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Kazuo Koike

Lone Wolf and Cub Omnibus Volume 1 Paperback – June 4, 2013

by Kazuo Koike (Author), Goseki Kojima (Illustrator)

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A samurai epic of staggering proportions, the acclaimed Lone Wolf and Cub begins its second life at Dark Horse Manga with new, larger editions of over 700 pages, value priced. The brilliant storytelling of series creator Kazuo Koike and the groundbreaking cinematic visuals of Goseki Kojima create a graphic-fiction masterpiece of beauty, fury, and thematic power.

Print length

712 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Dark Horse Manga
Publication date

June 4, 2013
Dimensions

5.05 x 2.14 x 7.24 inches
ISBN-10

1616551348
ISBN-13

978-1616551346
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kazuo Koike is a prolific Japanese manga writer, novelist, and entrepreneur. Early in Koike's career, he studied under Golgo 13 creator Takao Saito and served as a writer on the series. Koike, along with artist Goseki Kojima, made the manga Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub), and Koike also contributed to the scripts for the 1970s film adaptations of the series, which starred famous Japanese actor Tomisaburo Wakayama. Another series written by Koike, Crying Freeman, which was illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami, was adapted into a 1995 live-action film by French director Christophe Gans.

Goseki Kojima was a Japanese manga artist known for his collaborations with Kazuo Koike. The team was often referred to as the “Golden Duo.” Kojima’s best-known work was Lone Wolf and Cub. Other titles attributed to Kojima are Samurai Executioner and Path of the Assassin. In 2004, Kojima won an Eisner Award.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dark Horse Manga; Illustrated edition (June 4, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 712 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1616551348
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1616551346
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.32 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.05 x 2.14 x 7.24 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #227,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #108 in Historical Fiction Manga (Books)
- #543 in Dark Horse Comics & Graphic Novels
- #674 in Mystery Manga (Books)

Customer Reviews:
384 ratings

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5 star		87%
4 star		9%
3 star		2%
2 star		1%
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Top reviews from the United States

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Tobias L Merriman

Are you a single parent who's child has left the home?

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2019

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Be me. Be a single parent for 18 years. Fear failure at every turn. Clinch your buttock at every parent teacher conference, sporting event, and social function the child is involved with for fear that you haven't told him something or let him down in some way. Watch him graduate HS, then college, then move in with a great partner. Have basically nothing to complain about your child. Wait for the sensation of success to wash over you but instead drown in sadness and lonely lack of purpose. Buy this book and wallow. 5 stars.

53 people found this helpful

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Armando N. Roman

Assassin! Lone Wolf and Cub! *everyone dies* *walks off without looking back*

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2015

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Like a lot of people, I first became aware of Lone Wolf and Cub by watching Shogun Assassin. I was working in a movie store, and a regular customer would talk about martial arts and samurai movies with me regularly, and one day, he came in to lend me his copy of Shogun Assassin. I’d never seen anything like it before, and fell in love with the character of Ogami Itto, who may very well be the original one-man army character. I looked up as much info as I could about it, and found out that it was actually an edited version of portions of a series called Lone Wolf and Cub, which was based on a very long comic series. I set out to read the comics in no time, and quickly became addicted. About 10 years has passed since I finished the series, and now that these huge collections have been released, I’m going though it again to see how it holds up. I’m happy to say that this comic, which started all the way back in 1970(!) very much holds up, and a lot of comic artists and writers could learn a thing or two by reading just one story in any of these volumes.

Ogami Itto was the shogun’s executioner, and has chose to live the path of an assassin, offering his sword and son, Daigoro, to anyone willing to pay for his services. Itto has more than enough skill to deal with the most feared foes, armed with his dotanuki sword and expert tactics. He does whatever it takes to get the job done, even if it means appearing weak. One case has him allowing himself to be captured by the enemy, dismantling them from the inside out once he’s in their lair. Another has him entering a prison with some of the toughest criminals out there, getting unceremoniously beaten, then allowing himself to get put on death row after he kills a few of the guys that beat him after he gets the info he needs. The funny thing is, with all these dangerous situations, the guy’s rarely in any serious trouble because he’s just -that- good. This first volume of the Lone Wolf and Cub Omnibus contains 16 chapters in the series, with each chapter showing why Ogami Itto is probably the baddest fictional dude to grace any form of media.

As much as I could go on about how awesome the brutal fights are in this series, I think that everyone gets that by now. Fights are over very quickly in Lone Wolf and Cub, making you wonder what happened to manga where many fights are drawn out over the course of several books in some cases, usually just to showcase how powerful characters are, or worse- letting characters “power up” over several chapters. Goseki Kojima does a fantastic job showing how skilled Itto is with any weapon in just a couple of panels, never wasting a single space with unnecessary flash. Kazoo Koike’s writing is top-notch, and there is some very clever stuff in here. Ogami Itto isn’t a mindless killing machine- he has reasons for doing things the way he does them, and the majority of what he does in this volume is all planned out in advance. There were a lot of times I found myself smiling because of how tricky something was.

To be completely honest, I loved every single chapter here except for one which felt like a short filler episode. But even that one wasn’t bad by any means. It just wasn’t anywhere near as good as the others. Some of my favorite were:

-Chapter 5: Suio School Zanbato. Ogami Itto has a duel with a high ranking samurai, even getting a written note from the guy stating that he agreed to the duel. After dispatching him, the samurai’s men seek revenge on Itto, planning to ambush him on horses.

-Chapter 8: Wings to the Birds, Fangs to the Beast. Probably one of the more well-known chapters here. Itto and Daigoro head to a hot spring that’s ruled by outlaws at the moment, who’ve taken the nearby village hostage. Itto does a very noble thing to save a prostitute, and deals with the outlaws in a way that only he can. Having a baby cart that’s full of built-in weapons sure helps.

-Chapter 9: The Assassin’s Road. This is the one chapter where we learn something about Ogami Itto and Daigoro, going over part of what led them to this path they walk. One of the duo’s most memorable moments comes at the end of the chapter during a duel where Itto bows his head down while dashing at his opponent, revealing Daigoro on his back wearing a mirror on his head to reflect the sunlight at the opponent, blinding him.

-Chapter 12: Tragic O-Sue. This is basically a Daigoro story. With his dad sick, resting in a small temple somewhere (and having some pretty gnarly nightmares about demons), Daigoro is left to fend for himself after he gets imprisoned by a high ranking samurai’s family. The master of the house wonders if Daigoro is the son of the infamous Lone Wolf and Cub assassin he’s heard so much about.

-Chapter 16: Half Mat, One Mat, A Fistful of Rice. Finally, we end the book with the first opponent who actually stands a chance against the assassin. A highly skilled samurai turned sideshow attraction takes the father and son out for a meal after accidentally almost harming Daigoro. He doesn’t like the path that Ogami Itto is on, and wishes for him to stop, for his son’s sake. Itto refuses, for both him and his son have chosen it. As a result, he chooses to stop the former executioner himself in a duel. This leads to a very intense moment where the two stare down each other, and visualize several possibilities of what’s going to happen when they make their moves.

And keep in mind those are only 5 of my favorites, and there are at lest 5 others I could go on about! What are you waiting for? This is a crazy-good deal for so much of the story. My only issues are that it would be so much better if the volumes were in hardcover format, because the paper covers do start to wear down quickly due to how much content there is, and I’m still not happy that they reversed everything. Yes, this reads like a standard US/European comic, from left to right, and as a result, all the artwork is reversed too. Dark Horse has a reason for it, and it’s not a very good one. Maybe in another couple of decades they’ll finally put it out as it was originally published?

Those minor complaints aside, nothing should keep you from buying this book.

22 people found this helpful

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Josh Matheny

Lone Wolf & Cub Omnibus Volume 1 A very nice thick manga from Dark Horse Manga

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2016

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Lone Wolf & Cub Omnibus Volume 1
A very nice thick manga from Dark Horse Manga, over 700 pages of pure black and white action, intrigue, and self exploration in this book.
This is my first manga, I believe. The closest I ever came to this type of stuff was Scott Pilgrim and SharKnife, the latter being absolutely deplorable.
The story revolves around a Ronin out to atone or avenge the death of his wife, carrying his son with him. Why he has his son at all is revealed halfway through the book and is one of the more powerful scenes so I won't go through it now with you.
Basically, he's an assassin. He often uses his son and puts him in grave danger to meet his mission, but his reasoning is "Even a Wolf Cub is still a Wolf", seeing as his son is strong and can take care of himself.
This is absolutely brilliant and I for sure will be buying volume two in this series. Lots of action, lots of neat problem solving and unique murders and stories to keep you guessing each time. It did end softly with the last two stories but 98% of the book is gold.
Definitely check it out, even if you've never read this sort of thing (like myself), you might like it.

12 people found this helpful

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Full of action and philosophical and spiritual themes

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2021

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Years and years ago I came across the Lone Wolf and Cub movie series in a record store in New York City’s lower East Side. Ever since then I’ve been in love with the character Ogami Itto and his little boy Daigoro. This my first venture into the manga source material however.

I loved the art by Goseki Kojima. There are many panels that are just full of contemplation and action. The latter includes a lot of spewing blood just like in the films. Writer Kazuo Koike also threw in many philosophical and spiritual themes about Itto’s path down the assassin’s road and what that meant for his life. There’s one comic about killing the Buddha and another about a samurai challenging Itto to a duel to end his reign of death.

Several of the issues were also used in the movies like when Itto gives up his position as the Shogun’s assassin or when he faces the Bentenrai ninjas.

It was definitely a blast reading the manga and I plan on reading the rest.

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Michael

The Six Paths

Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2020

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This is a fantastic series. I don't believe you learn the full underlying epistemology until Volume 6 where you get it in a single panel. As you read it, look for these elements.

1. The way of heaven
2. The way of man
3. The way of slaughter
4. The way of the beast
5. The way of starvation
6. The way of hell

3 people found this helpful

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Drew

FINALLY! Now I don't have to squint to read this manga epic.

Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2013

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The series is one of the best Japanese comics ever created, up there with the likes of Akira and Berserk...I think. For whatever reason, when Dark Horse decided to pick the series up and reprint it as they've done with numerous Japanese comics in the past, they decided to release it in an incredibly small size, smaller even than the usual "digest" size manga softcovers that people are used to. I started reading it quite awhile ago, but found that I couldn't fully enjoy the artwork (or read the text) due to the insanely small print.

Well, Dark Horse has finally come to their senses and release the series in the usual "digest" size they use for all their other reprint manga properties. Not to mention, they also added more story (the volume contains the contents of the first two and a half original LWAC books). Why they didn't do this sooner, I can only imagine. But I look forward to reading (and in some cases re-reading) this series from the beginning.

40 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Faustus

Lone Wolf and Cub

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 21, 2013

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Creator Kazuo Koike's storytelling is masterful; every word has purpose. There's nothing wasted. Ogami says very little so when he does speak we know to sit up and pay attention.

Much of the time Kazuo lets Goseki Kojima's amazingly kinetic black and white visuals carry the story along. It's not the typical clean-lined big-eyed style you may picture when you hear the word `manga.' It's grittier, with deft strokes of the pen.
When the blood starts to fly, Goseki captures the intensity better than any other manga artist I've ever encountered.

I'm happy to say that Dark Horse chose not to attempt to translate words with no direct English equivalent. Instead, they included a short but informative glossary of terms at the back of the book to explain the meanings.

The book collects together Lone Wolf and Cub volumes 1 and 2, and the first part of the stories from volume 3 of the original series (16 chapters in total).

If you enjoy the book, I highly recommend all 6 of the original language film adaptations (not the dubbed versions). The Complete Lone Wolf & Cub Boxset [DVD] [1972 ]

10 people found this helpful

Green Rock

I was expecting it to be better. Sometimes i couldnt tell what was going on ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2018

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I thought it was okay. I was expecting it to be better. Sometimes i couldnt tell what was going on in some of the pictures, i couldnt tell what some of the things were. Some of the characters looked the same, so it was a bit confusing. Story was good enough. Lots of fighting, the fighting doesnt last long for most battles.

Glass

lets walk the path of meifumadō!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2019

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I am a huge fan of this series, after reading the majority of the panels years ago on my phone, i found myself after a paper copy, the size is good for home reading but a little bulky to take out and about, my only negative is that they didn't keep the original format of right to left, and instead mirrored all of the panels, this may not be a major to concern to most but for me it makes a difference seeing all these left handed samurai,

paul tinley

Great art and fight scenes story is good but a ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2018

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Great art and fight scenes story is good but a little repetitive but still better than most modern marvel or DC , but still 5 stars

One person found this helpful

Tron

Shogun Assassin Perfected.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2018

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Between the breath taking art, the deatail to Edo period Japan and the gripping tale of a Samurai driven by revenge, walking the path of a living daemon with his infant son in tow.
A magnificent sprawling epic.