By Zack Quaintance —  I’ve never really thought about this at length, but within comics, the batting average for great samurai stories is very high. Maybe I’m forgetting the bad or mediocre forays into the genre, or maybe those books often don’t get much notoriety, but when I list samurai comics off the top of my head, they tend to range from great to amazing to all-time classic, be it Usagi Yojimbo and Lone Wolf and Cub, or less heralded recent indie books like Samurai Grandpa.

That said, I’m happy to report that the new Vault Comics series, The Devil’s Red Bride, is yet another great samurai comic book story, or at least it is poised to join the ranks of the other great samurai comics after a stellar, near-perfect first issue. The Devil’s Red Bride, which is due out roughly two weeks from now in the middle of the month, features the creative team of writer Sebastian Girner, artist John Bivens, colorist Iris Monahan, and letterer Jeff Powell.

Perhaps the most noticeable feature of this comic is the artwork, which right away differentiates from much of the other work in the genre by lending a grittier aesthetic than one finds in Usagi Yojimbo, specifically. I have long thought of Bivens as an extraordinaire monster cartoonist, up there with the likes of the great Guy Davis. In this book, he gets away from any and all of his past projects, challenging himself by illustrating a story so authentic and detailed it might be better classified as historical fiction than an outright samurai genre comic. What this means is that Bivens is given the task of matching the grounded reality of the script with accurate period touches, and he absolutely nails it at every turn, augmented expertly by the tone-setting color choices of Iris Monahan, who leans into the grittiness perfectly. 

And Girner’s script provides challenges of its own, asking of Bivens and Monahan a detailed, muddy battle spread within the very first act of the comic. Within all of this, readers will still find the great staples of samurai comics: lethal movements too fast to see until the aftermath, wandering ronan, allegiances to fallen lords, etc. There’s a deep and clear level of knowledge and historical expertise throughout, and it all combines to serve this book quite well. 

The heart of our story in this first issue — without spoiling anything specifically — is about gender roles within 16th Century Japan, and while I won’t spoil any of the twists, I will say that the exploration of this involves a brother and sister pairing who defy tradition, which is certainly an intriguing hook for a comic I will personally be following from start to finish.

Overall: The Devil’s Red Bride is a clear and compelling read, incorporating some common trappings of samurai comics while layering in details that make it feel more like historical fiction. Add in top-tier artwork from Bivens and Monahan, and you’ve got a comic that is not to be missed. 9.5/10

The Devil’s Red Bride #1 - Review

The Devil’s Red Bride #1
Writer: Sebastian Girner
Artist: John Bivens
Colorist: Iris Monahan
Letterer: Jeff Powell
Publisher: Vault Comics
Price: $3.99
16th century Japan. The fates of warlords ebb and flow like tides of blood, none more than the Aragami Clan who follow their lord clad in the 'Red Devil' mask into every battle. But when Lord Aragami succumbs to illness, his daughter, the fierce Ketsuko, hatches a plot to save her people, no matter the cost...Years later, as Ketsuko wanders the heaving battlefields of her ruined homeland, she discovers a chance to avenge the terrible wrong done to her clan, even if it means stepping back onto a road steeped in slaughter.
Release Date: October 14, 2020
Buy It Digitally: The Devil’s Red Bride #1

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.