Samurai Executioner Omnibus, Volume 1 — Kazuo Koike

Yamada Asaemon has been trained since childhood in the way of the sword. Now, the feared "Decapitator Asaemon" tests swords and performs executions at the shogun's behest. Asaemon is the last stop for the condemned and often becomes final confessor as well as slayer, finding that sometimes the stories of the doomed do not end with their deaths. From Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, the legendary creators of Lone Wolf and Cub, comes Samurai Executioner, a dark, complex exploration of Edo-period feudal Japan and the depths of the human spirit.