The Path: Prequel was one of the titles put out by the late Crossgen. What became of The Path and all the other Crossgen titles is one of the great cautionary comics tales of all time.
And I'm not going to rehash it here, but bringing up Crossgen is timely with the strange journey a couple of former Crossgen titles are taking via Disney to be reborn at Marvel.
Don't worry about all that name-dropping; just look at the pretty picture.
As evidenced by the katana stabbed into the earth, The Path was all about samurai. Specifically a pseudo-Japan modeled on the dramatic Sengoku period. Of course, it wasn't really Japan except when it needed to be culturally. It was on an alien planet somewhere. The entire series was drenched in samurai motifs, with a monk leading a samurai rebellion against the evil, supernatural emperor.
War, intrigue, doomed romance, loyalty, and blood ran in every issue. It was a glorious, methodical adventure tale penned by Ron Marz, who's no slouch in the action/intrigue department.
But we're here to talk about the cover. The legendary Bart Sears (who, for my money, spent his best years at Valiant) designed the cover with pencils. It is deceptively simple: just a sword sticking up in the field. The colors are lush red and orange, with the sword in barely silhouette and the grass and foreground in total black. Sears is much better known for heavily muscled but fluid superhuman physiques, but the early The Path covers were simple, natural scenes and great exercises in reserve and simplicity for an otherwise usually extravagint artist.
A ton of storytelling is in that lone sword, however. The wind moves the grass and the tassels on the hilt, implying the action rather than showcasing. Blood runs down the blade and into the ground in a helter-skelter zigzag. The sky and overlarge sun give two messages simultaneously. A dawn and a dusk. A beginning of the story, and an end to a story finished already. Violence before and after.
And buried just under the blood and dirt beneath the blade is an object. This is the mystical tool the main character carries throughout the series, very similar to Tibetan ritual objects. A hint at the supernatural forces that creep into the comic.
And if you the supernatural carries one away from traditional samurai drama, you need to watch Throne of Blood again.
What do you think is a great samurai cover? Or do you remember the Crossgen titles, and what was your favorite?
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