ONIGAMI
Updated on May 14th, 2001.
After I finished illustrating Derek Kirk's story for Warrior Nun Black & White 4 to 6, then-Antarctic Press editor Herb Mallette called me up and said he wanted me to do something else for Antarctic. I pitched a sequel I had inadvertently conceived to Mr. Kirk's story while drawing it. Comic book artists spends long hours on their pages, many of these hours on no-brain work which leaves them plenty of free RAM to mull over loose ends and alternate plotlines. I find this very useful when I draw my own stories, which I can change if I want to, but in this case where I had to stick to someone else's script, my reflections on how this or that point could have been explored further had been driving me nuts. It was therefore a relief when Herb green-lighted my sequel idea and signed me up to do it as a three-issue limited series. For this, and for his much-needed advice and patience throughout production, I owe him much.
Onigami 1, 2 and 3 came out in 1998. Back issues can be most easily be found through Millenium, and I believe retailers can order them from Cold Cut.
THE STORY
Cartoon characters come back from the dead so often readers don't even believe it when a character dies anymore. Though Onigami does come back from the dead, it's a long and difficult task. Where does he get a body to inhabit? Once he has a body, how does he get a life? The man needs a job, a home, love in his life... If coming near death can change your perspective on life, imagine actually dying and coming back.
In Onigami, Hiroshima police chief Masaomi Oga, who was present when the Man-Oni died at the end of Warrior Nun Black & White 6, is visited by the dead villain's spirit. They strike a bargain: the villain's ghost will lend his powers to Oga, and Oga will use these powers to make life difficult for the man they both hate, yakuza boss Masaru Tomino. When he calls upon the ghost's powers, Oga becomes a creature similar to the Man-Oni and calls himself Onigami, the Japanese word for an angry spirit.
The Onigami wages a campaign of terror on Tomino's illegal operations, and Oga laughs when Tomino comes to him for police protection. Oga has it made, doesn't he? Well, not quite. Why does the Onigami do things that Oga doesn't want him to, and sometimes can't remember? Does the ghost acquire more and more control over the Onigami every time Oga becomes it? Does the ghost care at all about protecting Oga's wife and children from Tomino?
Maybe Masaomi Oga should have thought twice before striking a deal with the oni...
