Silent Dragon #1

July 25, 2005

Quick Rating: Good

The life and death of Renjiro

Writer: Andy Diggle
Pencils: Leinil Francis Yu
Inks: Gerry Alanguilan
Colors: Dave Stewart
Letters: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Cover Art: Leinil Francis Yu
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm Signature Series

Andy Diggle’s newest foray into comics is a rather original one for him – a sci-fi/samurai epic. The series begins in the year 2063, as a young woman named Takara finds herself facing off with a red-headed man with a bloody sword. As she stares into his eyes, she see something… familiar.

Then the series jumps back in time a year as a warrior called Renjiro comes face-to-face with a “living ghost” that warns him of an approaching hell. From here the book is part action, part drama, part epic, and pretty good overall. The samurai story, while a favorite of mine on the movie screen, is harder to translate to comic books. Giving it a sci-fi twist makes it a bit more unique and a bit more entertaining.

This is the first time I’ve seen Leinil Yu’s work since his incredible turn on the Superman: Birthright series, and while he’s been missed, he hasn’t lost a step. He has a wonderful balance between the traditional, powerful look of a samurai tale and the cool sci-fi technology and monsters that this series calls for.

There’s not too much to tell, except that I’ve got to wonder if the exposition is over this issue or if the entire series is going to be propelling us forward to the prologue we got this issue. Either way, it could be entertaining.

Rating: 7/10