Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 1 The Assassin's Road with Jay McKiernan
We’re back with another episode of Trade School! This time, we’re talking about Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 1 The Assassin's Road! Our host this week is Jay McKiernan!
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Edited by Case Aiken
Scored by Bret Eagleston
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Notes
Manga Publication and Legacy
This section highlights the publication history and enduring influence of Lone Wolf and Cub as a landmark manga and samurai story.
First Publishing’s initial release and impact established Lone Wolf and Cub in North America in May 1987, capturing mature comic readers with a striking Frank Miller cover and a unique samurai story (00:30)
The series combined samurai action with a deep father-son relationship, standing out against contemporary superhero comics.
Despite First Publishing’s financial struggles and cancellation at issue 45, the series built a dedicated fanbase.
The manga’s influence extended beyond comics, inspiring six movies, four plays, and a TV show and shaping popular stories like The Mandalorian and The Witcher.
Jay McKiernan emphasized the series’ importance as one of the most popular and influential manga ever created.
Dark Horse Comics’ revival and faithful re-release began in 2000, completing the series with all 28 volumes in correct story order and size, though still left-to-right format (04:45)
Dark Horse’s editions included contextual essays and glossaries to help readers understand feudal Japan themes.
The publisher later released omnibuses and higher quality versions, making the series widely accessible today.
Jay acknowledged the strong market demand despite the high cost, as he personally purchased all volumes promptly.
These reprints helped cement Lone Wolf and Cub’s status as a definitive samurai manga for new generations.
Story and Character Depth
This section explains why the series’ narrative and character design make it compelling beyond typical action comics.
Central father-son dynamic drives emotional engagement, with Ogami and Daigoro’s journey blending innocence and harsh realities of death in feudal Japan (02:50)
Daigoro’s perspective adds depth, showing both childlike innocence and trauma from violence.
Ogami’s decisions are guided by Buddhist beliefs and samurai codes, making him arguably the most moral assassin in comics.
The story balances brutal violence with strong character development, avoiding a simplistic assassin tale.
Volume one sets a strategic tone and moral framework, introducing Ogami’s assassin work and his demand for clients to reveal motives (05:50)
References to Sun Tzu’s Art of War highlight Ogami’s tactical intelligence.
The iconic moment where Daigoro must choose to follow his father or join his mother in death reveals deep emotional stakes.
These early stories establish the themes of honor, strategy, and personal sacrifice that define the series.
Creative Talent and Artistic Excellence
This section covers how the writer and artist contributed to the manga’s artistic and storytelling brilliance.
Kazuo Koike’s writing blends history, religion, and character work to hook readers quickly with compelling new characters and meaningful conflicts (07:20)
Each story introduces new characters with clear motivations, making even villains like Retsuo Yagyu multidimensional.
Koike’s skill ensures every sword fight matters because readers care about the people involved.
Goseki Kojima’s detailed artwork elevates the narrative, using ink and white space masterfully to create gallery-worthy visuals (08:20)
Kojima’s technique includes washed ink effects that give scenes emotional weight and clarity.
Every brushstroke and panel is carefully placed to guide readers and enhance storytelling.
Jay highlighted Kojima’s art as some of the most beautiful and deliberate in comics history.
Frank Miller’s endorsement underscores the manga’s literary quality, calling it a full-fledged adventure novel with rich world-building and deep characterization (08:55)
Miller praised the creators for devoting time to moments that would be brief in superhero comics, deepening reader understanding.
This external validation reinforces the manga’s artistic and storytelling stature.
Audience Engagement and Accessibility
This section describes how the series has been made accessible and why readers should engage with it.
Dark Horse’s editions improve accessibility by including educational glossaries and historical essays to explain Japanese culture and references (05:10)
These additions help readers new to Japanese history appreciate the story’s context and deepen immersion.
The availability of omnibuses and high-quality versions means readers can enjoy the series in preferred formats.
Jay McKiernan recommends the series despite its graphic content, warning about sexual violence but emphasizing the story’s moral depth and artistic value (03:40)
He argues the father-son relationship and Ogami’s character make the series emotionally rewarding.
The series appeals to fans of samurai stories and those interested in complex character-driven narratives.
The podcast and online presence support fan engagement, with Jay promoting his Long Live the Legion podcast and social media to connect with comic fans (09:40)
This community focus encourages ongoing discussion and discovery around related comic properties.
The Certain Point of View network offers additional resources for comic enthusiasts.
Transcription
00:00
Welcome to Certain Point of View's Trade School, where each episode a different host talks about a comic book trade paperback that they loved and why they love it.
00:08
Hi, My name's Jay McKiernan and I'm here to talk about one of the greatest manga series of all time. But first, let me start with an apology. I'm probably going to butcher some Japanese pronunciations and I'm also going to Anglicize everyone's names. No offense intended, but if you listen to my podcast Long Live the Legion, you know that I regularly mispronounce everything in May of 1987, a new comic book hit stores across North America, nestled in with John Byrne's new take on Superman, the end of Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's Year One, and the beginning of Peter David's epic run on the Incredible Hulk. First Publishing presented a reprint of a classic Japanese manga. You remember First Publishing, don't you? The company that brought books like American Flag, Grimjack, and Jon Sable Freelance to comic audiences.
00:56
The the company that, along with Kimiko, was making both Marvel and DC worried they were going to lose more of their mature readers. The issue in question, the new comic Lone Wolf and Cub 1 the Frank Miller cover, was what grabbed me first. There was something about seeing a samurai sword covered in blood with a small child under his arm that made me want to read more. Inside the book, Miller sang the praises of the story, calling it his favorite comic, and wrote many of the introductions of these early first issues. And and after reading that initial story written by Kazuo Koiki, drawn by Goseki Kojima, I was hooked for life.
01:32
Now, what I didn't know at the time, but would quickly learn, was that Lone Wolf and Cub, or Kuzuri Okami in Japanese, was one of the most popular and influential manga series of all time. It spawned six movies, four plays, and a TV show. It created the skilled fighter protecting a child over a long journey trope that we still see today. Stories such as the Road to Perdition, the Mandalorian, and the Witcher were inspired either directly or indirectly by this series. I couldn't get enough. I didn't care that the series was presented out of order on larger paper than originally and shifted to read left to right instead of the Japanese standard of right to left. I just couldn't get enough.
02:14
Lone Wolf and Cub is the story of Ito Agami, the former executioner for the Shogun who's been disgraced due to false accusations by the evil Retsuo Yagyu. With his wife dead and facing death himself, Ogami must choose to either accept his fate or fight back and enter the road to hell. But he's not alone. His infant son, Daiguru, must choose as well. Together, they travel across Japan, with Ogami becoming an assassin, destroying the Yagyu clan while searching for revenge. Each story is a dark and violent look at the world of feudal Japan, where swordplay is everywhere. Problems are usually solved by death, and the harsh code of Bushido or of the samurai rules all. Now, here's where I give you my if you don't want to read a comic that has a lot of sexual violence, this is not the book for you warning.
03:03
Because there's a lot. There's a lot of all kinds of violence. And this could have become a very boring story about an assassin killing lots of people. I mean, it doesn't sound that exciting, a guy just walking from town town and then killing someone. But by adding Daigorou to the mix, this is where the series shines. He views everything with both the innocence of a child and the deadened eyes of someone who's only grown up with death around him, and the love between father and son. That connection between the two drives every story, and it makes you care about our heroes. I'd also argue that for an assassin, Ito Gami is the most moral character in the history of comics. Every decision he makes is tempered by both his Buddhist beliefs and the codes he has to follow.
03:46
Above all else, his unshakable strength of character is unlike anyone I've ever read. Now, even as first publishing started to struggle with bankruptcy and the issues came out less and less often, I always made sure to get every issue, even when I was probably the only person in the comic shop buying it. Then, sadly, when the title was canceled with issue 45, and they didn't even get to a third of these stories, I was devastated. Like, this was my favorite comic. And it was gone nine years later. Dark Horse Comics acquired the publishing rights and released their first collection in 2000. The stories were finally printed in the right order and in the correct size, but they were still left to right. But I'm okay with that.
04:27
So we finally got to see the stories, how they were intended, how the Japanese audience first saw them. And Dark Horse didn't wait to get these out. It took them just over two years to release all 28 volumes, and I bought all of them as soon as they came out, as quickly as possible. I mean, it was a large amount of money, and I probably couldn't Afford it, but I didn't care. Like, these were amazing. Dark Horse did an amazing job with these books. Not only did they translate, they included essays on feudal Japan. They included glossaries to explain what everything meant. So as you read these books, you understood all of the background of this, and all of these you can still get. Dark Horse still has all of these on offer. And they've actually released omnibuses. Omniby omnibuses.
05:13
I keep saying that, and I'm not too sure which one it is. They keep releasing which collects three different volumes. And they've actually even released like higher quality, better versions of this, which I have to resist and keep myself from buying. But they're everywhere. You can get these head to any comic shop or actually just go to the Dark Horse website. Now, why should you read this book? Why should you try this? I mean, aside from the simple fact that this is one of the best manga series of all time, it's one of the best samurai stories of all time. It's influenced so many stories that you know and love. Let's just focus on volume one. Why you should read that. It sets up everything. All the stories in the beginning are just explaining who these characters are. You see Ito Agami at work.
05:54
Both himself and Daigorou are for hire. And they actually have a sign saying both father and son for hire. And then he takes his money to work as an assassin. Now, with each job he takes, he demands that the people who want to hire him reveal why they want these people killed. And so he's got to, you know, they have to explain everything. And Ogami swears, I will never tell anyone about this. I will never reveal your secrets. Within this first volume, there are multiple references to Sun Tzu's Art of War. To just show you, Ogami understands strategy. He is always the smartest person in the room. He always has thought his way through every problem. And then the final story in this volume is where we finally see what happened where, why they're on this path, why he's become an assassin.
06:41
And we have one of the most epic moments of the series. Ogami forces Daigoro to choose. Do you want to go to death with your mother, or do you want to come with me on this path as an assassin? It is one of the most beautiful moments. It's an iconic moment of the series. It's definitely worth checking out. Now, every one of these trade, every one of the school episodes that I do, I always like to talk about the talents that are involved in this book. So let's start with Kazuo Koike, the writer, and he has crafted stories that hook you right from the very beginning. Each story is a mix of a history lesson, a little bit of religious study, and intense character development.
07:18
Because he has to introduce new characters, he has to immediately make them real, immediately make them compelling so that you care about what's going on. And then they interact with the two main characters. And normally by the end of it, there's a huge sword fight. If it was just your standard, here's a regular person and we don't care. The sword fights don't matter because Koike does such a great job explaining who they are. The sword fights are more important. Even Retsu Do Yagyu, who's the villain, who could have just been the stereotypical mustache twirling bad guy, has facets, layers and is a real person. You understand why he's doing this, even though he's the person you hate. Now, artistically, Koseki Kojima, he does more with white paper and ink than almost any other artist I can think of.
08:03
I know that I say a lot of times and I do this on my own podcast. We talk about beautiful artwork and beautiful pages. This is not hyperbolic. There's a level of detail that brings these tales to life that I can't think of very many artists who can match this. In fact, and I don't know the technique he uses. He's washed out some of the inks and you look at this page and you go, this should be on a gallery wall. This is something that I would love to have hanging up. It's just gorgeous. And every art choice they make, there are no rushed moments. Every page, every panel, every brushstroke is there for a reason. It moves the story along, it guides the reader, and it tells the story as effect as any comic you can read.
08:43
Now, you can choose not to believe me, because what do I know about art? So I'm going to read to you what Frank Miller wrote in issue two of the first series. Lone Wolf is a full fledged adventure novel in the grand sense. It takes you to another time and to a frightening alien land, windswept and gray, dying in quiet obedience to the insane decrees of insane leaders. Its authors took the time and space to tell their tale in its every moment, often devoting many pages to scenes that wouldn't last. Three panels in a monthly American superhero comic book. We come to know the players, large and small, as we meet them. As they reveal themselves to us. Koike and Kojima tell their story. Masterfully and artfully portraying a man, a boy and a country on their journey into hell.
09:33
You may know me from the bi weekly podcast I co host called Long Live the Legion on the Certain POV Network where Jim Fighters and I talk about the Legion of Superheroes. I also write Legion reviews every week and you can check them out@jmlonglivethelegion.blogspot.com and if you want to find me on social media, I'm on Bluesky McKiernan, BSky Social, and on Discord and Reddit under the name Drake Burrows. Happy reading. Hey Jay Hey Jim.
10:03
You're a fan of the Legion of Superheroes, right?
10:05
Yeah, I've been reading their adventures for decades.
10:08
Me too. It was tough at first with all the characters, but now I think I'm an expert.
10:12
It's not too hard to get into the Legion. And to make it even easier, we have a podcast called Long Live the Legion. We talk about different aspects of all its history to help you out.
10:22
So whether you're a new reader in the Legion Academy or have your own flight ring, or anywhere in between, the Long Live the Legion podcast should be on your playlist. See POV certainpov.com.
Transcribed by https://fireflies.ai/