This is a tale of two historical time zones - Feudal Japan and a cyberpunk/ribofunk New York, sometime in the next century.
As the story opens, a young samurai is devoted to protecting his master, a powerful lord in possession of an enchanted blade stolen from the Demon Agat many years earlier. Agat succeeds in killing the lord. The samurai, to atone for his failure to protect his master, is preparing to commit seppuku (ritual suicide). His master's spirit intervenes. The warrior is forbidden to die. He must live to protect the sword, keep it from falling back into the demon's hands. The youth is condemned to wander as a masterless samurai, a ronin.
The ronin becomes a great warrior. He knows that to finally kill the Demon, the sword must drink the blood of a good person, an innocent. Yet, he does not feed the sword this feast. He wanders, waiting for the inevitable showdown. When he gets his chance to kill Agat, he feeds the blade his own heroic blood by stabbing both himself and the demon. The Demon, however, has enough magic left to bind the warrior's soul to his. Both souls became trapped in the blade.
800 years later, a scientist, hoping to unlock the blade's mystery pierces it with laser light. The blade explodes killing the researcher, destroying the lab. This releases the soul of the ronin and the Demon.
Back in New York, a gifted telekinetic named Billy works at the Aquarius Complex, testing prosthetic limbs. Billy, having no arms or legs is perfect for this work. He talks with Virgo, the living computer that runs Aquarius. He tells her of his disturbing dreams, dreams of a long dead Japan. Nightmares of a demon coming to kill him. Then the magic begins. Agat storms the complex, the ronin takes over Billy. Arms and legs are created from the ronin's magic and the living bio-machinery of Virgo. But not fast enough! Virgo chooses to set off a mighty explosion to protect Billy, or the ronin he was turning into, from the Demon. In so doing, she causes herself great damage.
The ronin LIVES -- the Demon hunts him. Five more issues of magic, living self-replicating bio-machines, and samurai adventure in darktown New York.
Bliss me out...
(P. Sugarman)
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Ronin
Frank Miller
DC Comics, 1983
Here is the TEXT POPUP for Ronin:
Frank Miller created "Ronin" in 1983, after gaining his early fame by transforming "Daredevil" into one of the most fascinating comics of its day. In "Ronin," he deliberately meant to extend the limits of comic book storytelling. Though a critical success, it did not sell particularly well at the time. DC had the good sense to re-issue "Ronin" as a book when, three years later, Miller set the comic world aflame with "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns".
