Garo is a shape-shifting wolf mutant who serves Skull Man and the deuteragonist of the 1970 one-shot manga Skull Man by Shotaro Ishinomori.
Biography
Garo was a creation of the son of Kogetsu Chisato and his wife, who were both genius scientists who experimented with evolving humans into superpowered mutants. Fearing that his child's experiments would bring the end of mankind, Kogetsu Chisato had his son and his son's wife assassinated and burned down their house. While the couple perished, Garo survived and rescued the couple's infant son Tatsuo, who was also a psychic mutant thanks to their experiments.
Garo brought Tatsuo to safety and began raising him to seek revenge for his parents' murders. He managed to get Tatsuo adopted into the Kagura Group, a wealthy yakuza family, and using the family as cover Tatsuo became the vigilante Skull Man, going on murdering sprees against those affiliated with his grandfather and anyone else he deemed rotten or sinful.
Garo accompanied Skull Man when he went to Chisato's residence to confront Chisato to avenge his parents' murder. There, Tatsuo learned that Chisato was his grandfather and that he had a sister, Maya, as well as the truth of why Chisato had his parents killed. Garo later died when Chisato chose to burn down his residence with himself, Maya, Tatsuo, and Garo inside.
Trivia
- Garo's name is a reference to the manga ninja of the same name created by Sanpei Shirato.
- The character would later shared his name with the legendary titular Golden Knight from adult dark-fantasy tokusatsu franchise GARO who, interestingly, happened to be a wolf-themed warrior who protected humanity since ancient times.