Hitomi TP
Writer: HS Tak
Art: Isabella Mazzanti
Layouts: Nicoletta Bea
Colors: Valentina Napolitano
Letters: Rob Jones
Publisher: Image Comics
With the new Hitomi TP — which collects Hitomi #1 – #5 — the creators combine a slightly different samurai story with a slightly different sort of revenge story, mixing them in a way that produces something that feels interesting and new.
The take on the samurai story in Hitomi will have some familiar elements: a veteran samurai takes on a young pupil. It’s a tried and true formula because it works, and it grounds the narrative in this book, which has an episodic story structure that is tied together by an overarching narrative (my favorite structure for periodical comics). Where the creators make it unique is through the characters. The veteran samurai in this book has come to Japan from Africa (by way of Italy and then Portugal and then India). He wants to return home, to the extent that he feels he has a home at all.
The choices made with that character are interesting, enough to differentiate him from other Ronin in other stories that have taken a brash youngster under their tutelage or protection. But it’s actually the nature of the revenge narrative that I found even more compelling. Stop here if you want to avoid spoilers (although this point is established early), but in Hitomi, the youth seeks out the older samurai, because years ago he slaughtered her family, leaving her as the sole survivor. The reasons she is drawn to him feel complex in this book, one part wanting to know her enemy, another part trauma bondage, and still another part that she really has no strong connection to anyone else left.
This is all a great foundation for comics storytelling, and the creators involved make great use of it. There are a lot of artists on this book, with Nicoletta Bea doing the layouts for Isabella Mazzanti’s finishes and Valentina Napolitano’s colors. Their work coheres nicely, giving the world a traditional, brushed feeling that fits its themes and settings. The page layouts are also very well done, delivering a sense of great pacing that lingers in powerful moments and is not afraid to decompress when it wants to make a point or emphasize something.
But again, when thinking about this book it’s the episodic structure I keep coming back to. There are individual adventures in this comic that are just excellent, most of them with intriguing and unexpected twists, including a sheep stealer who dresses as a wolf, a band of women samurai who have been abused by the men of a town, and a two-part finale that involves a stunning dream sequence of sorts. The book is also relatively patient in doling out at least some of its backstory, and it builds to an ending that definitely leaves open the possibility of more stories with these characters.
There is a tendency, I think, to look at a samurai comic that pairs an older Ronin with a young person and think Lone Wolf & Cub. It’s only natural, even if this uses a young, formidable woman rather than a baby. Still, it’s hard to work in this space without drawing a comparison to the all-time classic. But for me Hitomi feels like it does more than enough to carve out its own place and offer readers something new and interesting. I highly recommend it.
Verdict: BUY
The Hitomi TP is available to order now.
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