Katana #1 Review

By Diego Chi
February 16, 2013 - 11:52

Ann Nocenti's Katana is part of the fourth wave of "New 52" series from DC Comics. Centered around a Japanese woman named Tatsu who carries a mystical sword and moves to modern day San Francisco, it has one foot firmly in old samurai tales and the other in modern superhero fare.

Tatsu is a complicated woman-- serious and broody, she talks to her sword which she believes has her husband's soul bound to it (it is called "Soultaker" after-all). Her quest is to become a warrior worthy of the mystical katana she carries, and she moves to Japantown in San Francisco seeking knowledge and a master to train her. However, her arrival was not unnoticed by the local sword clans creating the conflict in the story. Nocenti has taken great care to instill the spirit of the Japanese from page one. There is a fantastic moment where Tatsu describes all the elements of her "Katana" outfit that are both ornate and can be used as weapons-- the observation of "deadly beauty" and "beautiful death" is commonly found within Japanese storytelling. Tatsu is careful to honor her husband at all times, a virtue Nocenti has cleverly written into her character as noble and true to Japanese culture without ever sacrificing Tatsu's strength or capabilities as a woman. The story does suffer from one typical pitfall of westernized Japanese stories: poor dialogue. Some of Tatsu's inner dialogue and cries during battle seem out of place for her otherwise stoic demeanor and there is an opening bit where the villain gives a disrespectful speech toward women that feels trite instead of clever.

Alex Sanchez does a superb job with the artwork. From the major fight sequences to the to subtle details, for example falling leaves that guide the page layout, the book is drawn like a beautiful Japanese tapestry. Keep an eye out for an ornate Japanese tattoo that displays Sanchez's prowess wielding a pencil. His pencils are complimented by Matt Yackey's dark color palette, giving the book a brooding and reverent feel.

This is Katana's first solo book, a spin-off from team books Birds of Prey and Justice League of America. I am happy to see DC branching out and taking a chance with an otherwise background team member, and a female Japanese lead to boot. Nocenti did the necessary-- introduced us to Katana's character's flaws, her enemies, and her mission-- but unfortunately, it isn't enough. Despite beautiful visuals, the storytelling never seems to go beyond average. The sad truth is if this were a Batman or a Superman, it would be plenty to go on, since those characters have a long-standing mythos surrounding them, but for some reason all B, C, or D list characters have to compete with extremely high expectations. I wish it weren't that way, but if a "lower class" character gets an opening slot, they have to hit it out of the park from issue one or they don't survive. There is a lot of potential for Nocenti to turn Katana into a strong series, I just hope the book lasts long enough for us to see it.

Rating: 6.5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12

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