Lone Wolf and Cub #25

Lone Wolf and Cub, originally titled Kozure Ōkami in Japanese, was written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Goseki Kojima. The series began serialization in 1970 in Manga Action magazine, emerging from a golden era of gekiga—a genre of dramatic, cinematic, and often graphic manga aimed at an adult audience. Issue #25, part of the latter portion of the series, continues the epic journey of Ogami Ittō, the disgraced shogunate executioner wandering feudal Japan with his infant son, Daigoro, while seeking vengeance against the Yagyū clan.

Goseki Kojima's artistic style is widely recognized for its brushwork, which balances precise character expressions with sweeping, abstract representations of movement and violence. In these later issues, the narrative deepens its exploration of bushido and the psychological toll of the protagonists' solitary path. Upon its translation and publication in North America by First Comics in the late 1980s, the series was instrumental in introducing Western readers to the depth and narrative complexity of the seinen manga genre, earning lasting acclaim for its stark storytelling.