I finished it. It took me about four months to read the entire series of the classic 1970s comic, Lone Wolf and Cub. It consists of 28 volumes adding up to more than 8,000 pages. It’s a highly influential work whose effects on popular culture you’ve definitely seen. It was also an absolute pleasure to read.
Kazuo Koike’s story has been described as epic in scope - covering much of Japan geographically, historically, and culturally - and personal in its details. Dozens and dozens of original, memorable characters cross Ogami Itto’s path of revenge. He is the titular Lone Wolf, a traveling assassin-for-hire with a three-year old son strapped to his back.
Goseki Kojima’s art is very live and expressive, but rarely cartoonish. He takes the time to bookend the comic’s endless stand-offs and battles with pastoral landscapes and scenes of nature in its smallest and largest forms: Daigoro, the quiet child, watching ants or chasing butterflies; storms forming cliffs and crushing cities.
Was it “worth it”, buying and reading the whole thing? You bet. It’s not a life-changing experience as you page through it, but by the end of book 28, you may find yourself seeking Ogami-dono’s advice in everyday life.
As for how much of a financial investment it is to go through the whole series, there’s an enjoyable “snack-size” quality to Dark Horse’s issue. You can pick up each book for $9.95 on Amazon, or if you have a quality bookstore around, get them as low as $4.95. Keep in mind that maybe three or four issues are, for some reason, hard to find - I located them via AbeBooks and paid maybe $30 for the rarest one. Make sure you’re not getting one of the other, non-Dark Horse releases.
(Lol: there was an American follow-up of sorts to this series, titled Lone Wolf 2100. It was a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story rendered in neon gradients. Avoid with all your might.)
Oh, and: I’m not super-familiar with manga, but Lone Wolf and Cub is very much unlike what I have read. Its closest counterpart are Kurosawa’s action movies like Yojimbo and Hidden Fortress, with a good bit of Rashomon-esque drama. It’s tense, violent entertainment, with a great deal of maturity to it.
