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We meet the young samurai Shiro as he reports to his lord, Tokudaiji, of the impending attack of a large Chinese army on their stronghold. Tokudaiji has long been at war with his Chinese adversary, Hsiao, and now their battle is near its end. Tokudaiji shares a drink with his men, who though severely outnumbered pledge to fight for their lord until death. As the men commiserate about their lot and how many Chinese they will kill before they die, Shiro shares what he fully expects is his final night with Toshiko, his lover.

With the break of day comes the Chinese army, which utterly defeats the samurai, killing Tokudaiji and taking Toshiko away with them. Shiro, trapped beneath a fallen wall during the battle, can do nothing to help. Alone in the burning fortress, he finds a fellow samurai, who tells him of Toshiko’s capture before taking his own life. Shiro, knowing Toshiko is still alive, leaves the fortress behind to search for her.

From Ron Marz’s letter to readers at the end of issue, we know that Shiro’s quest will eventually take him to Europe. But in this issue, we see feudal Japan as it might have looked in 1704. Luke Ross’ attention to detail on clothing, armor and buildings is exquisite, but Jason Keith’s colors are inconsistent. The first third of the book is washed in light, luminous for Tokudaiji’s audience chamber and subdued for Shiro’s rendezvous with Toshiko. The middle of the book colors the battle clearly, contrasting the samurai black and gold against the Chinese red and blue. The end of the book is dark and brooding, reminiscent of Marz’s The Path for Crossgen. Keith’s versatility is impressive and perhaps intentional, but I would have preferred to see the book rendered more uniformly.

Marz uses dialogue economically to provide the necessary exposition, and has the sense to get out of the way when necessary, like the love scene between Shiro and Toshiko. Knowing that Shiro will wind up in a strange land, Marz deftly builds to Shiro’s departure from his old life, first as he helps the one remaining samurai commit ritual suicide and then as he leaves the burning fortress behind.

Luke Ross supplies top-shelf art throughout, generating the book’s most memorable image—as well as its most needless. Ross’ art in the love scene is intense without going over the top (although this is definitely NOT an all-ages read), and creates one of the more striking pages of art I have seen in a comic book. No, I don’t mean the one where Toshiko is naked. I mean the next one. (As I said, not for the kiddies.) However, his gratuitous use of blood is annoying. I had no problem with blood during the battle, nor do I mind the graphic splattering of blood behind the frames of the last pages. But the messiness of the ritual suicide stole some of the dignity that the characters seemed to find in the act, detracting from the scene’s impact.

Still, Samurai: Heaven & Earth #1 was an intriguing read, and a pleasing change of pace from standard superhero fare. I will definitely check out #2 in January.