan Sakai's graphic novel depicting the true story (as opposed to the Hollywood film) of the 47 Ronin is one of the titles nominated this year for Best Limited Series at the Eisner Awards (actually, it was one of the three Dark Horse titles nominated in that category, together with The Black Beetle: No Way Out and Colder!). The author and artist both did a great deal of research, but one thing that also helped keep 47 Ronin authentic was some editorial consultation from none other than Kazuo Koike, who with artist Goseki Kojima made Lone Wolf and Cub, the most famous of all samurai graphic novels. This week, Dark Horse releases another collaboration by Koike and Kojima: Samurai Executioner, in the popular omnibus format. 
Samurai Executioner returns you to the era of Lone Wolf and Cub, but sees its violence and drama from a strikingly different angle. Lone Wolf's Itto Ogami was an assassin, seeking out his victims, but those who die by the sword of Yamada Asaemon are brought to him—for, as the title speaks, Asaemon is the protagonist of Samurai Executioner—he is the man who carries out the death penalty on those condemned by the Shogun's law.
People shudder as "Decapitator Asaemon" passes in the street, his eyes hidden by his trademark parasol; mothers tell their children Asaemon will get them if they're bad. Yet although he is a master at the gruesome details of his craft, Asaemon is no mere butcher of bound criminals, but a man unafraid to risk his own life in the pursuit of justice, and a headsman not without empathy for those whose lives he takes.
Just as with the assassinations in Lone Wolf and Cub, the crimes in Samurai Executioner involve eternal human passions—lust, love, greed, envy, hatred—yet they express themselves through the fascinating and curious details of life in Edo Japan that Koike and Kojima return to life in these violent, lurid stories. Often Asaemon is the last confessor of the condemned...and the executioner knows how many stories could be told, even in the short space between their necks and his raised blade! The first of the four Samurai Executioner omnibus books is in stores this week!
—Carl Horn
Manga Editor
Also in stores this week is the return of Dark Horse's second-longest running manga (behind only Oh My Goddess!), with Blade of the Immortal Vol. 29: Beyond Good and Evil.
And when you pick it up, remember that you’ll be reading Hiroaki Samura's third-to-last Blade collection ever! After ending his epic series earlier this year in Japan, Dark Horse Manga is now in the homestretch with its English-language Blade releases, and our final, Vol. 31, will be an oversized, heart-wrenching excursion into Samura’s gory, grudge-filled, anachronistic Edo-era Japan.
It’ll also be the end of our time with the odd pair of polished, dojo-raised Rin and her foul-mouthed, streetwise bodyguard Manji. Arguably as much of a complex coming-of-age story for Rin as a vehicle for the supposedly immortal Manji to slice up evildoers (and get ridiculously maimed in the process each time), Blade of the Immortal will come to an end soon. So now’s the time, if you haven’t been reading, to catch up and see if your favorite Samura character is alive and fighting, maimed and watching the final battle...or dead already!
In Blade of the Immortal Vol. 29, the devious, former Edo general Habaki goes to gross extremes to rid Japan of the Itto-ryu crew, led by Anotsu. Habaki and his Rokki-dan thugs (former death-row prisoners under his command) turn a seemingly innocent harbor into a port of death—killing everyone who’s docked there in case they’re working with Anotsu!
Well, that’s one way to get his—and the local government’s—attention. When wounded, recovering Rin, battle-ready Manji, and desperate leader Anotsu arrive on the scene, there are plenty of surprises waiting for them! And Samura has packed plenty of edge-of-your-seat moments into the final three volumes of his ambitious Blade run for us! Rin’s quest nears its end, and other story arcs come together in unexpected ways. Everything is building to an exciting, earth-shattering, steel-on-steel final volume, as the violence and bloodshed begin to crescendo with Blade of the Immortal Volume 29: Beyond Good and Evil!
—Philip Simon
Editor