Japan. Hell of an island chain.
This March, writer Peter Milligan takes us to 1600 and the beginnings of the Tokugawa shogunate. It is a time of flux, when families are uprooted and forced to take to the road. Once proud samurai find themselves masterless ronin. And that goes for Deadpool too.
In 5 Ronin, Wolverine, the Punisher, Psylocke, the Hulk, and Deadpool are re-imagined as downtrodden warriors of Edo era Japan. The brainchild of editor Sebastian Girner, the limited series will be released every week in March with five different artists. It sounds pretty badass. We're looking at a project very similar to Marvel's recent Noir minis, though this time it's limited to a single series of five issues. Each book focuses on a different character and their leg of the journey, though there will be overlap.
The Hulk isn't a mindless green monster, but the monk who stands in for him will be dealing with some rage issues. The Punisher? He's pretty much the Punisher. As for Deadpool, expect a big hat, bare feet, and a whole lot of crazy.
When asked whether we could expect cameo appearances from other Marvel heroes or villains, Milligan said no, stressing that he didn't want to make the project jokey just for the sake of it. This is a road adventure in five parts, with each chapter serving as a character study. While alternate history stories like this or Gaiman's 1602 are fun, there needs to be a thoughtful motive behind the repurposing of characters.
All involved sound extremely enthusiastic, and the preview art…well…it speaks for itself.
I can't wait.
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5 Ronin runs through March, beginning with 5 Ronin: Wolverine.
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They had me at “ronin,” but the art? The preview pages? I’m in!
I’m in. Sounds awesome!
Marvel is having a horrible time getting me exciting about anything they’re doing nowadays. 5 Ronin actually looks pretty compelling. Also note it’s a $2.99 title; if you ever wanted to vote with your wallet, kids, you can do so here.
This actually looks really good, but it could not star 5 people I cared about less. I may just have to give this a shot.
Pretty art. Too bad they can’t jus tell a cool samurai story without attaching Wolverine to it.
@zombox – @PraxJarvin I thought the same; with no powers though, this might be removed enough to where I can just pretend they’re archetypes as opposed to re-imaginings.
The villain is an historical figure, as I understand it. Sounds like Milligan is really focused on telling a great samurai story, simply using character traits of the Marvel heroes. I’m particularly interested in the Hulk story.
Not a fan of Milligan but I will give this a try since I love samurai tales.
That is a fantastic team of artists to go along with this idea.
But even with Deadpool and Punisher on this thing; I just don’t find myself caring to pick it up. Definitely a trade wait.
Cool, I may just pick this up.
@TheNextChampion I am the reverse – if I’m really interested in it, and think it’ll be worth taking up shelf space for untold years, I’ll trade-wait. If I have passing interest and want to see if it’ll be worth while, I’ll pick up the monthlies.
Sold! I love samurai tales and they picked a good cast of characters to focus on, three of which are favs of mine, Wolverine, Hulk and the Punisher. And the covers, man, the cover treatment for this series is gorgeous (at least I think those are covers I’ve seen around the net).
Looks great, can’t wait for the trade
>_> This is already a manga. XD
I’m interested but Marvel is just rehashing things again.
Someone on twitter asked for clarification here it is: “Hulk” is Raoh.
Then again maybe Milligan will take this in a completely new direction. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. If that clip is Logan’s end in that universe then I’m in for a treat.
Superheros as non-superheros? Just shows that it’s character that matters in stories. And Milligan’s a great writer.
Also, love some of that preview art!
I love samurai tales and I think the superhero slant could make this interesting. Anyone have any suggestions for any other great samurai books?
I’m out. I liked this the first time when they called it Immortal Weapons.
I think that this could either be amazing or terrible. I really like Milligan and am hoping for the best with this series.
@PaulMontgomery it’s edo period. so i assume the villain is Tokugawa Ieyasu. i think it would be better if it takes place during the meiji period instead. A bit more modernized and of course it would be the last samurais.
It was a bit odd to see The Hulk as one of the 5 ronins, but I wonder how it’s like.
Reminds me of a great elseworlds story I read in a Robin annual that had Batman as a samurai and Robin as a ninja
this does look really nice. i think i will have to be getting this.
I hate photo manipulation. I wish artists drew instead of being photoshop/lightbox addicts. Sure, it looks great but it doesn’t feel great.
The weird thing is that if this was a DC project, I’d be pooing myself at the prospect of more Elseworlds, but with Marvel, I find myself hestitant to get excited. This may be a game day decision.
Come on! How can Daredevil not be in this? Definitely interested though.
I will definitely be getting this. Been reading some of his better stuff lately and am hoping this will fall in to that category as well. Love the samurai premise and having trouble figuring out which story I’m excited for more…probably The Punisher but seeing as how it’s a weekly book, I won’t be waiting that long 🙂
Ever since I saw 5 covers of this it was a done deal in my book. Looking forward to reading this 🙂
Hmm… This looks like a cool read. I’ll probably end up waiting for the trade, though. P:
Can’t wait for it to hit shelves!! The art looks especially wonderful, too.
Loving the idea. iFanboy should do a Don’t Miss with Girner or something for this book.
It’s good to see clint barton getting a new series, but with five of him isn’t that a little too….wait, what’s this about again?
Oh.
Since most of us saw the clip without prada outlet any context (or without any sound in restaurants and bars), there were prada handbags a lot of questions to be asked. Was he upset over the death of the clubhouse water prada shoes cooler after Brian Wilson(notes) took a bat to it after a blown save? Was prada sunglasses he remembering the .567 OPS he posted for the Tigers during an ill-fated playoff cheap prada push in 2009?