Akira (Dark Horse)

    (Dark Horse, 2000-2004)
™ and © 1988, 2000 MASH•ROOM Co. Ltd. and Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo. Graphics adaptation © 1999 Éditions Glénat. All other matierial © 2000 Dark Horse Comics, Inc.

Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira is one of the most influential manga of all time. First published in Japan in the early 80s, Akira is a science fiction epic that inspired numerous American creators—including Frank Miller, whose cinematic violence owes a debt to Akira’s wide-screen brutality. On a deeper level, Akira is centered on the anger and confusion of misguided adolescence. Set in Neo-Tokyo in 2030, 38 years after World War III, Akira follows the transformation of teenage punk Tetsuo from a pill-popping street racer to an entity of boiling rage and disturbingly powerful telekinetic abilities. Marvel Comics originally translated and reprinted the material in the late 80s, but these Dark Horse editions compile the entire storyline in black-and-white “phone book” paperbacks similar to that of Dave Sim’s Cerebus. Akira became the blueprint for edgy cyberpunk comics in both Japan and the United States. It was also adapted into a critically acclaimed and hugely successful animated film.

— Michael Sutton
Jump to issue:
  • 1
    #1
    Dec 2000
    Cover: $24.95
    W: Katsuhiro Otomo  ·  A: Katsuhiro Otomo
    Reprints Akira under Dark Horse; Colored pages 1-12
    1 copy for $23.00
  • 1/HC
    #1 Hardcover
    Barnes & Noble, Inc. exclusive publication
    Aug 2004
    Cover: $14.95
    W: Katsuhiro Otomo  ·  A: Katsuhiro Otomo
    1 copy for $25.00
  • 2
    #2
    Mar 2001
    Cover: $24.95
    W: Katsuhiro Otomo, Yoko Umezawa, Linda M. York, Mary Jo Duffy  ·  A: Katsuhiro Otomo
    B&W
    1 copy for $21.25