Review — ‘Kaitō’84 #2’ Continues To Bring The Good Vibes

Welcome to the table,

Pour yourself a drink. Put something rad on the record player (For this one, I recommend Seatbelts – Cowboy Bebop: The Real Folk Blues Legends). Kick back with me as we groove through rain-slick streets while reading Kaintō’84 #2, one of the funkiest new comics Dark Horse Comics has dropped to date.

Let’s get into it.

Zack Rosenberg and Jared Cullum, inspired by the iconic Stan Sakai, deliver yet another energetic issue of the 80s-inspired neon-noir story that follows the ancestors of the rabbit ronin Usagi Yojimbo, Kaitō and Yukichi.

Kaitō has been tasked with stealing the Blood Kintsugi Spear. To do so, he gathers a team of companions who are shadows of companions we have seen in the pages of Usagi Yojimbo comics. Gen the rhino, and Kitsune the fox seem to emulate the past incarnations of themselves in a way that feels so perfectly framed in this 80’s rain-slick crime caper.

The caper, of course, does not go off without its expected hitches. Ninjas show up right as Kantō is about to liberate the ancient artifact for his dubious benefactor. A running fight ensues in the rain-soaked streets.

I keep hitting on the rain because the watercolor look of this book feels so moody and atmospheric that the weather is as much a part of the adventure as the characters themselves. That’s a testament to the powerful storytelling put to great effect in these paneled pages.

The combat in this book is also super solid. We get to see so much energy flow across the page as sword and spear clash, making the whole thing even more timeless and yet, with the clothing itself, timely.

It’s this weird thing that feels oddly like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but the planet is full of anthropomorphic entities. So rather than the teens hiding under the streets and mutants lurking in the shadows, we have a whole world built up and run by these animal-folk.

There is a brilliant use of color theory happening within these pages that deserves to be called out as well. Cullum is really putting the work in on these panels, matching energy and emotion with tone and shade in such a rad way it feels like optical alchemy.

You can tell Rosenberg and Cullum have a great rapport in this book. The working relationship feels like it has to be effortless, as the whole project feels seamless and free, landing somewhere between a masterclass in visual storytelling and your best friend from art school’s sketchbook that contains some of the coolest stuff you have ever seen.

I love that we have three more issues of this series still to come. This whole book ripples with style. It’s like something out of a fever dream, but it plays in a way that does not make you feel disoriented or off.

You recognize the characters, their motivations, and their moves. There is a moment where Kaitō swaps from dual-wielding swords to pulling a single blade to clash with a grinning fox demon on a rain-slick rooftop. It feels like it’s both timeless and timely, making the neon lights of the 1980s feel like torches dancing in Edo-period Japan

I would pay money to see these pages blown up to gallery-sized hangings, where I could just hang out in their presence and vibe to an intentional playlist of Japanese jazz-funk fusion sound.

I’m not giving you a ton of story beats in this review because what happens is fairly simple, but it’s done in a very complex and lived-in sort of way. Kantō and crew try to do a heist, ninjas attack, fighting happens, Kantō almost gets arrested by Inspector Ame, yes Ame, as in the cat samurai we know from the Usagi books, and then we get a bit of a cliffhanger character introduction at the end with some cool additional material to fill the last of the book’s pages.

It’s worth the read, it’s worth the vibes, it’s worth your time. I would read a regular series in this setting if for no other reason than it’s got such good vibes across the board.

Until next time, if you dig fun, funky, atmospheric books, you are doing yourself a disservice skipping Kaitō’84.