Vagabond: Volume 18

by Takehiko Inoue, based on the novel Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa, 204 pages

Kojirô, Ittôsai, and their new hanger-on Musô Gonnosuke seek out the battlefield at Sekigahara in order to further test their mettle and quench their thirst for self-actualization via the sword. But they've come a little late to the party and most of the surviving participants have left, leaving a landscape of disillusioning firearm- and archery-induced death behind. But there's at least one antsy steel-wielding warrior still scouring the field for a proper fight....

And so we arrive back where we began, at the battle of Sekigahara where Musashi (then still just Takezô) and Matahachi (before he stole Kojirô's name) fail to satisfy their desire for greatness. Watching Ittôsai egg on dillydallying soldiers just for the chance to cross bloody swords is both disturbing and amusing. But watching Takezô and Kojirô instinctively fight back-to-back without knowing a thing about one another--other than that they're two beasts sewn from the same cloth--is just kewl. They'll meet again someday, I'm certain, and then the cosmos will just have to pause and watch in awe along with the rest of us as the sparks fly.