Star Wars: Visions - Takashi Okazaki #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThis one-shot is the second comic prequel to the Kamikaze Douga animated short 'The Duel,' deepening the mythology of the Ronin — one of the most culturally distinctive characters to emerge from the Star Wars: Visions anthology — by dramatizing his Sith origins for the first time in sequential art. It also reveals the backstory of droid companion B5-56, reframing him as a figure inherited from a fallen enemy, which retroactively enriches every prior scene the two share. As part of Marvel's new 'Visions' one-shot imprint, the issue is a landmark demonstration that the franchise's anime-inspired creative pipeline could move fluidly between animation, prose novels, and creator-driven Western comics without losing its distinctly Japanese aesthetic DNA. Together with the 2022 predecessor and the Ronin novel, it forms a rare multi-format storytelling ecosystem anchored entirely by the original creator.
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Takashi Okazaki — best known internationally as the creator of Afro Samurai and as a frequent Marvel cover artist — wrote, penciled, inked, and colored the issue entirely solo, continuing the same complete creative control he exercised on the 2022 one-shot. The project was announced in September 2023 as the second entry in a new Marvel imprint of Visions one-shots, following Peach Momoko's November 2023 debut issue, with editor Daniel Khazem shepherding the line. The issue experienced scheduling delays before landing on shelves on March 20, 2024, with lettering by Ariana Maher as the sole additional collaborator. Okazaki's character designs for the original short were themselves shaped by Akira Kurosawa films — specifically Yojimbo and Seven Samurai — giving the comic's feudal-Japan-inflected black-and-white aesthetic a pedigree that runs directly back to the cinematic inspirations of Star Wars itself.
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- Published by Marvel Comics on March 20, 2024; a 29-page one-shot rated T+.
- Written, penciled, inked, and colored entirely by Takashi Okazaki, with lettering by Ariana Maher and editing by Daniel Khazem.
- Serves as a prequel to both the Kamikaze Douga animated short 'The Duel' (Star Wars: Visions Vol. 1, Disney+, 2021) and the prose novel Ronin: A Visions Novel (Del Rey, 2021).
- It is Okazaki's second prequel one-shot in the Ronin continuity, following Star Wars: Visions #1 (Marvel, October 12, 2022).
- The story centers on the Ronin's Sith origins and reveals that his droid B5-56 previously belonged to a Sith Master named Okinaa, whom the Ronin ultimately slays — giving the droid a tragic backstory.
- Okazaki is the creator of Afro Samurai (published from 1999) and also provided character designs for Ninja Batman and Sound & Fury; his Afro Samurai sequel was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award.
- The issue's aesthetic is rendered primarily in bold black and white, fusing Star Wars mythology with a feudal Japan visual framework influenced by Kurosawa films Yojimbo and Seven Samurai.
- Reprinted in the Star Wars: Visions Treasury Edition (oversize edition: August 5, 2025; standard trade paperback: March 31, 2026), alongside Star Wars: Visions #1 (2022), Star Wars: Visions – Peach Momoko #1 (2023), and material from Star Wars: Darth Vader – Black, White & Red #1.
- Variant covers include a 1:25 Whilce Portacio variant, a Peach Momoko variant, a Stan Sakai variant, and a 1:100 virgin variant by Okazaki himself.
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