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Loeb’s son, Sam Loeb, was a budding comics writer as well, but died in 2005 at the
age of 17 after a 3-year battle with cancer. Sam had written a six-page story in 2004 at
the request of Joss Whedon for Dark Horse’s Tales of the Vampires #5. He also started
writing an issue of Superman/Batman that would be published as issue #26—the issue
after Loeb’s last on the title—but he died before he could fi nish it. Th e title went ahead
with an all-star cast of writers and artists working off of Sam’s plot. Th ey contributed
their fees and royalties to Th e Sam Loeb College Scholarship Fund. Loeb contributed a
short six-page story to the issue called “Sam’s Story.”
Loeb and Sale have also collaborated on several six-issue limited series for Marvel
Comics including: Daredevil: Ye l l o w (2001–2), Spider-Man: Blue (2002–3), and
Hulk: Gray (2003–4). Loeb is an Eisner Award Winner for his work on Batman: Th e
Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory, and has received Wizard Fan Awards for
Batman: Th e Long Halloween and Superman for all Seasons.
Selected Bibliography: Talon, Durwin S. Comics Above Ground: How Sequential Art
Aff ects Mainstream Media. Raleigh, NC: TwoMorrows Publishing, 2004.
Jennifer K. Stuller
LONE WOLF AND CUB. Th is epic manga series by Kazuo Koike (writer) and Goseki
Kojima (art) was originally published as Kozure Ōkami in Japan between 1970 and
- Along with Barefoot Gen (although it could not be more diff erent in subject and
theme), it was one of the fi rst manga to be published in the United States. Set in the
18th century during Japan’s Edo period, this story follows the long path of revenge by
the samurai, Ōgami Ittō, and his son, Daigorō. With its graphic depictions of sex and
violence, it is a prime example of seinen manga, an action series composed for an adult
male audience. It was partly released in the United States by First Comics (45 issues,
1987–91) in traditional American comic pamphlet format; Frank Miller, who was
greatly infl uenced by this manga, did the cover art. Th e full 28-volume run was later
printed by Dark Horse Comics in smaller trade paperbacks (2000–2). Miller also did
the covers for the fi rst 12 of these books, and other comic book luminaries, such as Bill
Sienkiewicz and Matt Wagner, provided much of the rest.
Th e series is mostly composed of stand-alone short stories that chronicle Ōgami
and Daigorō’s adventures before concluding with the framing revenge story. Ōgami had
been the Shōgan’s executioner, permitted to be the second for those condemned to com-
mit seppuku (ritual suicide). In this, he decapitates them, ensuring a swift death. How-
ever, Ōgami’s wife is murdered, and, through the machinations of the leader of the rival
Yagyū clan, Retsudo, his loyalty to the Shōgan is questioned. He is commanded to com-
mit seppuku, but refuses. Before he sets off on his quest for revenge, he off ers his infant
son two items—a sword and a ball. If the child selects the ball, Ōgami plans to kill him.
If he selects the sword, then the child will join him in walking the path of meifumadō
(the demon path) where the two will cast off their humanity in a single-minded need
for revenge. Th e boy chooses the sword and the pair set off , raising money for their
