Lone Wolf and Cub is a legendarily famous Japanese comic that has inspired numerous movies, books and other comics. It's also violent, and it is ultimately this violence that lead me to give it a 0 instead of a +.

The story is of a wandering samurai in Edo-era Japan who has no house to serve. He travels the country picking up the odd assassin job, his one stipulation being that his employers tell him their secrets. He is accompanied by his toddler-age son who is drawn in the most angelic fashion -- you get the sense that this is the cutest, most well-behaved boy that has ever lived. Most of the stories in this volume are about the assassin's various jobs, but the final story is about how he came to follow this path. All the stories are well-structured, fast-paced and interesting. The son is often involved in the assassinations, as bait or a decoy -- a device that troubled me at first, but is explained in a way that at least makes logical sense (even though it still horrifies me).

But the violence. The assassinations usually involve killing a lot of people -- not just the target, but the target's body guards and family. And the violence is drawn in a way that gives a strong sense of movement and action. I found that I had to study these scenes quite carefully to understand who's head or arm had just been chopped off, or who's back that knife was sticking out of. Looking at the panels in this way imprinted the violence in my head in a way that movies usually don't, a way that disturbed me deeply. I'm not usually this sensitive to violence -- perhaps I just have too active an imagination -- but I found it to be nightmare-engendering stuff.

I did like the stories and found them to be engaging and satisfying. But I probably won't read any further volumes of the series because of how the violence disturbed me.