Lady Snowblood. Volume 1: The deep-seated grudge - Part 1
Set in the 1890s, some 200 years later than writer Koike's samurai-and-child-for-hire epicone Wolf and Cub,Lady Snowbloodfeatures a beautiful woman whose martial artistry, like Lone Wolf's, is her meal ticket. Although she doesn't have a child, Yuki has a raison d'etre as compelling. The spirit of her mother, who died shortly after her birth, possesses Yuki's heart and drives her to avenge the double murder and rape that destroyed her mother's earlier life. While awaiting opportunities for vengeance, Yuki keeps her skills honed by being the best hit woman money can buy. Since capitalism and gangsterism are rampant in rapidly Westernizing Japan, businessmen andyakuzaalike can just afford her. Crucial to Yuki's lethality is her sexual allure, and nothing gets her victims to drop their guard like her dropping her clothing. Much more than in the Lone Wolf team's later Samurai Executioner stories, gritty sex and splashy violence are staples here. Artist Kamimura, if slightly less sophisticated than Lone Wolf's and Executioner's Goseki Kojima, easily meets these stories' visual demands.Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved