Ronin (comic)
Ronin is the title of a graphic novel by Frank Miller . The first of six volumes was first published by DC Comics in July 1983. The German translation was published in 1990 by Carlsen Verlag .
Frank Miller tells the story of an abandoned samurai (so-called Rōnin ) who avenges his master killed by a demon and sacrifices his own life in the process. A curse on the dying demon makes his fate inextricably linked with that of the demon. Many centuries later, in a post-apocalyptic New York, the large corporations, street gangs and cannibals is mastered, the ronin and the demon meet again. It comes to a showdown in which the fate of the earth is ultimately at stake.
action
The story is about a samurai whose master Ozaki is killed by the demon Agat in order to get his sword, which is strengthened by blood and is able to defeat the demon Agat when it has shed the blood of an innocent man. Disguised as a geisha, Agat manages to kill Ozaki. The protagonist wants to commit seppuku at the grave of his master , but is asked for vengeance by the spirit of his master. As an abandoned samurai, he avenges his master by thrusting the sword through him in battle and, thanks to his innocent blood, likes to hurt demons. Agat, however, banishes himself and the ronin to the sword.
In the New York of the gloomy future, the sword ends up in the Aquarius complex of the Aquarius Corporation. The complex is a mixture between machine and organism. The complex is controlled by an artificial intelligence called Virgo. Billy Challas, who is limb due to a genetic defect, is also in the complex. He has paranormal powers and artificial prostheses are tried out on him. In his dreams he experiences the story of the Ronin and Agat. Virgo and Billy are amazed at the details as Billy never had any training on ancient Japan. It turns out that the sword exploded during a test and destroyed the entire test facility. Through the attempt, the souls of the ronin and agat were freed from the sword. An alarm goes off in the Auquarius complex and it turns out that Agat is breaking in to try to make the technology his own. The ronin takes over the body from Billy and during the transformation the prostheses are also included.
The ronin wakes up in the sewer. He is beaten up by a gang in search of the sword. The passed out ronin is kidnapped and his futuristic arm is severed. However, the ronin can control the arm with Billy's telekinetic powers and kills all attackers.
Meanwhile, Agat kills Taggart, a senior project manager at Aquarius Corporation, and takes his form. He makes weapons in the Aquarius complex, which angered inventor Peter McKenna for not creating the technology for violent purposes. He realizes that it is a Taggart doppelganger and asks Virgo what happened to the real Taggart. But Agat and Virgo band together and Peter McKenna becomes one of Agat's prisoners.
Casey McKenna, the corporation's chief security officer and wife of Peter McKenna, is assigned by Virgo to find the ronin after he has absorbed Billy. But her team is killed by the ronin. Casey tries to kill the ronin, but Taggart points out that Billy, who is at the ronin, would still be useful to the company. When she finds him, he is with the Nazis and blacks, from whom he has received an order through a hippie to kill the leader of the other group. Casey is knocked unconscious by the gangs and thrown at the cannibals. The ronin kills the respective leaders and then frees Casey, making her fall in love with him.
Meanwhile, Peter and his therapist Sandy find out that Billy would be more powerful than Virgo, whose powers are limited due to a traumatic experience. It turns out that Billy designed the whole story of the ronin based on a television show he liked as a kid.
Casey and the Ronin are suddenly back in ancient Japan, where they meet the subjects of Agat, who are, however, robots from Aquarius. Virgo tries to mentally fight the ronin by highlighting Billy's trauma. Through anger, Billy restores the illusion of ancient Japan and destroys his enemies.
Casey fights his way back to the Aquarius complex against a robot who appears as a demon in Billy's illusion. It turns out that the complex now takes up almost the entire city. There's a power outage caused by the ronin so Casey can get out of the complex. Virgo takes advantage of Billy's trauma again and imitates his mother, whereby Billy agrees not to do anything as long as Virgo does nothing to Casey.
Casey frees Peter and Peter tells her that Virgo is manipulating Billy and that the only way to stop this is that Billy's imagination must fail. Peter is killed by Virgo's robots. Billy wants to oppose Virgo, but Virgo imitates his mother and takes advantage of his trauma again.
Casey meets Peter, who has become a cyborg. He explains Casey. that Virgo is alive in a way, but not entirely. With Billy's expanded mind, Virgo got a conscience, and in order to get more, she made Billy make up the story and get caught in his own imagination. In doing so, Virgo aims to become the dominant species on the planet. Casey demands that Virgo be taken to the ronin. In his presence she is back in the fantasy world. When they kiss, Agat attacks them and Casey shoots him, but it's only a robot.
Casey realizes what to do to end this. She humiliates the ronin. When the Ronin commits Seppuku, he becomes Billy again, who argues with Virgo. When the ronin stabs his sword in his heart and is beheaded by Casey, Billy uses a telekinetic attack to destroy the entire Aquarius complex and with it the entire city. In the end, only Casey and the ronin are left.
filming
In 1998 Darren Aronofsky signed a contract with New Line Cinema to film the series. In 2007 Gianni Nunnari, the producer of 300 , announced that he would produce the film and that Sylvain White would direct it.
Footnotes
- ^ Article in Variety Flair, accessed Dec. 29, 2007
- ^ Interview with Sylvain White accessed Dec. 29, 2007