Our story follows former MMA heavyweight champion Xavier Watanabe in the wake of personal loss. He has to travel to Japan when his training & business partner, Tenshin, is killed. Xavier uncovers a plot of backstabbing and debauchery that he might wish he left well enough alone.
This murder-mystery will unfold throughout 100+ pages of action, intrigue, and entertainment spread across five 20-page acts (or, issues) in this mature audiences original series.
ACT I
In the first act (available as a digital or physical Catch-up Rewards Tier), Xavier arrives in Japan and is greeted by Kyomi. It isn’t long before he’s exposed to the underground activity surrounding the yakuza family to which Tenshin belonged. After meeting Masashi, things take a quick turn into trouble as yakuza henchmen attack the trio (X, Kyomi, Masashi). After surviving the attack, the action begins to heat up for our new friends.
The Chase Is On…
MMA, Japan, sex toys shop, hookers, thugs, Yakuza gangsters, Tokyo Solamachi mall, a failed assassination… ALL IN THE FIRST TWENTY PAGES OF OUR STORY!
Now, Xavier, Kyomi, and Masashi have to race to figure out who killed Tenshin, who attempted to kill them and stay alive long enough to sort out the family succession situation…
XION STUDIOS, the publisher that brought you SPIDER-SQUIRREL & TRASH PANDA, GODQUEST, NIGHTCARE, and THE WATCHGUARD, introduces a brand new tale of murder, mystery, intrigue, and ascension in AMERICAN YAKUZA.
AMERICAN YAKUZA ACT II is a 24-page comic with 20 pages of story.
THE STORY
American Yakuza Act I introduced us to our protagonist Xavier Watanabe, as well as his guides and cohorts Kyomi & Masashi, as he travels to Japan to honor his murdered friend’s memory – and solve that murder mystery. Why was Tenshin killed? By whom? Who’s next…?
And who is Hiro? What’s his involvement in this latest set of circumstances??
After the events of the first act, we find Xavier and his new “friends” chasing down a lead into Tenshin’s murder: a cousin named Hiro. But there’s another person in the mix that deepens the mystery and tangles our plot knots even further: Kenji, the eldest cousin and rightful heir to the family business.
After the murderous encounter at the Tokyo mall with assassins wearing Hiro’s sigil, Xavier and company seek him out to get answers.
AMERICAN YAKUZA Act II picks up where we left off from Act I, but the momentum continues to accelerate as we bring more and more action, more intrigue, more twists, more turns, and more questions as Xavier’s drive to find Tenshin’s murders takes him deeper into the Japanese underworld.
Every act is written by Anthony Stokes, Chris Moses, and Charlie McElvy and illustrated by the incredible Italian artist Damiano Restivo, who brings us his uniquely stunning and cinematically-driven storytelling that is further deepened by John’s professionally perfect palette of digital color depth and dynamism. Rounding out the art team is Ringo Award-winning letterer Taylor Esposito. Edits by Xion Studios EIC Vito Delsante and Associate Editor Suzanne McElvy.
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