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BASTARD SAMURAI #1
Recommended (8/10)
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Image Comics
Main story
Writers: Mike Avon Oeming & Miles Gunter
Pencils: Kelsey Shannon
Inks: Mike Avon Oeming
"Master: The Origin"
Writer: Miles Gunter
Pencils: Mike Avon Oeming
Colors: Kelsey Shannon
Letters: Ken Bruzenak
Price: $2.95 US/$4.50 CAN |
I love Mike Avon Oening's work on Powers, and that's why I ordered this comic book. But to be honest, I didn't expect to enjoy it all that much. Oeming isn't the main artist on the book, and samurai stories... well, let's just say the martial-arts genre doesn't often appeal to me. So imagine my surprise to find a delightfully cinematic comic book with an unusual sense of humor that gives the property a key, grounded quality.
Jiro strolls the streets of New York, a seemingly normal young man. But what those around him do not know is that he is a skilled swordsman and practioner of the martial arts, trained at a secret Manhattan school and forced to battle to the death for the entertainment of the elite. And in the backup story, we learn of how this form of underground entertainment came to pass.
Shannon's visuals are dazzling. His work is clearly influenced by the Bruce Timm animated style. He brings a supernatural intensity to some scenes, and a soft sense of humanity to others. Oeming's inks on the first story makes for a consistency with his art on the short story in the second half of the book. Oeming's rich colors bring out a textured, movie-magic quality to the visual side of the storytelling as well.
The martial-arts/deathmatch scenes in the book boast an intense visual look that reminds me of some of the more creative and chaotic Disney images from yesteryear, albeit with a much more mature and dark edge. There's a surreal quality to those scenes that's intriguing, but it's also a bit confusing. Perhaps the confusion stems from the fact that the book shifts from dialogue-driven to a quiet, more symbolic approach rather quickly.
It's pretty much unfathomable to try and relate to the notion of being forced to fight someone to the death, simply for the amusement of others. So how can the reader possibly understand the main character? Oeming and Gunter balance that extreme side of the character and the book's premise with an unusual but compelling joie de vivre in Jiro. It's not until the end of this issue that we get the sense that he's really haunted by what he does, and those earlier carefree scenes are entertaining and down to earth.
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