Ronin The deluxe edition

Before Miller redefined Batman with a dark, noir look and feel that influenced comics of the 1980s and beyond, his first series followed the adventures of a samurai warrior in a future dystopia. The series is now back in print in a deluxe edition. Miller virtually single-handedly popularized ninjas in American comic books, and here he builds on the tropes of Japanese sword-fighting action against a background of fine-lined European design in the style of French artist Moebius. This edition gorgeously reproduces Miller's deft and intricate artwork. His fight sequences are refreshing and imaginatively choreographed, staging scenes that combine panels into kinetic action. The over-the-top violence is balanced against nimble and believable human anatomy and motion, and his technique of expressing emotion by showing a single face in multiple panels is especially effective. The coloring by frequent Miller collaborator Varley is subtle and understated, eschewing the usual brilliant shades of comic books for pastels and earth tones. The book is a thrilling and inspired adventure story, even 30 years after its original publication-a first-rate classic that absolutely deserves the elegant and attractive design of this new edition. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

This darkly kaleidoscopic 1983-84 tale, a forerunner and inspiration for DC's Vertigo line, was groundbreaking in many ways, not least in its manga influences and its creator ownership. After showing his interest in samurai culture in acclaimed work on Daredevil and Wolverine, Miller here made a dystopian near-future New York City the venue for a reenactment of the battle between a feudal Japanese swordsman and the demon that killed his master. The demon inhabits the body of Taggart, president of technology research firm Aquarius; the samurai possesses limbless psychic Danny, a test subject in Aquarius's compound who gains cybernetic limbs thanks to the company's AI, Virgo. Caught between the two are Aquarius's tough, self-assured (and black) security chief Casey McKenna and her (white) husband, Peter, inventor of the company's biocircuitry. Billy-as-Ronin's encounters with New York's street denizens show Miller's emergent satirical side-but much of the work, which features nudity and visceral, violent action, was strongly influenced by Kazuo Koike and Goseki -Kojima's then-untranslated manga classic Lone Wolf and Cub. VERDICT Mature, ingenious, brutal, and dazzling, this is early evidence of Miller's mastery.-S.R. © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.