Blade of the Immortal, Volume 12: Fall Frost Book

You'd think that Manji, the immortal swordsman, would have dispatched just about every sinister personality in feudal Japan on his mission to slay a thousand evil men. But instead of thinning out the vicious herd, he's only shaken loose the most vicious and depraved. Now, Manji and his pal Magatsu are on the trail of one of the baddest apples in the barrel, Shira, old enemy of Manji - and a one-handed enemy, courtesy of the immortal's blade. But while Manji and Magatsu are hunting Shira, the crafty killer has hired a pack of hunters of his own, and if he can't kill Manji, he's hoping for the next best thing: to cut Manji to pieces on a daily basis. Streetwise and violent and yet possessed with a dark grace and beauty, Hiroaki Samura's award-winning Blade of the Immortal has taken its rightful place among the finest that graphic fiction has to offer, a stunning tour-de-force of story and art like none other.

Lisa Martincik - VOYA

The Blade of the Immortal series revolves around a young woman, Rin, on a vengeance quest in eighteenth-century Japan, and the cursed, nigh-immortal swordsman, Manji, whom she recruits to help her. In this twelfth volume in the series, Manji himself is pursued by vengeful, crazed swordsman Shira, whose arm he recently cut off. Luckily Manji is traveling with Magatsu, a young man formerly allied with Rin's enemy and out for vengeance against Shira for killing his girlfriend. Following the bloody resolution to this conflict, the story cuts to an interlude depicting Rin's slow journey toward her enemy's stronghold and then begins a new chapter focusing on the enemy himself and his entangling new alliances. This series is a relative old-timer in the American manga scene; Dark Horse began publishing the translated version in 1997. Creator Samura takes his time telling the story, using six or fewer often wordless panels per page. The black-and-white pictures are beautiful and rich with atmosphere, whether quiet scenes of contemplation or frantic action sequences. A fight will often culminate in a full-page depiction of the telling blow, composed with dynamism and symmetry. Samura's storytelling is also quirky, filling his characters' period dialogue with contemporary slang, and he is unstinting in his depiction of the visceral. A word of caution is necessary: This otherwise bloody issue culminates in a discreet but erotic scene of lovemaking. Blade of the Immortal's image of pre-modern Japan might be filled with anachronism, but it is also gifted with loving detail and interesting perspective. VOYA Codes 4Q 3P S A/YA G (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal withpushing; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult-marketed book recommended for Young Adults; Graphic Novel Format). 2003, Dark Horse, 232p., Trade pb. Ages 15 to Adult.