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How entertaining? ★★★☆☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 20 June 2007
This a graphic novel review of RONIN. |
Created, written and drawn by Frank Miller
Paints by Lynn Varley
Lettered by John Costanza
Paints by Lynn Varley
Lettered by John Costanza
“It is a dark time, a dark age. Hope is a phantom dream, a fragrant memory. Of joy, there is no remembrance. The people have never known it.” From the diary of Casey McKenna, date unknown.
In 1983 came this graphic novel (or trade comic book) that is set in the past and the future. It came from one of the most talented minds in the modern comic book world, Frank Miller; up there with Alan Moore (WATCHMEN, V FOR VENDETTA, FROM HELL) and Neil Gaiman (SANDMAN, 1602). Frank Miller is responsible for graphic novels that are imaginative as well as cinematic: BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS (which arguably influenced Tim Burton’s BATMAN movie), BATMAN: YEAR ONE (which arguably influenced BATMAN BEGINS), SIN CITY and 300.
This is an unusual samurai tale, set in 13th Century Japan and a futuristic 21st Century New York. It is both period and sci-fi. It contains gifted swordsman, demons, magic, cybernetics, robots, artificial intelligence, violence, explosions, action, dreams, duty and mayhem. RONIN is a heady mix.
In 1983 came this graphic novel (or trade comic book) that is set in the past and the future. It came from one of the most talented minds in the modern comic book world, Frank Miller; up there with Alan Moore (WATCHMEN, V FOR VENDETTA, FROM HELL) and Neil Gaiman (SANDMAN, 1602). Frank Miller is responsible for graphic novels that are imaginative as well as cinematic: BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS (which arguably influenced Tim Burton’s BATMAN movie), BATMAN: YEAR ONE (which arguably influenced BATMAN BEGINS), SIN CITY and 300.
This is an unusual samurai tale, set in 13th Century Japan and a futuristic 21st Century New York. It is both period and sci-fi. It contains gifted swordsman, demons, magic, cybernetics, robots, artificial intelligence, violence, explosions, action, dreams, duty and mayhem. RONIN is a heady mix.
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Like many Western samurai tales (KILL BILL, AFRO SAMURAI) revenge is the driving force of the plot. A trainee samurai to Lord Ozaki is unable to protect him from being killed by demon Agat. The samurai is disgraced and is now a ronin (a masterless samurai). He swears to avenge Ozaki. The only way to kill the demon is with a special sword, now in the possession of the ronin, and with the blood of an innocent on the blade. The ronin uses his own blood but before Agat dies he traps them both using magic in the sword. From feudal Japan to 800 years later they are both freed in America by a scientist and the battle commences again.
The graphic novel shares many traits with Japanese animé (such as NINJA SCROLL and PRINCESS MONONOKE) a period sensibility wrapped up in the fantastical and surreal. The book shares some of the violence and sex with the former, though toned down.
The demon can control flesh and takes hold of those useful (perhaps a corruption of the sensual – like the Kabuki theatre?), while the ronin shares the body of a disabled person and using the latest technology is granted new bio-mechanical limbs (prescient to nano technology). The battle in Manhattan is an interesting canvass. The world is in a depression, the last since the 1930s, and is a violent, lawless, hopeless place. There is starvation and cruelty. A “crash” occurred but that is the only hint as to the causes.
This future society is an interesting commentary on Japan in specificity and the world as a whole. The environment is devastated. There has not been any snow in Manhattan for five years. The voices on this subject are growing on a significant scale. There too has been much criticism of Japan’s relationship with nature – destruction of the environment in exchange for technological advancement (the plethora of electricity pylons, levelling of mountains, concrete everywhere, etc.).
New York is also a hotbed of racial tension. Added to that, the world is on the verge of a final war, with nations, companies and individuals fighting for scraps. Arms manufacturers are greedily looking for the latest weapons to give them the edge. There is a feeling of post apocalyptic malaise like much of the manga and animé from Japan over the decades, with a similar cataclysmic and enigmatic ending that frustrates.
RONIN is an imaginative, brooding dystopia but not completely satisfying due to the ending. Miller has said that from now on only he will adapt his work for the big screen. I cannot wait! RONIN is on that list.
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