Kana; $12.99

When Frank Miller kicked off his original Ronin mini-series at DC Comics in 1983, one of the joys was looking at the pages and trying to guess all of the influences he had poured into the story and art. Moebius and manga are the two most often cited by fans and scholars, and the mentions of manga only increased in 1987 when he provided the covers for the early issues of First Comics’ American printings of Lone Wolf and Cub.

Deftly jumping between fantasy, science fiction, action adventure, and romance, Ronin told the story of a masterless samurai, a Ronin, linked to Billy Challas, a limbless man who in a dystopic near future possesses telekinetic abilities. A massive artificial intelligence complex, Aquarius, releases the demon, Agat, who killed the Samurai’s master. Casey McKenna, the security chief of Aquarius, finds herself caught in the middle.

The six-issue mini-series was epic, an adventure as many twists and turns as Miller could pack into it. It sold well. It won awards. Collected editions of the story have rarely – if ever – been out of print ever since the first trade paperback was released in 1987.

The conclusion, though, was powerful and it also seemed final. Until when Miller announced that his then-new publishing imprint, Frank Miller Presents, would publish what was then called Ronin Book II.

Released in individual issues, the second story skews much more toward the manga influence. Almost the entire story was composed in two-page spreads, all in black and white, with big, bold action and lettering to match. The story pits McKenna and her (and the Ronin/Billy’s) son against Aquarius/Agat.

Given leaning much heavier on the manga influence this time, it shouldn’t be so surprising that it works so well in manga format, but it is and it does. On a personal level, while I found it easy enough to absorb the story in its original serialized form, this format has the oversized hardcover beat for accessibility.

– J.C. Vaughn