With an introduction and cover by Frank Miller
1987, First Publishing, 60 pages
Frank Miller’s introduction was just wonderful. ‘Lone Wolf was not created in America, and wasn’t fed through the meatgrinder of pressure groups and rating systems we use to circumvent the First Amendment…’
The most striking thing about Lone Wolf and Cub is that the entire text [dialogue, thoughts and narration] amounts to fewer words than Frank’s brief review. This is a heavily atmospheric journey into a dark alien culture. The larger story is about a vengeful samurai seeking to destroy the Shogun that murdered his family—except for the cute baby he hauls around with him while he’s dismembering foes.
The immediate story in issue #3 is about this obsessive samurai seeking the meaning of life while acting as a paid assassin. I this instance he is contracted to murder a populist priest on behalf of the corrupt samurai class of an oppressed district. The text is so sparse I do not want to quote any of it. This comic is not about justice, but about survival, a corrupt stifling form of honor, and primal vengeance.
Lone Wolf and Cub #3 is a dark streak of fleeting intensity.
