The fact that I know there are 28 volumes in the Lone Wolf & Cub epic certainly enters into how I read the stories collected in Volume 25, "Perhaps in Death." If I was reading Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima's epic manga as a regular comic book then the way the final confrontation between Ogami Itto and Retsudo Yagyu is being drawn out may very well have driven me crazy. But given the perspective of the long view there can be a greater appreciation for how these final impediments only add to the grandeur of the conflict. Although poisoning the blades of the two samurai failed to kill either one of the foes, Abe-No-Kaii has revealed the Yagyu letter to the Shogun and Retsudo is now under house arrest:
(122) "Perhaps in Death" focuses on Okan as she obeys Retsudo Yagyu's orders and uses the Wolf Fire to call forth the grass to Edo to aid their master. Meanwhile, Abe-No-Kaii watches over Retsudo while trying to come up with a new poison plot and Ogami Itto learns that his foe may be delayed in returning to the place where their two swords are standing in the ground.
(123) "Tales of the Grass: Oyamada Shume" is the first of a trilogy of stories on how the grass, members of the Yagyu clan hidding in secret by living as ordinary folk throughout Japan, respond to the call, of the Wolf Fire. Not only must they pass along the signal, they are also required to fake their deaths.
(124) "Tales of the Grass: Nakodera Busho" finds the call of the Wolf Fire coming next to a priest while ringing his temple bell.
(125) "Tales of the Grass: A Day Like Any Other" is the final story of this trio about the grass being called to Edo, and one of the most upsetting tales in the Lone Wolf & Cub saga. I have been reading one episode an evening before going to sleep, and it was difficult to sleep after this one.
(126) "Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, and Brunch" finds Abe-No-Kaii deciding to use Retsudo Yagyu's pride against him since the old man refuses to eat or drink anything set before him by the servants of the master poisoner. But Kaii's spies also report that Retsudo is just sitting there, not even lying down to sleep. The story continues the developing effort to make Retsudo a nobler figure, both in contrast to Kaii and even in comparison to Ogami Itto.
(127) "By His Own Hand" finally returns us to Ogami Itto and Daigoro, who are being watched by the Shogun's bugyo. In a shack by the shore the young boy practices repeatedly with a long stick, suddenly rushing at his father and whacking him. Those watching have figured out the meaning of the two swords stuck in the ground and the hundred mounds each covered with a stone, but they cannot understand the lesson that is being taught by father to son.
I sure hope the final volume of Lone Wolf & Cub is published soon (it has already been delayed almost a month) so that I do not have a gap in my reading experience, but certainly I could appreciate the lesson if that turns out to be the case. I have not bothered to find out the original schedule these comics were published, but assuming a montly schedule this volume would mark ten years worth of stories and I would be hard pressed to name another comic book that maintained this high of a standard for so long a period of time. When you step back and look at the epic in its totality you can appreciate the way Koike and Kojima are putting the pieces into place, slowly but surely.
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