"Ronin" was first written in 1983, and for a comic book, was so revolutionary, that most comic book readers avoided it. It cost almost $2 an issue, which was five times what a standard comic cost at the time. Its art is almost surreal at times, which many of the younger readers simply called 'bad' (much like the young tend to refer to Picasso's masterpieces as just a jumbled mess). Although heralded by critics, including major publications who normally wouldn't touch comic books of that time, the series never got the wide audience it deserved until several years later. The comic book was also not sold to many large chains that regularly sold comic books because it did not receive the comic code approval rating normally required, although no one really knew or cared why anymore. "Ronin" contains nudity, racial slurs, and graphic violence, all of which were still eschewed by the comic book producers almost half a decade after its release.
The original inspiration had to be "Lone Wolf & Cub", which Frank Miller admits was his largest influence when he started drawing comic book artwork. The story starts in 13th century Japan where we watch a young Samurai defend his master from attacking warriors. The master tells his faithful Samurai that a Demon Lord who is angry with the master for stealing his fabled blood sword many years earlier sent the men. The sword absorbs the blood of the evil making its wielder stronger, as well as protects the owner from the Demon. The sword is the only thing that can kill the Demon, but only after it has absorbed the blood of an innocent. This is an interesting dilemma for a true Samurai warrior.
Shortly thereafter, the master is killed by the demon through deception, while the Samurai guarded his master's quarters from outside. Rushing inside he faces the demon but is no match without the blood sword and only serves to stall the demon until further help arrives. The demon has turned into a hawk who scars the Samurai's face with a talon explaining that he controls all flesh, and can become whatever he wishes. With the master lying dead, the Samurai prepares to commit hara-kiri with the blood sword. Nothing could be worse for a Samurai then to lose his master, especially while under his protection. The Samurai has instantly become a Ronin, a masterless Samurai, which is the ultimate disgrace for a man who holds his honor above all else. His master comes to him in a vision and tells him that he must hone his skills and eventually kill the demon lord.
The Ronin spends the next fifteen years killing agents of the demon lord, trying to work out the problem. In all this time he never kills an innocent. After many battles, he finally faces the Demon Lord who cannot believe his good fortune in having the blood sword brought to him by a sworn enemy. It seems too good to be true, until the Ronin is able to surprise the Demon, and us, by turning the tables on him. I cannot spoil the clever solution to the Ronin's problem, but needless to say, the Ronin almost succeeds in killing the Demon Lord, allowing his sprit to die with honor.
Unfortunately the demon is able to cast one last spell continuing the endless damnation of both parties. He is able to imprison both their souls inside of the sword, where it will linger until someone finds a way to release them.
Now we make as dramatic a cut as I've seen since "2001" jumps from the caveman's bone to a floating weapon platform orbiting the earth. We find ourselves in a post apocalyptic New York City where cannibals run through the streets. Corporations, or maybe just one corporation, seem to run freely over what is left of the city. The employees live inside of the corporation's fortress, while everyone else seems to live in abject poverty, tending to form gangs for survival. The sewers are filled with the malformed, and the surface has little better remnants of humanity.
In this future, a giant corporation named Aquarius has been experimenting with a new form of life that it calls bio-circuitry. We see the fortress from the outside, looking like a vast squat animal surrounded by the decrepit buildings of New York City. There is a certain randomness to the layout, as if it laid itself out like tree roots, following the path of least resistance. Running the whole complex is a powerful computer whose name is chosen as Virgo. She runs the complex, but like HAL in "2001" has enough of a mind of her own that the users almost have to ask her to do things, instead of command her. With Virgo running the complex, which is made almost completely of bio-circuitry, humans become less and less important. It enhances itself, fixes itself, and is even able to control various mobile versions of itself in the form of robots and flying creatures. In the center of the research facility is a quadriplegic boy named Billy. He has no arms or legs, but does have minor telekinetic psychic power which allows him to control some of the bio-circuitry. He is actually able to give himself arms and legs this way.
The blood sword was excavated, and in an attempt to study it, was hit by a laser beam which inadvertently freed both the Ronin and the Demon into this new world. Thinking this story was about ancient Samurai, I can not relate to you the surprise I felt when the story made its sudden, dramatic twist into this future wasteland in the middle of the first of six issues. We almost make no return trips to the past, and thus the story is probably more of a science fiction story than anything else.
The Ronin is reincarnated into the quadriplegic Billy, who now has arms and legs made from the bio-circuitry. He also has limited telekinesis, and can control his new arms and legs remotely. The Demon Lord appears in Aquarius, kills the director and assumes his form. Learning the ways of the new world slowly, he begins to send the forces of Aquarius after his sworn enemy, the Ronin.
The story is most interesting to me while watching the nobility, honor and fighting skills of a feudal day Japanese warrior trapped in the decaying lawless futuristic New York City. There is great pleasure when we finally learn the meaning of 'Tachi', which he spends a good portion of the early story trying to find.
As the story progresses we start to learn the real truth behind what is fantasy and what is real. As readers blown away by the premise, we accept most everything we see as what is actually happening. Like most movies based upon fantasy, the characters in the book are unwilling to believe that an 800 year old Samurai and a Demon are continuing a battle started in the 12th century. We learn to discover which is actual reality along with various characters in the story. There are many clever twists, and a series of surprise endings.
Miller brought a true cinematic quality to comic book art. Where most comic books would have a little yellow text box saying something like "later that day", here we get full two page panels that merely show Aquarius' slow crawl across the cities landscape. Towards the end of the book, it is growing so fast that we can almost feel it move between panels.
Like a great action director, Miller increases the excitement by showing us the action in different ways. Sometimes we don't see the Ronin making his cut. Instead we only see the result, or else see and hear someone else talk about what happened with admiration. There is blood, and a lesser artist would only show the action in its entirety. Miller enjoys cutting to see the reaction on witness' faces, or to just the results of the carnage afterwards.
The ending will leave you a little shocked as fantasy, reality, and even something more, combine together flawlessly.
By the writer/artist of BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. AN unspeaking, unstoppable Japanese warrior of the 13th century is reborn into 21st-century N...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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