Color of Rage

Color of Rage
Story by Kazuo Koike.
Art by Seisaku Kano
Published by Dark Horse Comics. $14.95 USD

Color of Rage is a relatively obscure, brief effort from the author of LONE WOLF & CUB, SAMURAI EXECUTIONER and CRYING FREEMAN. It's not clear when this was created--it's copyright 2004 but reads more like the late '70s. Here's why:

For reasons unexplained, a Japanese man named George and a black American named King escape from a slave ship and wind up in Edo-era Japan. They travel from adventure to adventure, with King bandaging his face as the sight of a black man is so unusual it freaks everyone out. That's one of the plot points that seemed to offend some critics, but it seems plausible enough for the setting. Another bit that others found offensive was King seeing a couple having sex and getting excited enough to almost give away their hiding place. This does play with the stereotype of the hypersexed black man, intentionally or not, but it's a very small part of the story. In fact, Koike seeks to educate the reader on Edo culture, with the peasants and prostitutes almost as much slaves as King was. King and George evolve from fugitives to champions and seekers of a utopia at the end of the road where they can live in peace as brothers. Yes, it's as corny as that sounds, at times, but Koike never lets a speech go by without following it with a good sword fight or lurid scene or sex or torture. It's a pulp book with a conscience, and actually probably a little more sympathetic than the much-lauded and superior LONE WOLF in its portrayal of women. Well, it does have one horrible bitch get her comeuppance, but I liked that after lusting for a woman for days, once George compares the prostitutes to slaves, King's heart isn't in it and he takes a mental cold shower rather than be one more exploiter. As the book goes further, King inspires George to change his mind accordingly, and King ultimately makes a great sacrifice for his friend.

The book concludes with "Crybaby Ishimatsu," which has nothing to do with our heroes at all. It's a violent tale of revenge or standing up against bullies for a woman's honor, or how you should do it before that honor is gone, or...something. It's not very good. Kano's art is better in the main stories; he's got a more Western style in how he draws the main characters, while many of the others are more cartoonish. Action scenes are fine but stiff, nowhere near the grace of Koike's LONE WOLF artist, Goseki Kojima. Apparently this series didn't take off, as there's only the one volume, but while this is definitely not recommended as one's first introduction to Koike's work, it's still quite entertaining and has something to say. I think it's received a bit of a bad rap.