New from Boom! Studios: Ronin Island #1 Review

Writer: Greg Pak / Artist: Giannis Milonogiannis / Boom! Studios Together in Strength Greg Pak is out here doing all of the work when it comes to representation. I’ve waxed poetic about Mech Cadet Yu. I’ve extolled the exciting new line up of New Agents of Atlas. And now, it is my honor to cover an exciting new, original story from Pak: Ronin Island.

Set on “The Island” in the East China Sea, one mile off the coast of Kyushu, resides a very different cultural melting pot. After a cataclysmic battle, refugees from Japan, China, and Korea took up residency on the Island and exist in a tenuous peace. We are quickly introduced to our two young protagonists: Kenichi, legacy member of a royal Japanese lineage, and Hana, the “Korean Girl Who Lives In The Shack By The Beach.” Whereas Hana is a scrappy fighter motivated to upstage the rich kid, Kenichi is an honor-bound stalwart samurai attempting to continue a proud tradition. Pak wastes absolutely no time introducing the characters and having them compete in order to set up the underlying themes of Ronin Island: the clash of old and new blood, the difficulties of cultural co-evolution, this idea of what is home and what does that home mean to a bunch of refugees. Pak sets up this initial conflict barely a quarter into the book before extrapolating to new and exciting heights that you’ll have to read the issue to find out about.

However, the narrative and clever dialog aren’t the only stars of the show. Milonogiannis’ artwork is ab…