Kuji No Ho- This Bastard Rocks

BastardIf Mike Oeming’s “Bastard Samurai” bears any similarity to David Mack’s “Kabuki” series, it’s for good reason. They’re both good friends and used a tale of the Samurai and Asian culture as a tribute to their late mothers, who both played an integral part in their development as artists.

Bloody, intellectual and possessing the type of art work that would make it easily confusable with a Disney movie, “Bastard Samurai” manages to steal your soul and hand it back forever changed.

The first three pages cement the notion that this trade is unlike anything else out there, as our main character describes the feeling of a kill being comparable to winning the lottery or falling in love, “IMA: The now, the moment, free of desire.” Explaining how important IMA is to staying alive, Oeming and co-writer Michael Gunter do a splendid job of immersing you into the Samurai world, forcing you to accept the principles and code of the characters involved in the story.

Even though you won’t need to be by the end of the trade.

Taking you on a ride that is as unexpected as it is colorful, there’s so much more than blood and killing present in this story. If you look deep enough, you may even feel that it is almost a coming of age story- one that shows how life isn’t over when you realize everything you’ve come to accept as truth is wrong and you must find a way to pick yourself up again and thrive.

If that wasn’t enough, seeing how this loyal, yet cold and calculating killer deals with life in the outside world is a tribute to every Kurosawa flick and all the Japanese lore and culture you could think of. However, at the same time, the philosophical elements force you to examine your own life, while he brilliant art work by Kelsey Shannon traps you in this world of honor, lies, deception and intrigue, forging the foundation of an excellent book that never fails to captivate.

Sure, it is a bit on the short side and you’d like a bit more back-story, but for what it’s worth, “Bastard Samurai” is deeper than what you’d expect and will linger in your thoughts for days. Challenging the ideas of what a trade is supposed to be, Oeming and Gunter’s tale is truly one of a kind.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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