Unless you're seriously into anime and manga (or at a stretch old Sonny Chiba films) you probably won't have heard of Golgo 13, the monosyllabic, unblinkingly murderous hitman who is something of a national treasure in his home country of Japan.

Golgo 13 was created by the artist Takao Sato in the mid-sixties as a kind of far-eastern approximation of James Bond - although Duke Togo (or Golgo 13) is a hitman for hire rather than 007 agent. The comics have been popular ever since, and have spawned two anime features and a live action adaptation.

The basic Golgo 13 plot is nearly always the same - Duke Togo is hired to kill someone or other for whatever reason - usually revenge - and then, after many pages of violence and sex (Golgo always ends up in bed with a woman at least once), the hitman gets his target.

This may sound somewhat repetitive and predictable - and in some ways it is. But what I love about Golgo 13 is that he is almost a postmodern re-imagining of James Bond's character; without the tuxedo and pithy one-liners, 007 and Duke Togo are essentially the same - murderously psychotic, self-destructive and misogynistic. Like James Bond, Duke is relentlessly promiscuous, staring with the same cold expression (and occasionally smoking!) as he engages in passionless sex. Like James Bond, Duke always gets his man - but without the distraction of Bond's sardonic patter, Golgo's assassinations seem all the more chilling.

In my opinion, Golgo 13 is the ultimate modern anti-hero, as unredeemably psychotic and cold as you can possibly get - classic manga.