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BASTARD SAMURAI #2
Recommended (8/10)
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Image Comics
Main story
Writers: Mike Avon Oeming & Miles Gunter
Pencils: Kelsey Shannon
Inks: Mike Avon Oeming
"The Field Trip"
Writer: Miles Gunter
Pencils: Mike Avon Oeming
Colors: Kelsey Shannon
Letters: Ken Bruzenak
Price: $2.95 US/$4.50 CAN |
It's been almost three months since the first issue of this limited series was released, and to be honest, I was a bit hazy on the details. As I began to read this new issue, things got even hazier... but patience paid off. Oeming and Gunter provide yet another dark, quirky and entertaining read, and Shannon offers some stunning visuals. Bastard Samurai can lay claim to a label that not many other comics can these days: it's truly unique.
Jiro awakens to discover that a mysterious woman who is obsessed with him has saved his life. As she fawns over him and gives him a glimpse into his own past, Jiro has an epiphany: the Nira school and the bloodsport for which it trains warriors must come to an end. And in the flashback story, we learn of a ghostly test that to which the Nira teachers subjected their students. Homework at the school is killer, let me tell you.
To call the opening sequence confusing is a massive understatement, but from a visual standpoint, it's mesmerizing. I'm reminded of Scott Morse's work, and that of David Mack, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave McKean and Marc Hempel. Shannon grants Toshi a raw sexuality, but a dangerous edge as well. The colors bathe the story in an eerie glow, and bring out an odd film-noir vibe as well.
The backup story reinforces the tone of abuse and torture that life in the Nira school offers. While the main story is an exciting martial-arts revenge story, this shorter piece is basically a ghost story. There was a lot of potential in this horror segment -- illustrated by Oeming, whose sharp angles suit the martial-arts elements nicely -- so much so that I was disappointed that it was such a brief story. This idea merited a full-length treatment.
Martial-arts, gladiator-like death matches. Leather-clad sharpshooters with surgical skills. Crime rings and Asian masters of swordplay. It all adds up to a rather alien world, but Gunter's dialogue gives the characters a grounded tone. Jiro, despite his bizarre life and bloodthirsty mission here comes off most of the time as a regular guy. The story comes into focus when Jiro's life, his purpose, comes into focus for him, and it makes for an ultimately exciting, and quietly angry, tale.
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