Viz Communications, Inc. is pleased to announce the next installment of the monthly series Vagabond. As part of the extensive Viz Comics line, Vagabond: Issue 4 releases February 2002 in a black and white, 80-page, unflopped (reads from the Japanese traditional right to left) format. Vagabond: Issue 4 will retail for $4.95 U.S. ($7.95 Canada).
In this issue, as the relentless manhunt for Takezo continues, Tsujikaze Kohei also seeks out Takezo to avenge his brother Tenma's death. Meanwhile, the eccentric and clever Zen monk Takuan makes a wager to succeed where an entire village and feudal soldiers could not: to capture Takezo aided only by the mild-mannered Otsu.
Author and artist Takehiko Inoue was born in Kagoshima prefecture in 1967. His first major success—the hugely popular 31-volume long Basketball manga Slam Dunk—sold over 100 million copies worldwide and catapulted him into the top ranks of Japanese manga artists. Since its release, every tankoban (Japanese graphic novel) of Vagabond has been on the top ten best seller's lists in Japan with over 1.6 million volumes in print. Inoue received the 2000 Media Arts award for manga from the Japanese Ministry of Culture and the Kodansha award for best manga for his work on Vagabond. Inoue has also received the prestigious Tezuka award for his previous work. Besides manga, Inoue also worked on character design for the Playstation basketball game One on One. About Vagabond: Tokugawa Era Japan: a new government has taken power and the land is in disarray. Amidst the turmoil, Takezo, a young ronin, sets out on a journey throughout Japan seeking out opponents both strong and skilled, prepared to slay anyone who might get in his way. His Hunger for battle turns into a spiritual journey towards perfect mental and physical skill with the eccentric Zen monk, Takuan, as his guide and evolves into Miyamoto Mushashi the greatest swordsman in Japan. Vagabond is adapted from Eiji Yoshikawa's hugely popular fictionalized biography Musashi, and depicts the life and times of real-life "sword saint" Miyamoto Musashi — one of the greatest Swordsman ever to walk the Earth.
