Ken Kurosawa, or the Hellspawn of the City of Lost Angels, is the protagonist of the spin-off manga series Shadows of Spawn.
History[]
In life, Ken lived with his family in South California, with his parents and youngest sister, Mariko. When his parents died and with his sister with a terminal illness, Ken dropped everything and turned to using his martial arts skills to raise money to support themselves. As he unknowingly began down a life of crime, Ken's fighting skills were peerless against anyone who faced him, and eventually caught word of street gangs to hire him out to muscle down on enemy turf. In time, Ken would soon be known on the streets of Los Angeles as the thug elite Double K.
Because his work often alienated him from Mariko, Ken would resolve to try to spend more time with her. After a dispute by his then-current clientele who was not pleased with the work he had given, leaving the rival gang's thugs beaten severely but alive to warn them, Ken left his clients, having already been paid by another gang a higher premium. Planning to spend time with Mariko on her birthday, Ken spent his evening searching for a gift for her. In front of a toy shop, as Ken started his car, the ignition instead blew up the automobile with him inside it. In his last throes, immolated alive, Ken struggled to walk out to fulfill his promise, even disfigured and dying, but passed on before anyone could be able to help him. News of his death spread far and wide in the city, eventually making it to Mariko and their extended family.
Years later, onto the now dilapidated and dystopian streets he died on, Ken returned to life. Without any clue of who he was or where he was, his reflection onto the broken mirror on the street showed that he was transformed, with an enigmatic suit that covered his face. With the aid of Violator, Ken soon came to grasp of what had happened to him. Having died and gone to Hell, Ken sold his soul to the Dark One, to try and fulfill his promise at any cost necessary. Reborn as a Hellspawn, Violator flew him out to Mariko's current residence. Having been seven years since his death, Mariko has grown into a teenager and a rising star of Hollywood as an actress. However, Violator demanded him to prepare himself if he wished to save everything he held dear to him. Rising from an evil portal from the ground, a demon arrived into Mariko's room. Wishing to claim his new bride from the stalwart in front of him, the demon sought to rip Ken apart, but Ken's Hellspawn powers came into play immediately, allowing him to rip the demon apart in equal terms. With the name Malebolgia echoing between his foe's last words and Violator, the night coming held much to divulge to Ken. But even then, their briefing would be short, as the Clown would need to make post haste on business to New York City.
Powers and abilities[]
Just as skilled and powerful as he was when alive, Ken is an expert prodigy martial artist who was feared and respected on the streets of LA as Double K, the one person muscleman who could win street fights and gang battles singlehandedly to those who payed him top dollar and earned his cred. According to his uncle Fusai Yamamoto, if Ken didn't go down the path he took in life before his untimely death, Ken could had been properly acknowledged as one of the world's greatest martial artists.
Having earned the devil's gaze with his might and talent upon being sent to Hell, Ken was among those lucky to be chosen to become a Hellspawn. Not even upon being returned to the living world, Ken showed incredible adaptability and synchronization with his Hellspawn symbiote, able to control its chains and being able to manifest an armor exoskeleton to protect him and augment his strength.
For all such strength however, Ken's weakness is his naivety and ignorance by innocence. In life, Ken was stupid to not look behind his back and realize the course of his actions, leading to his gruesome assassination. As a newly born Hellspawn, many of his early confrontations exceed in their difficulty as they come down Ken's way, and luck is just as fickle when it comes to him. Ken nearly dies (again) in many of these situations, being only saved by his humanity shining through acts of kindness even onto dubious beings he'd reluctantly call his allies. Nevertheless, his trials as a Hellspawn teaches him the hard way like any shonen manga, with the relief that as he learns in unlife, he will grow to survive Malebolgia's inhumane trials and avoid losing himself.