Lone Wolf & Cub, Volume 12 [Paperback]

Kazuo Koike (Author), Goseki Kojima (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lone Wolf & Cub | Publication Date: August 29, 2001

Few works can legitimately lay claim to the mantle "landmark". Dark Horse Comics is proud to present one of the authentic landmarks in graphic fiction, Lone Wolf and Cub. Acknowledged worldwide for the brilliant writing of series creator Kazuo Koike and the groundbreaking cinematic visuals of the late Goseki Kojima, Lone Wolf and Cub contains unforgettable imagery of stark beauty, kinetic fury, and visceral thematic power that influenced a generation of visual storytellers both in Japan and in the West.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Thought widely respected as a powerful writer of graphic fiction, Kazuo Koike has spent a lifetime reaching beyond the bounds of the comics medium. Aside from co-creating and writing the incredibly successful Lone Wolf and Cub and Crying Freeman manga, Koike has hosted television programs; founded a golf magazine; produced movies; written popular fiction, poetry, and screenplays; and mentored some of Japan's best manga talent. Koike and artist Goseki Kojima's Lone Wolf and Cub was first serialized in Japan in 1970 and continued its hugely popular run for many years, being collected as the stories were published, and reprinted worldwide. Koike collected numerous awards for his work on the series throughout the next decade. Starting in 1972, Koike adapted the popular manga into a series of six films, The Baby Cart Assassin saga, garnering widespread critical acclaim for his screenwriting abilities, and presenting the epic manga basis of the hit films to a world of fans who were hungry for more stories from the Lone Wolf and Cub saga. In 2000, Dark Horse Comics embarked on a landmark publishing program to bring all 8000-plus pages of Lone Wolf and Cub to American audiences for the first time. Over the next two years, Dark Horse will release 28 volumes of this revered material, with each volume containing approximately 300 pages of masterful samurai storytelling.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (August 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569715130
• ISBN-13: 978-1569715130
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #539,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ogami Itto is hired for several intriquing assassinations, November 16, 2002

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lone Wolf & Cub, Volume 12 (Paperback)

The mystery of the Yagyu letter is apparently forgotten in the five Lone Wolf and Cub tales told in Volume 12, "Shattered Stones." However, one thing that really stood out in these stories is that since he was reunited with his father after they were separated by circumstances, Daigoro has been smiling a lot more:

(59) "Nameless, Penniless, Lifeless" is one of the most disturbing stories in the Lone Wolf and Cub saga. It begins with a woman putting on a sex show for peasants. But what is even more shocking is that the woman has lost her mind and that her husband, whose face is half scared by terrible burns, is the one who talks her into her displays. There is more here than meets the eye, as is often the case in these stories, and the way in which the truth is revealed might remind you of part of Shakespeare's "Hamlet."

(60) "Body Check" is another one of those tales in which Ogami Itto has to use his brains to put himself in a position to use his sword for his next assassination.

(61) "Shattered Stones" begins with one of the most different ways that Ogami Itto has met someone who wanted to hire him for an assassination. On top of that the rules of the assassination are quite different (again, I am reminded of a Western parallel in the novel "Sophie's Choice").

(62) "A Promise of Potatoes" is an amusing little change of pace story for this series. Daigoro is off by himself again, being beaten up by a group of kids, when he is rescued by a con artist who teaches the boy to sit by a bowl looking pitiful as a way of making money. But where there is Cub can Lone Wolf be far behind...

(63) "Wife Killer" is a wonderfully ironic title, which we learn is used to describe somebody who gives away the tricks of magicians, who are known as "hand wives." Noronji Hoya, the Princess of Magicians, who has been using a delighted Daigoro as her "assistant," is about the encounter the "wife killer," an old saki-sotted magician who travels with two thugs who extort money from magicians: pay up or have your secrets revealed. But Noronji Hoya has a better proposition: she will perform a trick and if the old man can reveal her secret she will kill herself; if not, then she will take the old man's eyes.

Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima are back to telling tales in which Ogami Itto is more often than not more of a spectator to the action in which other characters carry the stories. One of the testaments to the greatness of this manga epic is that the title character can be almost incidental to the story and it is still completely riveting. Here we are, not even halfway through this saga, and they are still coming up with new and intriguing variations on the basic themes they established early on. The fact that they can maintain this high level certainly justifies the exalted status Lone Wolf & Cub has in the international world of comics.

5.0 out of 5 stars Brutal and brilliant, January 24, 2012

By 

HJ Louw "Hermgerm" (South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lone Wolf & Cub, Volume 12 (Paperback)

Once again, Kazuo Koiké and Goseki Gojiima produce fantastically researched stories featuring Ogami Itto and his son Daigoro as they stride down the path of Meifumadó intent upon their quest for vengeance. The stories contained in this volume deal little with the completion of the quest and more with collecting fees for assassinating troublesome figures plaguing particular provinces in fuedal Japan. 'Body Check' deals with an ingenious way to identify a victim after great pains were taken to disguise her whereabouts through false trails and misdirection. 'Shattered Stones', the titular story, tells of the attempt of a cuckold to revenge himself on his former wife and the lord who retains custody of his only son. These are just some of the many tales found within, and all end predictably with Ogami Itto whetting the appetite of his Dotanuki blade on the flesh of wrongdoers. An amazing read, and certainly one of my favorites. I don't believe that I have ever read a bad entry in the series. Recommended.