Some of the best books are filled with so little dialogue that the artwork is the main character of the story. This is the case with Samurai: The Isle with No Name. Samurai tells the story of the warrior Takeo who is on a journey to the Isle with no name in search of his brother. Takeo is your typical samurai warrior. He’s quiet but he has more personality than I expected him to. I did find some of his thoughts when he’s speaking to himself kind of odd. He sounded more Western in his dialect then Asian. As he travels through the Isle with no name he encounters several fights, but all of them end with him winning without much effort. I’ve always been fascinated by martial arts master characters like Daredevil and Iron Fist. They seem untouchable. The fact that Takeo is more of a stereotype makes the supporting characters stand out more. Particularly my favorite supporting characters are an old married couple, Meiko and Yoshida. They share a heart-warming scene on a flowery mountain where they discuss their courtship days. The scene ends with a sad reveal. The married couple is just one of many of the citizens who are under the rule of the evil Yakuza leader Lord Nobunaga. He runs his own Mortal Kombat style tournament where the citizens choose a champion to go against his Yakuza warriors. If their champion wins then they no longer have to surrender their goods to him. Takeo seems to be the perfect candidate to fill this role. I really enjoyed the fight scenes in this book. They’re well-paced and entertaining.

To call the job done on this artwork detailed would be an understatement. Every page is full of textured colors and sketching. It feels more like an art gallery than a comic book. The fact that there’s little dialogue on the splashes pages helps showcase the amazing sceneries that are drawn.

This book would be perfect for someone who is a fan of the anime genre but wants to ease into it. It’s also has a lot of elements of the kung fu movie genre. I’m really looking forward to issue 2 of this title and learning more about the different characters.

Score: 4/5

Samurai: The Isle with No Name #1 Writer: Jean-Francois Di Giorgio Artist: Frederic Genet Publisher: Titan Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 3/9/16 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital