Rising Sun is published by IDW. It is written by Ron Marz and David Rodriguez with art by Martin Coccolo and colors by Katrina Mae Hao.
Rising Sun spins the fictional tale of six chosen warriors from each of the six clans across Japan in the 12th century.
The group is comprised of the leader, Chiyoko of the Koi Clan, Yumiko of the Fox Clan, Katsuo of the Lotus Clan, Takara of the Bonsai Clan, Hotaru of the Dragonfly Clan, and Jun of the Turtle Clan. Each member is a different class of fighter with their own skills and weapons used to fight and provide support to the others. In this story, the Kami (gods) have seemingly vanished and creatures once fearful are now running rampant – mercilessly killing the people and causing havoc everywhere.
Thus, a warrior from each clan was chosen to band together and figure out what’s happening and put an end to it. However, these clans are enemies, brought together by a common threat and therefore not even these warriors fully trust each other, but they’re going to have to if they want to restore the Kami to Japan.
Martin Coccolo’s art and Katrina Mae Hao’s colors are stunning. The design for each warrior is unique and representative of different ancient warrior styles from clothing and hairstyle to make-up and masks – each is something familiar but not often seen used together in a group unit. It makes it easy to identify each character, their clan, and even gauge what their proficiency probably is. I am in love with Chiyoko’s design in particular, she is so beautiful and intimidating at the same time.
Ron Marz and David Rodriguez give each character their own story and personality. We hear most from Chiyoko, Yumiko, and Takara this time, but given that Katsuo and Hotaru are more ninja-esque, I’m not surprised that they aren’t as vocal. Jun was incapacitated most of the time so we learned about him mostly through the others but once he’s back I’ll be excited to get a better feel for his personality. Overall, I like everyone, even the loud and angry Takara, and I’m interested to see what monsters/demons our heroes will face along their journey.
OVERALL SCORE: 8.5 / 10
Make sure to pick up a copy of Rising Sun #1 from your local comic shop!
Happy reading!
