In the early 1980s, the now-acclaimed comic creator Frank Miller released his first creator-owned work—a weird cyberpunk samurai adventure called Ronin, about a sentient AI in a dystopian future that accidentally resurrects an ancient Japanese warrior and the demon who tried to kill him all those years ago. While perhaps not quite as well known as Miller's later work on Batman or Sin City, Ronin is still frequently considered one of the staples of the comic genre.
After a few dark years, the newly sober Miller seems to have a new lease on life—and to mark this new era of his life, he's releasing a brand new sequel series titled Ronin Rising. And it genuinely looks pretty rad (something I haven't though about a Frank Miller comic in a long, long time).
Here's the official blurb:
A cursed Ronin. Psychological manipulation by a sentient AI. A security commander turned savior. And a postapocalyptic biotech war in the demon-teeming pits of a twenty-first century New York inadvertently started by the once benevolent Aquarius Corporation.
Eisner Hall of Famer Frank Miller's Ronin is cited as the inspiration for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Samurai Jack. Now—40 years later—Miller, with the team Philip Tan and Daniel Henriques, returns to the world of Ronin, continuing his story for a new generation in Frank Miller's Ronin Rising.
With Philip Tan and Daniel Henriques providing pencils and inks for chapters 1, 2, 3, and 5 of the book, and the masterful Frank Miller himself drawing chapters 4 and 6, Frank Miller's Ronin Rising is a visual feast, with skillfully executed battle sequences that seem to jump off the page.
Miller and his team continue the story of Ronin deftly and intentionally, drawing the reader into his postapocalyptic world as completely as he did in the original series run, published in 1983–84 by DC Comics, which is widely considered to be one of his most influential original works.
Ronin Rising by Frank Miller with Philip Tan and Daniel Henriques will be published on October 8, 2024.
Previously:
• Frank Miller started a publishing company