The Path, Volume 2: Blood on Snow

by Ron Marz, Bart Sears

He swore to destroy the gods he once served! The holy monk Obo-san embodied the feudal ideals of piety, honor and duty. Then his samurai brother called upon the gods to save his nation, only to be slain by the petty, spiteful deities. Now, armed with the Weapon of Heaven, Obo-san seeks the death of the gods who betrayed him and the rebirth of his own shattered faith. As merciless invaders advance across the countryside, Obo-san must decide where his true loyalty lies.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

Marz is well known for his work on Silver Surfer and Green Lantern, as well as the Marvel vs DC crossover and Batman/Aliens. He also worked on the CrossGen Comics series Scion, Mystic, Sojourn, and The Path. At Dark Horse Comics he created Samurai: Heaven and Earth and various Star Wars comics. He has also done work for Devil’s Due Publishing’s Aftermath line, namely Blade of Kumori. In 1995, he had a brief run on XO-Manowar, for Valiant Comics.

Marz’s more recent works includes a number of Top Cow books including Witchblade and a Cyberforce relaunch. For DC Comics, he has written Ion, a 12 part comic book miniseries that followed the Kyle Rayner character after the One Year Later event, and Tales of the Sinistro Corps Presents: Parallax and Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Ion, two one-shot tie-ins to the Green Lantern crossover, The Sinestro Corps War.

His current creator owned projects include “Dragon Prince” (Top Cow) and “Samurai : Heaven and Earth” (Dark Horse).

Photo by Luigi Novi.

Reviews

[Andrew Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Volume 2 of 4. Issues 7 thru 12 (I presume). Connected to the Sigilverse, this run can stand alone without any knowledge of the other connected series. Mysterious characters are more known when you connect them to the other runs, but without such connections, they lend an air of unknown cosmic and spiritual mystery. The feudal Japanese era looks good within this art, though some areas tend to be chaotic and/or dark. In volume 1, it took some getting used to where a lot of the layouts are done as a two-page spread, so the reading is done back-and-forth on two pages. Not an issue once you realize it. As a sword-and-sorcery fan, barbarian Wulf would be a cool character to see side ventures on, along with his love interest, Aya. Or to see side quests featuring Wulf, Aiko, Yama, and Nobuyuki as a band of warriors with their own personas.

Issue 7:
"Nayado. This is a land of honor. Bound by tradition. And forged in war."

"This is a tale of petty gods and shadowy demons. But more than that it is a tale of men."

Once boys that ran wild together: Obo-san, Todosi, Mitsumune, and Ryuishi. Now, different life choices bring war among the homies. Bart Sears pencils are good but this issue's layout is extra neat with the framing art behind the panels.
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Issue 8:
"Just as I could not allow Nayado to be destroyed from without... I will not let it be destroyed from within."

Obo-san devastates the enemy by breaking a vow but he still doesn't know the path he has chosen. Ryuichi chose his path a long time ago and now must walk it to his end.
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Issue 9:
Guest penciler: Matthew Smith

"This is a land of honor and yet Nayado is conflicted as are you. Both are torn between tradition and change. Between beauty and horror. Between tranquility and violence." - The Story Teller
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Issue 10:
"It seems people will undertake even the most foolish of tasks for love." - Akio

Still enjoying the art, of course, but some scenes are so dark that I cannot make out what the action is. A short love story of sorts for Wulf and Aya, characters I would like to see shirt stories on in literature and comics.
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Issue 11:
"Peace? You did not come here for peace. You came to choose a path, because you are torn." "You are as a river that tries to flow into two directions at once. A river must flow to the sea. Only to the sea." - Sojirou
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Issue 12:
"Tradition demands obedience. But if that obedience leads to destruction, is not tradition destroyed as well? If I would be a savior, I must be a heretic." -

A lot more reading than action this issue, but it's an intriguing tale none-the-less, a little introspective and philosophical without any preaching.

[Highland G · Rating 3 out of 5]

While a fun read, we only got about 2 issues of new story. There was a lot of narration and recapping repetition.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive continuation of an enjoyable series.