Creators: Kazuo Koike, Goseki Kojima
Publisher: Dark Horse
Age Rating: Older Teen
Genre: Action
RRP: $9.95
Path of the Assassin v1
Reviewed by Caryn A. Tate

While the first volume of this series is no Lone Wolf & Cub, what could be? Even with the same brilliant creators, I doubt that I will ever read a comic of that caliber again. But, I have to admit, every time I read a Koike/Kojima comic, I hope for that level of storytelling and characterization. While Path of the Assassin falls short of those expectations on some levels, it is well worth a look.

This storyline follows the well known ninja Hattori Hanzo Masanari as he is chosen to protect his lord, Motonobu (later known as Ieyusa, the man who united Japan and ushered in two hundred years of peace as shogun). When this story takes place, though, both men are still teenagers—Hanzo is fifteen, and Motonobu is sixteen. While Hanzo is already a very skilled ninja, and Motonobu has the makings of a great samurai, both of them are still inexperienced and learning about life the way any teenager still is.

My favorite aspect of this trade was learning more about the ninja—what they do exactly, and their code of honor. Ninja have long been popular in fiction and especially in American pop culture, but there is very little known about their rumored existence in reality. The ninja code, as it begins to be examined in this trade, is similar to the samurai code in some ways, but in others it is quite different. In brief, without giving any details away, there is a level of secrecy about the very existence and performance of ninja that is vital for them to successfully perform their duties, unlike samurai, who perform their duties in the open for all to see. Like all Koike/Kojima stories, this comic provides a highly engaging, historically accurate look at this period of time in Japan, showing us just what it was like for the Japanese people at that time and teaching us more about the culture.

The fairly surprising thing is this: this book contains seven chapters, and it wasn’t until the sixth (titled “Kite Kato”) that I began to thoroughly enjoy this comic. It wasn’t bad up until the sixth chapter, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. It seemed that Mr. Kojima was just warming us up to the characters, enabling us to get to know them and the world they live in (which is fine, but it didn’t pull me into the story right away). We are introduced to Hanzo in chapter 1; in classic Koike style, he shows us why Hanzo was chosen over his brothers to shadow Motonobu. He has suppa (ninja) skills that exceed his brothers’, despite the fact that they are grown men.

As the book progresses, we meet Motonobu. He is not as mature as Hanzo, probably because of the latter’s extensive martial training; but as the story progresses, I became aware that Motonobu is more honorable than I had originally thought. He is young and foolish in many ways (realistically, he’s probably just a bit more like an average sixteen-year-old than Hanzo is), but he does have a samurai heart, and Hanzo realizes this early on as well. The two characters begin to forge a close friendship without even really intending to.

All of the first five chapters were fine, but I didn’t feel as emotionally involved as I would have liked, and frankly the quality of the chapters just wasn’t nearly as good as I know Mr. Koike and Kojima are capable of. Until Chapter 6, “Kite Kato.” That is the point that the story really began to click. We are introduced to a new character by the same name as the chapter title; he is also a ninja, but much older, more experienced, and more skilled than Hanzo. He becomes involved in something that Hanzo and Motonobu have done, and the final two chapters of the book are as exceptional as some of the stories that played out in the brilliant Lone Wolf & Cub series. In these chapters, the story about far more than it seems; there is a level of heightened awareness and sensitivity that rises above most storytelling that I see elsewhere, in comics or other mediums, in Japanese or any other culture. Much like Lone Wolf & Cub, these chapters reveal Mr. Koike and Kojima as the masters of storytelling that they are.

Mr. Kojima’s art is superbly detailed and full of emotion and raw talent. The interesting thing about his pencils is the fact that now and then, I could see small mistakes he had made, or at least areas which he probably could have done better. But his quality of storytelling and line work is so excellent that I only noticed because I've become so familiar with his work, and I didn’t consciously think about it as I read. His art is amazingly fluid and cinematic in scope.

I’m definitely willing to check out volume 2 of this series, and I’m hoping it is done in the same vein of quality and storytelling as the final two chapters of this book. If it and the following volumes are, there is no doubt that I’ll read the entire series.

Comment on this review of Path of the Assassin v1 on the Manga Life Forums.


6 October 2009
Naruto v46
We Were There v6



home | reviews | news | features | about us | advertise | privacy policy | contact us
All materials © Manga Life, 2005 - Site designed and hosted by Silver Bullet Hosting