STRAY / Script by RYU KAMIO / Art by YU NAKAHARA / Letters by TOM WILLIAMS / Translation by MOLLY RABBIT / Published by TITAN MANGA

Hachiya Ken is a gangster, known as ‘Bare Knuckle Fighter Ken’ for his mastery of unarmed combat. For the sake of his family, he took the fall for the murder of his boss, after killing the Yakuza “brother” who actually committed the crime. Nine years later, he is released from prison expecting to be greeted by his gang. However, the only person waiting for him is a nine-year-old girl named Hana.

Hana is the daughter of the assassin Ken killed. She is also an orphan, apparently abandoned by her mother when she was three years old. She ran away from the orphanage after hearing her father’s killer had been released, hoping he might have some idea of what happened to her mother and why she went on the run.

Ken is sympathetic, but all too aware of the optics of a single man traveling with a young girl. Particularly when he’s an ex-don and she’s the daughter of the man he killed. However, when it turns out a rival Yakuza family and the police are both hunting Hana along with child protective services, he is forced to take her under his wing. The search for Hana’s mother leads to a bigger mystery; one would could threaten some very powerful people.

I had high hopes for Stray, having a fondness for modern Noir tales. Unfortunately, there was little to enjoy here. The story by Ryu Kamino is competently told, but the pacing is rushed and the characters underdeveloped. It seems like this was intended to be a longer series or that several chapters were cut for time.

The artwork by Yu Nakahara is similarly conflicted. The individual panels are rendered well and there’s some spectacular splash visuals. However, the story flow between those panels is shaky. Again, it seems like whole pages were cut from the narrative for the sake of space.

Fans of the creative team’s previous effort, Last Inning, may want to check this one out. Unfortunately, I think most fans of crime thrillers will be left wanting more. Stray isn’t a bad comic, but it shows far too much untapped potential to be considered anything but average.