Kazuo Koike is a prolific Japanese manga writer, novelist, and entrepreneur. Early in Koike's career, he studied under Golgo 13 creator Takao Saito and served as a writer on the series. Koike, along with artist Goseki Kojima, made the manga Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub), and Koike also contributed to the scripts for the 1970s film adaptations of the series, which starred famous Japanese actor Tomisaburo Wakayama. Another series written by Koike, Crying Freeman, which was illustrated by Ryoichi Ikegami, was adapted into a 1995 live-action film by French director Christophe Gans.

Goseki Kojima was a Japanese manga artist known for his collaborations with Kazuo Koike. The team was often referred to as the “Golden Duo.” Kojima’s best-known work was Lone Wolf and Cub. Other titles attributed to Kojima are Samurai Executioner and Path of the Assassin. In 2004, Kojima won an Eisner Award.

A quest for vengeance wouldn't be complete without a little poison. Having tired of his retainer's futile attempts at reining in the unstoppable samurai, the shogun himself sends Abeno Kaii, a master of poison, to join the Yagyu in their hunt for ronin Itto Ogami and his little boy Daigoro. Armed with a sack full of poison and a network of streetwalking spies, Abeno creeps ever closer to the father and son. Soon Ogami and Daigoro find themselves surrounded on all sides, facing deadly secret agents, murderously seductive prostitutes, and a river of poison flowing all around them! The Eisner and Harvey Award winning series rolls ever onward with five more stories of intrigue and intensity.