Kozure Ookami

Written by Kazuo Koike and masterfully illustrated by Goseki Kojima, the monumental 1970 gekiga masterpiece Lone Wolf and Cub is a sprawling, blood-soaked epic of revenge set against the stark backdrop of Edo-period Japan. The story follows Ogami Ittō, the Shogun's elite executioner, whose honorable life is destroyed when the ruthless Yagyū clan murders his wife and frames him for treason. Disgraced and marked for death, Ittō presents his infant son, Daigorō, with a grim choice between a ball and a sword; when the toddler chooses the blade, father and son vow to walk meifumadō—the demonic path in hell. Wandering the treacherous countryside with a heavily weaponized baby cart, Ittō operates as a ruthless assassin for hire, slowly amassing the wealth, power, and secrets required to completely obliterate the Yagyū clan.