Shi (comic book)

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cover of Shi comic

Shi is a comic book created by William Tucci. The name is also the nom-de-guerre of the main character, Ana Ishikawa. The name is derived from the kanji or Chinese character which can represent either the number four, or the concept of death.

Ana is a young woman of mixed Japanese and American ancestry who uses her skill in traditional Japanese martial arts to combat criminals and other evil-doers. Her signature weapon is a naginata.

The series is known for its scenes of stylized violence, and for presenting its heroine in a skimpy fighting costume or in various states of undress. Despite this, it is intelligently written and often touches on spiritual issus, especially as they pertain to Ana's dual background in the traditions of the yamabushi warrior monks, and Christianity.

[edit] Biography

Born of a Japanese father and American mother, 10 year-old, Ana Ishikawa witnesses the brutal slaying of her entire family. The child is consequently spirited away and raised by her grandfather, Yoshitora, a descendant of the Sohei, the great warrior monks of medieval Kyoto.

Shrouded in secrecy, Yoshitora trains Ana in the ways of the Sohei - her sole mission in life is to seek out her family's murderer and avenge her family's honor. Never forgetting the Catholic teachings of her mother, however, Ana's life becomes one of constant inner conflict between her programmed mission of revenge and the Christian leanings she secretly harbors.

With her conflicted soul weakened, this vengeful obsession consumes Ana's very being, as she transforms herself to Shi - the living embodiment of Death, who since childhood, has terrified and encouraged her in her crusade of vengeance.

And yet the duality that rages Ana's soul will not permit her submission to the death demon that terrorizes her. For Ana's faith and the ethereal visions of her gallant ancestral Sohei shepherd her along the bloody Way of the Warrior.