Samurai Jack Volume 1 Paperback – June 17, 2014

As with the nature of writing product reviews of comic compilations, it's difficult to rate the product without also rating the comic (these should be two different things ideally).The product itself is very well made, the 135+ pages (where about 105 of them deal with the main story and the rest have commissioned/concept art) are well bound and have the typical satin "sheen" present in almost all manufactured books of this nature. The colors are perfectly printed with no glaring mistakes like uneven color layers or blatant omissions of ink. Every text box and word bubble are easy to read. This is a high quality product.As for the quality of the art and story itself, such may depend on the individual tastes of the reader. What I can tell you is if you have doubts about the art style, look up the main artist (Andy Suriano) and see his blog and tumbler. His style has a very "messy" style in my opinion and at times I found it difficult to see distinctions between characters in the foreground and objects in the background. That's not to say that his style is horrible mind you, the problems I had with the art are few and far between and it's still very well designed. There were many panels that I wished I owned ans a stand alone picture in a frame on my wall. It's that well stylized.I think the main problem I had with this product was the story. Without giving too much away Jack must acquire all parts to an artifact of power that will return him home. He goes on another journey to find all the parts culminating in a confrontation with Aku. The discouragement I experienced was the overly simple way the story ends. Nothing satisfying, not "fair" in my opinion, and almost lazy in the thought put behind it. I feel as though the ending was put in place to open the way for more comics in the future. This in no way comes as a surprise, this comic series was made to make money after all, I just wish more thought in the ending's explanation was put in to at least satisfy fans of the old show. These gripes are an issue with the writing (Jim Zub) and as for an old fan of the 2001 series, this is what stays with me longer that the art or the page bindings. I want to see the wandering samurai return home or at least find an ending to his story.As good as the construction and art of this volume is, I can't give it a perfect score because of the story alone. That's why I gave this 3/5 stars, because I can't input half stars and I have to round down from where I decided upon. This is a good read, but maybe only a hardcore fan would be able to ignore the shortcomings and enjoy fully.

I was really looking forward to giving these graphic novels a try since I am a very big fan of Samurai Jack and comics. It Seemed like a formula that just couldn't go wrong. Yet, at this point since I finished Vol. 1 , I'm still debating whether or not I wish to invest in the remainder issues. The writing was good, albeit a little simple. It still seemed to capture the heart of the show. The pacing is very fast (maybe too fast) it took me about 15 minutes to read through the book in its entirety. That equaled about $1.34 per minute for the $20 price tag and I was reading at a normal pace. Multiply that times multiple issues and you can see my hesitance for the value. Even then, I love Samurai Jack so much I can maybe look over the price point. Unfortunately, it is much harder to look past the illustration.The illustration usually borders anywhere from passable to embarrassingly bad. Being a professional Illustrator myself, it was very hard to look past. Especially when illustrations by Genndy Tartakovsky are sandwiched between the pages you can clearly see the difference in quality. The original aesthetic of Samurai Jack is one of its strongest points and what sets it apart a work of art ( Some episodes one prime-time Emmy awards) but the art style here just falls flat. The likeness is there, as well as an extremely loose and thick ink job, lack of detal, geometry, color palette. It is also really clear which panels (and sometimes pages in sequence) were rushed. The finale of Vol.1 one ends with an encounter with Aku. Aku looks absolutely dreadful! I mean.......bad. Combine all of this with hard to follow action sequences that break motion in opposite directions and quick cuts that seem to come out of nowhere and you have a very "okay" graphic novel. That being said, it was great to have Jack adventures again and the Genndy illustrations (and even the guest illustrations) are worth having. Too bad the same level of polish couldnt be applied to the rest of this.

I loved the story. It was in true Samurai Jack fashion all through out and was a fabulous return. However Right from the start I could see the adorableness of the art style. Every frame in the original felt like you could take it and out it up in any art gallery. But now I do not get that minimalist beauty as before. Even forgiving the shift of medium and the artist It just felt out of place in the story. Not at all Bad but not really belonging. The most grievous offender of this was the second we see Aku looking, what can only be described as goofy as well. The original Aku was indeed goofy at times in his own way. But was beneath that cold menacing stare that hardly changed. That was the beauty. That he could be so expressive and yet be stone faced at the same time. It was just a real disappointment. However over all the story and the characters and villains made up for the out of touch visuals and I'm definitely still gonna read on.

Even though Genndy Tartakovsky said the comic has nothing to do with the television show, it still feels like watching an actual episode of samurai jack when reading the comic.

I read this as soon as it arrived and I love it. As a huge fan of Samurai Jack, I feel like it continues the story where the show left off and is really fun to read. The art is beautiful, as one would expect of anything Samurai Jack, and it's nice to see both old and new characters appear in its pages. I was sad to finish this volume and can't wait to read the next!

this definitely feels like the story, right where the animated series left off and on the way to finish the story, packaging was a little lacking, but there was no significant damage to the book

Hey Buddy these are the continued adventures of Samurai Jack! Some of the most innovative animation and story telling I have ever seen on cartoon network. It was a joy to watch and now it's a joy to read! If you like the show you'll love this comic!

Good and fast Service 😊

del genial y favorito samurai jack, la calidad del papel es genial se siente satinado y con un brillo genial, los colores resaltan y siempre es un plus para la coleccion de cosas tan escasas sobre el buen jack, cada vez mas dificil de hallar por cierto estos articulos pero no duden si los ven disponibles.

A good collection of stories with nice artwork.

10年前にカートゥーンネットワークで放映された、未来世界を彷徨う侍を主人公としたアニメ、サムライジャック。打ち切りのような形で終わってしまった本作ですが、その後日談がコミックとして登場しました。ライターは日本の妖怪を題材としたウェイワードを生み出したJum Zub、メインアーティストはサムライジャックのオリジナルアニメのスタッフの一人、Andy Suriano他。大抵映像作品のコミカライズは原作に引きずられがちになりますが、この作品に限ってはそのようなことなどありません。アニメより年齢層が高く設定されているのか、全体的により渋く、よりシリアスに書かれており、非常に完成度の高いものとなっております。巻末ではでアーティストのラフ画や、原作者のゲンディタルタコフスキー監督や美術監督のスコットウィルスが手がけたバリアントカバーのイラストなどが掲載され、こちらも一見の価値があります

The book was as good as expected, however it came slightly torn on the cover