I just bought the first Dark Horse omnibus -- the somewhat larger, 700-page reprintings of the earlier digest-size Dark Horse printings of the book. I think they'll be issuing these bi-monthly; the second volume is already out, and the third one is due in November. But I loved this book when I read borrowed copies during the initial DH printing, and I'm excited to begin it again.
I've only read two of the fifteen stories reprinted in the first volume, but it's already exciting me more than a lot of the new comics I've just purchased. Rereading it, I'm aware from the start that Daigoro also chose the path they're on, and it's making these introductory episodes into a different experience for me this time.
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I completely loved this series. I eventually picked up most of the 'First' Comics editions, when they had intros and covers by Frank Miller, but then resigned myself to never reading the end of the series when that got cancelled. I toyed with the idea of learning Japanese specifically to finsish the series, or paying some Japanese person to translate the comics for me. So I was really happy when the little digests started coming out and I got all of them that way. It's quite the epic. Have you already read to the end, Rob?
I couldn't believe the level of historical detail in them, and the 'heart' in the scenes with Daigoro, and the depth of Shinto and Buddhist and Samurai philosophy being presented. Not to mention the mastery of comic craft in them. I'd say these are all-time masterpieces of the form worldwide, and every comics fan should own them!
I've read to the end, yes. Not that my sieve-like brain hasn't lost most of the details, but man, and I excited to reread this epic. If I recall correctly, it took me to the third volume of Dark Horse's original printing for me to really get the hang of the stories, and become invested in it. It's going to happen a lot sooner this time, simply because I know what's coming, and how good it gets. And I'm excited to finally get my own copies of the books, too.
I've collected most of the First editions of this, and absolutely loved them. They have a completely different look and feel from most contemporary manga. Like Figs I kind of gave up on reading the whole story, but these omnibus editions sound like the perfect solution. I feel a library book order coming on!
You know that Dark Horse has already published the whole series in fat little 'pocketbook' editions?
Yes, I knew about those little books. I just could never commit to collecting them all.
I was very excited when they started coming out and got them all. They were handy to have in my jacket pocket when I was bussing around Dublin. Come to think of it, the first piece I ever wrote for public consumption was a page for my local comic shop's little magazine at that time spruiking Lone Wolf and Cub.
Those little ones were really great for carrying around! Had 'em in my pockets all through those two years, too! Very portable!
I read all of the First Comics issues back in the ‘80s. When Dark Horse started printing them (at their intended size) I was so excited! When the first small volume came out, I made a page-by-page comparison of the Dark Horse translation to the First Comics translation, and I found Dark Horse’s to be far superior. (I don’t mean in comparison to the Japanese version, obviously; I mean it was more “literary” somehow, better written.) I had the best of intentions, but although I bought all 28 (?) volumes, I’ve read only through ten or so.
I also have five LW&C movies on VHS, but I’ve watched only the first one (like, three times). We watched a lot of Japanese television shows over the summer, and I very recently re-watched the first of the movies. I compared the movie version to the comics version, and the film follows the plot of the first volume quite closely.
You don’t know how close I am to joining you in this project! As a matter of fact, it is the reading project I plan to move on to next, but my current “epic” is Prince Valiant, and I just started reading volume 44 (of 50) and I want need to finish that first.
Never seen any of the LW&C movies. Sounds interesting.
You'd like 'em.
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