Ahoy Captain Cats here and today we are going to review a new graphic novel from Jean-Paul Deshong and this graphic novel is My Deadly Beloved: A Sons of Fate Story.

In case you don’t know My Deadly Beloved ( MDB from here on out) is a prequel to Deshong’s previous series Sons of Fate and MDB takes place years before that series. The story here follows Lord Omo Jinjaku, a samurai and close friend of Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu (yes that Tokugawa), and Lady Akemi, a female ninja who is the last member of her clan due to an internal civil war within the clan.

The story itself is something wonderful due to it not being a superhero story of any kind. This story gives off a Japanese samurai film with a touch of bloody revenge and politics and you end up with this gem of a graphic novel. Throughout the book, you see how everyone interacts with one another and especially with the politics, it feels like you are there and you end up being immersed in this story.

The artwork here is breathtakingly beautiful, from start to finish Deshong shows this world in a way that reminded me of the Japanese samurai film series Zatoichi. From the fighting, talking and even during the slow yet peaceful aspect of the story, Deshong artwork speaks for itself and I ended up loving it.

If you are looking into reading something that is out of the usual comic book norm, do yourself a favor and pick this book up. If you are unable to then go and pick up Sons of Fate and take your time and enjoy it. Now if you all excuse me I’m going to make a pot of green tea, make some sushi and watch Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo.