Review by Karl Verhoven
Just as there’s no shortage of American superhero comics, Japan hardly lacks for samurai epics, yet what differentiates Vagabond is it being based on the exploits of actual 17th century samurai Miyamoto Musashi, who wrote his autobiography before his death. However, a succession of writers have built on that since, and while Musashi dismissed his younger adult years, others have filled in the gaps, and Takehiko Inoue’s greatest influence is a 1930s work by Eiji Yoshikawa, which begins with Musashi as a young man.
As Vagabond open he’s seen as one of the few to survive a battle, and was then known as Shinmen Takezō, his name forming the title of the opening chapter. The series title indicates his wanderings, which begin as he regains consciousness on the battlefield and falls in with a woman and her young daughter who strip corpses and sell on their weapons and armour.
Inoue seems to treat Masushi’s legend with respect, yet at this early stage of his life he’s shown as having the confident foolhardiness of youth, brave certainly, but also reckless at seventeen, and not above taking advantage of circumstances. Inoue draws Masushi’s exploits realistically, with none of the exaggerated facial expressions accompanying extreme emotion in some manga, and beautiful portraits are found on the few colour pages opening some chapters. The sample page shows Takezō and his mate Matahachi about to ambush a bandit, which is a pivotal sequence with consequences.
Having been part of an unsuccessful rebellion, the pair of them intend to return to their home village, but that’s not an option. A clever piece of storytelling, though, sees Takezō fleshed out by others in his village, especially a vindictive elderly woman, marvellously drawn as a resentful bag of wrinkles. “At the age of thirteen that bastard killed a full grown man”, she tells the troops hunting for him, so inflating his capabilities further. By today’s standards the use of rape as a weapon will be appalling, as will the extreme youth of girls considered fit to be married, but the offence ought to be at the times, not Inoue for showing how things were. The explicit content advisory is more to do with tone, violence and unpalatable subject matter than nudity.
The excitement of adventure and battle is perpetuated all the way through this opening volume, which is combined with Vagabond Vol. 2 in the first VizBig edition. Fans of manga already know what a samurai story has to offer, and new readers will be quickly hooked by the blend of emotion and action, and Inoue ends on a cliffhanger with Takezō about to face his biggest challenge yet.
