Lady Snowblood, Vol. 3: Retribution, Part 1
The Deep-Seated Grudge, Part 2(2006) left Lady Snowblood tied up, nude, and facing a giant with rape on his mind. Twenty pages here resolve that situation, and the long story that follows acts like it never happened. "Unveiling of a Pretty Woman and a Strange Story" reports one of Snowblood's hit-woman gigs, in which she must cripple the biggest yakuza gang so that a civic do-gooder can replace a block of junky freak shows with a museum. "Master Crook, the Wanderer," which fills out the book, relates how Snowblood gets an eccentric pop novelist to fictionalize her life, which she reckons will flush out the two remaining targets of her long-term vengeance. Less engrossing and dramatic than earlier Snowblood tales, these are played for lots of skin and some crude laughs. Compensation for their dumbing down a fairly smart series comes in Kamimura's artwork, more cinematic than ever, full of marvelous viewing angles, perspectival effects, and purely visual storytelling; Koike presumably scripted these wordless aspects, too. So, hats off again, gentlemen.Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved