by Joseph Carlson
The tale of revenge is coming to a close. With all of his assassins dead Retsudo hires the Shogun's taster, who also happens to be an expert in poisons. What begins as a simple matter turns into a long tale for the assassin and his son.
As the Lone Wolf and Cub travel through Edo the word gets out to all the service workers that the food Ogami Itto and Diagoro eat must be poisoned so they do not make it to the castle at Edo. Even the 'Nighthawks' or lady-in-waiting are on the look-out for the pair. This is further compounded by the fact that Retsudo is planning to poison the poison maker if he completes his job.
One of the head Yagyu Shinobi gets captured and hooked on opium. He tells the poison master anything he wants to hear so he can make it back to Retsudo. When he does finally report to Retsudo he kills himself but not before explaining what happened to his master. He also tells the head of the Yagyu clan that he must face Lone Wolf and Cub head on to have a clean concious and not make the clan look like a laughing stock.
Retsudo finally agrees and takes to the road after Ogami and his son. Meanwhile The Lone Wolf and Cub have funeral cloths made and say goodbye to people from their past. This is the last few issuses of the comic and it is amazing to me how much is still going on. Although there isn't a lot of people left to kill Ogami it seems that Retsudo still managed to muster a few people.
The end of the series is turning out to be truly epic. The conclusion is drawing near. I can't wait.
Lone Wolf and Cub is available on Amazon and digitally.
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