A question of honor, love, and duty comes into question as a Gaijin tells of his time fighting the the serpent known as Black Spot. See the story unfold in COLD BLOOD SAMURAI #6 by Action Lab Comics.

COLD BLOOD SAMURAI #6

Writer: Massimo Rosi
Artist: Ludovica Ceregatti
Colorist: Renato Stevanato
Letterer: Mattia Gentili
Editor: Shawn Gabborin
Publisher: Action Lab
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: August 21st, 2019

Previously in Cold Blood Samurai: Loosely based on Homer’s Battle of Frogs and Mice, this story follows the protagonist, a Gaijin, who looks for peace. The Gaijin is a foreign salamander in the land of frogs that are constantly being invaded by lizards. COLD BLOOD SAMURAI #6 will reach the climax to see if Gaijin can truly bring peace to Japan.

A FOREIGNER TURNED HERO

The story begins with the protagonist salamander in bed with another salamander and is lamenting about the path of the samurai. We are then taken to a flashback where the unnamed hero is crossing swords with a lizardfolk called Black Spot. Black Spot bites our hero and poisons him but he is still able to destroy most of the Samurai army, including Black Spot. Shortly, the Gaijin is able to find himself with reinforcements from the Frog emperor and the rest of the lizards are arrested. The Salamander is vouched for by a frog known as Swollen Cheeks whom Gaijin saved in a previous issue. The Emperor arrests any frogs that were treacherous in his army and the Gaijin is allowed to rest and heal. He recovers despite the poisonous bite and must make a decision on what to do next. The emperor orders Shogun Swollen Cheeks to commit seppuku and the Gaijin has agreed to do this with him. However, in those final moments, he was unable to pierce his belly. As an epilogue, we see that the Gaijin has taken on new apprentices.

THE UNNAMED HERO

There were several struggles I had reading the book. First and foremost, the story was very action pact and fast paced but my biggest struggle is that I wasn’t able to figure out what was going on. I am unsure if I would have been able to follow the plot line even if I did have the correct context. There are two themes that seem to be circulating through this book. The first is the concept of peace and obtaining peace. Gaijin is a Japanese word for foreigner and this foreigner is attempting to bring peace through this conflict between frog and lizard. This is contrasted by how much violence our protagonist is committing to achieve this idea of peace. There is a question here about how far we will go to achieve concord. A question if the violence we commit justifies the end. The second theme is one of sacrifice. The act of seppuku is one where you commit such dishonor that you must kill yourself to bring honor back. This idea of sacrifice was one our protagonist rejected at the last moment. That senseless sacrifice is pointless.

BOTTOM LINE: NOT A GOOD JUMPING ON POINT

I am always interested in a story of eastern culture even if it is through the eyes of anthropomorphic animals. I couldn’t really follow the context of what was going on in the story and because of that I had no connection to the characters. I think if you were here from the beginning of the series you would have that connection but I couldn’t find it. If you are interested in this story and have seen the entire character growth you may enjoy the resolution.

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