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Yakuza Demon Killer #1
Released by: IDW Publishing
Released on: November 16th, 2016.
Written by: Amit Chauhan
Illustrated by: Eli Powell
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In the Kabuchiko District of Tokyo, a woman lies in an alleyway against a dumpster, numb from the drugs she's addicted to. Her wrists are bruised, there's a belt tied snugly against her upper arm. As she falls victim to the high she starts to think death has come for her - and then she sees the beast. But the beast is not a beast at all, it's a man named Rizzo who addresses her as Ochito before she vomits on his brand new sneakers. He tries to get her out of the alley before the cops spot her and lock her up, but before he can get her up she passes out into a pile of her own vomit. He gets her on the back of his motorbike and she vomits as he barrels down the Shuto Expressway. Junkie or not, Ochito is the best lock picker around and Rizzo needs her for a job.
Elsewhere, a man in a cloak named Dodomeki does an arcane reading of sorts and tells another man named Gaikotsu that the prophecy has become reality. Dodomeki is rewarded for his work with some eyeballs to eat, Gaikotsu leaves to prepare.
Rizzo and Ochito meet up with two Americans - Andy and Rich - and break into the Tokyo National Museum. As they make their way in they are trailed by a gang of thugs - Yuudai, Katashi, Tatsuya and an unnamed fourth man. As Rizzo and Ochito get closer to their target - an ancient samurai sword - the alarms are triggered. Rizzo knows they didn't do it but Ochito wants to split, until he mentions that he has a buyer willing to pay ten million for it. She gets to work, picks the lock and it looks like things are going to work out, until a portal that seems to have been opened by Dodomeki and Gaikotsu opens up. At this point, a massive demon emerges and it eats Andy. Three more creatures emerge from the portal and Rich opens fire but it doesn't do him any good. Ochito grabs the sword and it almost instantly starts to bind itself to her arm.
And then those thugs, Yuudai and the rest, show up. Rizzo knows right away that they're yakuza, but not regular yakuza - they're demon killing yakuza!
This first issue takes the reader on quite a trip. From the vomit covered back alleys of downtown Tokyo to the innards of its majestic museum, complete with a puking junkie, a wise-cracking thief, two men who may or may not be trying to bring about Hell on Earth, some clearly dangerous yakuza and of course, some creepy demons. It's kind of like what you might get if Kinji Fukasaku or Takashi Kitano blended their Japanese gangster classics with the Hellraiser franchise. As you can imagine, the results are pretty nutty, but this is clearly sowing the seeds of a bigger picture - clearly Dodomeki and Gaikotsu are up to something and that sword, well, it bonded with Ochito and those Yakuza, they showed up prepared for what went down. Lots more to the story than what we get in the first installment, clearly, but Amit Chauhan's story leaves us wanting to know more like a good first issue should.
The artwork from Eli Powell is pretty cool, aided by K. Michael Russell's excellent coloring work. These are some pretty atmospheric pages, the early scenes that take place in Kabuchiko have a nice, gritty vibe to them while the scenes that take place in the museum a more ornate style. The human characters are well illustrated and the demons are sufficiently creepy and horrible looking!
We're off to a good start with this new mini-series - bring on issue #2!
