Samurai’s are cool. Maybe not as cool as ninja’s, but definitely cooler then pirates. Frank Miller was cool at one point, before he went all Sin City crazy on all of his work. So mixing Samurai’s and Frank Miller must be a winning combination right? Well a little bit of yes and a little bit of no.

In the short, Ronin is a comic with very lovely art and the story is a bit of a mixed bag of marbles and poo.

In the long version, I love Lynn Varley. Varley is an artist that should be doing more work then just Frank Miller books. She adds an amazing amount of detail with the backgrounds but still somehow make it look sketchy and simple. Every book she has done has been a breath of fresh air, even pretty terrible books like Dark Knight Strikes Again. So yes the art is great, but is the story any good?

Well again yes and no. Frank Miller certainly adds a good amount of artistic choices. Whether it’s in feudal Japan or a dystopian future. (Is this where Samurai Jack came about?) But my problem with the story is that it’s long winded in some places while in others it’s like reading a kid’s novel. Not saying it’s terrible or bad, it’s just again a mixed bag for me. This sometimes suffer from ‘Golden Age-Silver Age syndrome’ by having waaay to much dialogue when we really dont need it. Miller knows how to pace a fight sequence but it’s no joke that I literally was bored by the story before we got to the final part. Also I think the characters are a bit shallow and there really isnt anything to love about them.

So overall it isnt a bad book, nor is it Miller’s worst title ever (the winner of that prize of poo will always go to All Star Batman), but it’s ultimately not worth an omnibus like this title recently went into. It breaks my heart to say this cause I’m sure Varley’s art looks so damn amazing in a big omnibus. But it’s a medicore story all around and I would more recommend a regular trade of this then anything else. So yeah as cool as samurai’s are, give it a shot at your store before you decide to buy it.