Art: Blair, Yap
SYNOPSIS
Homer continues his tale: Hotachi pulls a lever which drops Homer and Toshiro down
to him and Kwon after the two kill many of the mutant men. The dead army begins to
awaken as the Moonstone gets power from the moon high above them through the hole.
Toshiro breaks the moonstone. The giant comes up but vanishes. Toshiro kids around
with Homer, telling Homer he will come back to the Naganata, making Hotachi furious.
The story finished, Gen seems to understand Toshiro a little better. Toshiro and
Lee return from a Kung Fu movie. Lee makes faces at Homer. Homer asks Toshiro if
he ever wonders about the spaceship above. He says never. Toshiro wants to find out
if Lee has any living relatives. Lee undresses and goes to bed but three dark suited
ninjas enter and Lee fights them. Toshiro enters and fights them also. They have
been sent by Marduk. Hotachi fights clones with fire sticks. Centagon has an army
of clones take over the spaceship for Marduk, capturing Black, Kwon, June and Prof.
Stringfellow. The traitoróóMax. Hotachi makes one fallen clone who hails Marduk shut
up by hitting him in the head. Hotachi gets to Simon's room where the boy is listening
to his headset. He tells Simon to take some bags and get into a black outfit (blue
on next issue's magnificent cover), which the boy does. At the hangers, Hotachi fights
more clones, using his fire sticks. He makes one catch his fire sticks. Hotachi gets
Simon out in a shuttle. Simon looks back, crying. Hotachi is not giving up but needs
to find Toshiro Kimura to help him fight Centagon.
REVIEW
Samurai 10
At the very last possible instant, just as the vast Army of the Dead is arising from the dust, Samurai fights his way to the giant moonstone which holds the magical energy and smashes it to bits with his sword! The Ka or essence of the warlord bursts out of the mountain, looming like a thundercloud for a few moments, then gradually dissipates into nothingness.
The current story line resumes with Toshiro, Gennin, Homer and Lee back in Toronto. Gennin owns a nightclub where they all live upstairs. Lee, who has borrowed Toshiro's motorcycle jacket, is sent up to bed while the grown-ups talk downstairs. Sometime after he has gone to sleep a trio of black-clad assassins slip in and note the jacket, hanging from the bedpost, as well as Toshiro's samurai sword hanging on the wall. They decide the person in bed must be Samurai and prepare to deliver the death blow! Just in the nick of time Samurai enters the room and the usual fight occurs. Lee wakes up and helps by delivering a few low punches. When Samurai gets his hands on his sword the assassins give up and press a self-destruct button, turning themselves into dust!
The scene shifts to the Naganata where mutineers are in the process of seizing the ship. Hotachi fights off a small party of mutineers armed with glowing energy wands (à la Star Wars) but the ship has already been taken by the main force of the mutineers. Commander Black and Professor Stringfellow have been taken prisoner. Hotachi decides that the best thing he can do is to get word to Toshiro. After another series of duels he escapes in a small craft, taking Simon with him.
The flashback story occupies the first ten pages of this issue. Then the current storyline resumes, penciled and inked by Barry in a new style which is quite smooth and professional, though simplified. Hotachi looks totally different. Lee is particularly well drawn with Barry's usual perfect sense of proportion.