Samurai were members of the military class in Feudal Japan. Originally provincial warriors who served the Kuge and imperial court in the late 12th century, they eventually came to play a major political role until their abolition in the late 1870s during the Meiji era. From c.1000 to 1450, samurai fought mainly as mounted archers. In the 1400s, the classical samurai began to change, as Japan experienced a violent process of political centralization during the Sengoku Period. The end of the warring states period brought the peaceful Edo Period, although rebellions and civil war existed until the Tokugawa clan could secure their power. Afterwards, more samurai became bureaucrats, and this developed the romantic idea of the samurai popular today.
Usagi Yojimbo is a comic book series created by Stan Sakai. It is set primarily at the beginning of the Edo period of Japanese history and features anthropomorphic animals replacing humans. The main character is a rabbit rōnin, Miyamoto Usagi, whom Sakai based partially on the famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. Usagi wanders the land on a musha shugyō, occasionally selling his services as a bodyguard.
Cerebus is a comic book series, created by Canadian cartoonist Dave Sim, which ran from December 1977 until March 2004. The title character of the 300-issue series is an anthropomorphic aardvark who takes on a number of roles throughout the series—barbarian, prime minister, and pope among them. The series stands out for its experimentation in form and content, and for the dexterity of its artwork, especially after background artist Gerhard joined with the 65th issue. As the series progressed, it increasingly became a platform for Sim's controversial beliefs.
Thor, the god of Norse mythology, has appeared as a character in various comics over the years, appearing in series from a range of publishers.
Groo the Wanderer is a fantasy/comedy comic book character created by Sergio Aragonés. His stories are written and drawn by Aragonés, dialogued and edited by Mark Evanier, lettered by Stan Sakai and colored by Tom Luth. Over the years, Groo has been published by Pacific Comics, Eclipse Comics, Marvel Comics, Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics.
Paul Douglas Cornell is a British writer. He is best known for his work in television drama as well as Doctor Who fiction, being the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield.
Steve Englehart is an American writer of comic books and novels. He is best known for his work at Marvel Comics and DC Comics in the 1970s and 1980s. His pseudonyms have included John Harkness and Cliff Garnett.
Mike Grell is an American comic book writer and artist, known for his work on books such as Green Lantern/Green Arrow, The Warlord, and Jon Sable Freelance.
Jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", it refers to stories that take place before the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Tyrone Templeton is a Canadian comic book artist and writer who has drawn a number of mainstream titles, TV-associated titles, and his own series.
Boris the Bear is a fictional comic book character featured in several comic book titles published between 1986 and 2008. The series began as a response to the popularity of the wave of anthropomorphic animal titles that began with the publishing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1984. That title, itself a parody of popular comic books at the time such as Daredevil, inspired numerous knock-offs and parodies like Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung-Fu Kangaroos, Mildy Microwaved Pre-Pubescent Kung Fu Gophers and Geriatric Gangrene Jujitsu Gerbils which led to what many refer to as the Black-and-White Boom of the mid-1980s. The Boris character started as bear who was tired of these comic books and decides to kill them in a hyper-violent style reminiscent of 1980s films such as Rambo. After the first issue, Boris the Bear continued to fight parodies of the Transformers, Marvel Comics, Swamp Thing, and Elfquest before moving on to more character-driven stories.
The Japanese war fan, or tessen, is a Japanese hand fan used as a weapon or for signalling. Several types of war fans were used by the samurai class of feudal Japan and each had a different look and purpose.
Samurai Executioner, known in Japan as Kubikiri Asa (首斬り朝), is a 10-volume manga created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima, the same team that created the popular Lone Wolf and Cub series. The series was first serialized in Japan, from 1972–1976. Samurai Executioner is set earlier than Lone Wolf and Cub, with the main character of the former series appearing in a chapter of the latter.
Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld is a superhero published in American comic books created by DC Comics. Created by writers Dan Mishkin, Gary Cohn and artist Ernie Colón, she debuted in The Legion of Superheroes #298 in April 1983.
Mark E. Rogers was an American author and illustrator.
Dan Jolley is an American novelist and comic book writer. His comics work includes DC Comics' Firestorm and Graphic Universe's Twisted Journeys, a series of interactive fiction or gamebooks in graphic novel form, and his novel work includes the young-adult science fiction espionage series Alex Unlimited along with his international best selling novel, The Gray Widow's Walk, which is his first book in the Gray Widow trilogy that he publishes through Seventh Star Press. He created the comic book character Jason Rusch with ChrisCross.
Afro Samurai is a Japanese seinendōjinshi manga series written and illustrated by manga artist Takashi Okazaki. It was originally serialized irregularly in the avant-garde dōjinshi manga magazine Nou Nou Hau from November 1998 to September 2002. Inspired by Okazaki's love of soul and hip hop music and American media, it follows the life of Afro Samurai who witnessed his father, Rokutaro killed by a gunslinger man named Justice while he was a child. As an adult, Afro sets off to kill Justice and avenge his father.
Jamie Thomson is a British writer, editor and game developer, and winner of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize 2012.
The Daring Twins: A Story for Young Folk is a mystery novel for juvenile readers, written by L. Frank Baum, author of the Oz books. It was first published in 1911, and was intended as the opening installment in a series of similar books.
Frank Cirocco is an American comics artist and video game designer best known as the co-creator of Alien Legion with Carl Potts and Alan Zelenetz.
