Foreign Favorites: Fist of the North Star

With excellent scripts provided  by Buronson and illustrated by artist Tetsuo Hara, Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken),  was serialized in Japan's Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1983 to 1988, spanning a whopping  two hundred and forty five chapters, that were later collected in a twenty seven volume edition by Shueisha. In the near future with the world now destroyed by a nuclear war, our hero warrior Kenshiro, the last successor to a deadly martial art style known as Hokuto Shinken, wanders the wastelands righting wrongs and protecting the weak and innocent. With the gritty feel of a Spaghetti Western featuring Bruce Lee as the star on the set of The Road Warrior, Kenshiro's knowledge of killing his opponents from within comes from striking a human body's secret vital points, with always gruesome results. There is plenty of action and adventure as the warrior with the seven scars eventually defeats the ravagers, rival martial artists, and even lost "brothers" from his own clan. From its huge success in print, the story was adapted into a popular anime television series, several films followed as well as video games, graphic novels, and even a live action motion picture.