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Lone Wolf and Cub re-released as Deluxe Editions from Dark Horse

By John Freeman on October 21, 2025 • ( 0 )

The acclaimed genre-defining samurai epic manga, Lone Wolf and Cub, by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, is being re-released by US publisher Dark Horse in new deluxe oversized hardcover editions – the art now oriented in right-to-left reading format, as originally published in Japan.

The first deluxe volume of the groundbreaking samurai masterpiece of beauty, fury, and power will arrive in bookshops on 9th December and is available to preorder now (AmazonUK Affiliate Link). Volume 2 will be published on 24th March 2026 (AmazonUK Affiliate Link).

When Lone Wolf and Cub, created by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima, was first released in Japan in 1970, it became wildly popular, with sales of eight million copies. It’s known for its powerful, epic samurai story and stark and gruesome depiction of violence during Tokugawa era Japan, and is widely recognized as an important and influential work on many creators, including Frank Miller.

The series was first reprinted in the United States by First Comics in 1987. First went out of business before it could be completed and the series was later picked up by Dark Horse in 2000. They published a translation of the entire series in 28 over-sized volumes, ending in 2002, with iterations since, including a Lone Wolf and Cub Gallery Edition, published in 2017, utilising high-resolution full-size scans of the original art created over forty years ago.

In Lone Wolf and Cub Deluxe Edition Volume 1, Ogami Itto, once the shogun’s executioner, has fallen from grace after false accusations by a rival clan. With his wife murdered and with his three-year-old son to protect, he chooses the path of the ronin, the masterless samurai. Together, the lone wolf and his cub wander feudal Japan, but all roads will lead them to a single destination – vengeance.

In the second volume, Ogami’s relentless quest for retribution takes him face to face with the sons of the war-bell warden, legions of organised crime bosses, a mysterious tattooed woman, a bounty-hunting gang who seek to enact their own vengeance, and a master gunsmith. And the Yagyu clan, fearful of the growing legend surrounding Lone Wolf, has decided to protect itself by sending its own assassin after him, and later pit the greatest swordsman of a rival clan against him…

These deluxe editions are printed in an oversized 7 x 10” format, is presented in its original right-to-left reading format for the first time in English, features a new cover with grain texture, burnishing, and foil stamping, and includes a ribbon bookmarker.

Kazuo Koike was a prolific Japanese manga writer, novelist, and entrepreneur. Early in Koike’s career, he studied under Golgo 13 creator Takao Saito and served as a writer on the series. Koike, along with artist Goseki Kojima, made the manga Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub), and Koike also contributed to the scripts for the 1970s film adaptations of the series, which starred famous Japanese actor Tomisaburo Wakayama. Another series written by Koike, Crying Freeman, which was illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami, was adapted into a 1995 live-action film by French director Christophe Gans.

Goeski Kojima was a Japanese manga artist known for his collaborations with Kazuo Koike. The team was often referred to as the ‘Golden Duo.’ Kojima’s best-known work was Lone Wolf and Cub. Other titles attributed to Kojima are Samurai Executioner and Path of the Assassin.

Dana Lewis is a Japanese-English translator who has worked for Dark Horse Comics, Studio Proteus Comics, Kurodahan Press, among others.

• Lone Wolf and Cub Deluxe Edition Volume 1 written by Kazuo Koike with art by Goseki Kojima, translated by Dana Lewis, collects Lone Wolf and Cub volumes 1, 2, and stories from volume 3 | Out: 9th December 2025 | Format: B&W 720 pages | ISBN-13: 978-1506747613 | AmazonUK Affiliate Link

• Lone Wolf and Cub Deluxe Edition Volume 2 written by Kazuo Koike with art by Goseki Kojima, translated by Dana Lewis, collects stories from Lone Wolf and Cub Volume 3, and Lone Wolf and Cub Volumes 4 and 5. | Out: 24th March 2026 | Format: B&W 720 pages | ISBN-13: 978-1506747620 | AmazonUK Affiliate Link

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.