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Chapter 33 STRIKE FROM SPACE WHAT HAS children is Numbar 28 — GONE . He is a docile and BEFORE enigmatic boy who was :ed in a cryogenic sleep 2030, ThR world hovers almost forty years ago when on the brink of World he started the World War III

War IV. Kansda, une- with a mental blast. He was

G leader Dt a delinquent race fitly reawakened by , is cauglit up jr the Tetsuo, and again he aftermath of a power struggle 'astated the reconstrLCted between a Japanese military city of Neo-Tokyo. Now research organization -- led Japan exists in a state of by a man known only as tlie emeraency, The forces of the Colonel and a resistance army and the resistance are group WiDse members included scattered, and the military's Kay, Ryu, and a formidable formidable "caretaker robots" woman named Chiyoko. patrol the streets.

The Colonel fiad a In the weslern pari of number o( psychic children Neo-Tokyo Ihe Great Tokyo under his control, Each is Empire is formed — a identified by a numbered monarchy with Akira on the tatoo on the hand. Among throne and Tetsuo as his Ihe children were Kiyoko prime minister. Together the and Masaru — Numbs rs pair use their powers, healing

and 27. The blind Lady the sick, wielding control of Miyako — Number 19 — the faithful, and organizing was once among their ranks their subjects into fighting but now heads a great units to defend their land. To religious cult, Numbar 41 is increaae.the Empire's power, Telsuo, once Kaneda's Tetsuo uses drugs and friend, but now his greatest training to develop psychic enemy. Telsuo lost his left abilities in certain of the arm to a laser blast from the subjects. Most faithful among ColDnel's militarv satellite their numerous followers are SOL, and has used riyhernet- Tetsuo's girlfriend, Kaori, ics and telekinesis to fabri- and his dapper ambitious cate for himself a prosthetic assistant. Their headquarter replacement. is Neo-Tokyo's Olympic

Most powerful of all the Stadium, To the east. Lady i.--^Ni

.•*. ,-- "'

Miyiiko welcomes refugees phonomsnon — which

to her slirjne. In this, she is they've codenamed Juvenile aided by Ktyoko, Masaru, A, One of the scientists I and a nimber of loval Stanley Simmons — goes psvchically gifted monks. ashore without military

The Empire is infiltrated aulhurization, hoping by teams nf spies and desperately to implement a commando unils from the secret plan. outside world, led by Meanwhile, Lady Miyako, American Lieutenant George Masaru, and Kiyoko con-

Yamada. Yamada is under vince Kay to join them ir orders to assassinate Akira. battle against Talsuo,

even if it means taking because Kay is a powerful inni5cent lives. To that end, medium through whom the he and his men are equipped others could project their with biochemicai armaments powers and strike as ore. which take a iremendojs toll Kaneda, who's teamed up on TetSLo's trained psychics with Kai and Joker — a

when the two groups meet in friend and a rival from his

:le. gang days — vows to kill

i fleet of foreign ships Tetsuo, using most of their waits in Tokyo Bay, poised men, as well as such for action. Aboard an state-of-the-art weapons as American naval vessel, an they've salvaged, including

International conclave of of laser rifles, flying platforms, scientists ard one Tibetan and one caretaker robot. At monk study Ihe Akira the Olympic Stadium, they \

Kai LL>bmada find destruction and chaos. reassert mastery over his

Their enemy is already under powers, A duel in the attack by Kay, Yamada's stadium ensues, with Kay forces, the Colonel, and and Kaneda using lasers and even by Tetsuo's own men. telekinesis against their

Tetsuo's lieutenant is so enemy. Kaneda sends Kai to afraid of his leader's power, safety with Akira, and Kai he tries to flee, murdering hands the boy over to Kaori so she can't betray another gang member. him. hoping to find Joker and Tetsuo loses control in return to the fray, batlie, and his artificial arrr Then, Ihn international assumes a grossly mutated fleet in the harbor sends form. He runs amok, killing tighter planes to rain death anyone who comes too close. upon Neo-Tokyo. His power has grown beyond what his body can contain •Ja. and is now trying to absorb /^^ its surroundings. His body wfl( begins to aliernale between 3 ^L a normal human farm and an JBiv^J^^ immense, uncontrollable. //^Vi-^^^^V,

/ " bloated grotesquerie. "^^J) ^O Tetsuo finds and is FTlW J'-'L^'^ mourning over Kaori when 1 jfeSS^^M his lieutenam comes to him, VI aBlHr cravenly pleading for help M|_^^^^K<'^'^ against Yamada's forces. The „A ' ~^^1^^B lieutenam and his loyalists '^^^^^H 1 die horribly, victims of the Ethl^^^^K r^-' Ij^^HHlL/

Akira looks placidly on. When Yamada shoots Tetauo, Tetsuo is enraged. c2&^ and Yamada dies a hideous death. ^B, Ironically, the germs in the ^K weapon affectTetsuo like a ^^ drug, enabling him to

Kaneda Kay Stanley Simmons Joker

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" ^, ( M ^ii1 AKIRA: readers respond

Over the years. has received hundreds of letters from Akira fans everywhere. Below is a look at Akira through the eyes of its supporters.

I picked up Akira #1 today and read it. I found the translation to be clean, smooth and articulated without

sacrificing the integrity of the original, I was able to

handle the coloring at first glance. 1 now feel that the colors have added another dimension to the original; a tantalizing variation on a theme. Thank you for a great jobl — Jeffrey C.F. Wong Aurora, Colorado

Yesterday I purchased Akira #1 , and I must say that I

am impressed. I had heard of this comic nearly two years

before, but knew nothing about it, except that it was

supposedly very good. Then, just yesterday I walked into my local comics store and saw the first issue on the shelves. The art stunned me and the color melded per- fectly into a comic made for black and white. And the story! The terrific pacing revealed just enough to make

me really want to find out more. If the other issues are only one-thirs as good as this one. Akira could easily become one of my favorite comics, — Richard Clark Pasadena, California

Epic comics has done a truly great thing by translating and adapting Akira for American release. The coloriza-

t ion of Mr. Otomo's workisalsoan excellent idea. I hope

that Akira will meet with the success that it so richly deserves. — David B. Mitchell Berkeley, California As a collector of translated Japanese . I was horrified when I learned that you would be coloring

Akira, which I believed would damage the quality of the artwork. 1 was most happily surprised by your end re- sults. Otomo's work lends itself well to color and your team has done an excellent job of capturing the true sense of the title through the use of muted tones. I have found Akira to be an astounding comic and I applaud you for releasing it to the American public. — Jason Huff Greenwood, tndiana

Akira has grabbed me like no other comic. After 5 is- sues or so of I the Epic Akira. knew I was on to some- thing special. I bought the Japanese versions, started subscribing to Young IVIagazine and ordered Domu and Higl-iway Star. — Woody Compton Tallahassee. Florida

First we want to thank Mr. Otomo, Ltd. and Epic Comics for Introducing to the a superb manga, Akira. Secondly, we want to introduce ourselves: JanC. — 35 years old, father; and Jan L. — 1 years old, son. We like Akira so much that we bought the movie at a recent convention. What an out- standing story and a high quality production! We have discovered that we just can't seem to get enough of Akira,

— Jan C. and Jan L. Childress Brooklyn, Ne\n/ York

Otomo may very well be the single best artist to come out of Japan, His work is not only more clear than many of the others I've seen, it also conveys action extremely well. He has a 3D quality in his work that gives the visual effects more of a punch than most artists. . .on either side of the globe.

— David Peattie Concord, California 1

This is thie most excellent comic I ever hiave seen ! Kat- suPiiro Otomo roclcs! IVlosthjgh praises to all the Epic crew for this project I To tell you ho\A/ excellent I think this book is — lam trying to learn Japanese 'cause you guys just can't translate Akira fast enough — plus I've got to get my hands on Otomo's other books. — Duncan Ctarke Terre Haute, Indiana

I have always been an admirer of Japanese comic art, that is until I read Akira #22. I then became a fan of the stories as well.

You see, I had bought the issue strictly for the exam- ples of manga art, which I intended to copy. I brought the issue home and opened it. having my Bristol board and art pencils next to me. The first three pages contained, as you know, a synopsisof what had happened previously.

I figured I might as well read it for the background infor-

i was engrossed. The tale of Akira, Kay, Kaneda and the others fascinated me. As I picked up my book .my eyes fell upon the first page of the story. Within 1 5 mi-

nutes, I had read the vv/hole book. . .twice.

I gingerly opened the book to a page \A/ith excellent views and set out to copy your art style. 20 torn pages

and four broken pencils latere I surrendered to the bare

facts: the art vwas just piain too good. I read the book again. I was astonished at your attention to detail and your sense of proportion. Your vwriting was flawless.

So, Mr. Otomo. I would like to raise my hat to a brilliant Vi/riter, artist and creator. Thank you for Akira and thank you for your great contribution to the comic field.

— Jordan C. Beasley, age 1 Sacramento, California

. . .WOW! Reading this installment {Akira #23) was

very much akin to the first time I sat in a Cinerama-equip- ped 3-projector movie theater and watched Stanley Kub- ricks 2001 : A Space Odyssey. It's not everyday that I come across a comic book that really deserves to be cal- led awe-inspiring. — Henry R. Kujawa Camden, New Jersey kmwfp^f <^ KATSUHIRO OTOMD

SATDSH TAKABATAKE

SATOSHI KON

HIROSHI HIRATA

designer . AKIHA cjllrgraphv

AKIRA SAFTO

Kodansha, lid. VOKO UMEZAWA

YUKAjUJDO

etliloiial coiirrt lator I jty

NORIYUKI OKAZAKI

rnaiagifig tJil r New Alrl

[ptc Cannes JO DUFFV englii;!! jdapi^liori

STEVE OUFF

MICHAEL HIGGINS with LAURA BRADY leiwrors

MARIE JAVINS

CARL POTTS I mm high above: NsD-Tokyo ceases to be a city of the living, becoming instead a targetfor the soon to be dead, American bombers drop terrible payloads toward the ravaged streets as weapon platforms dance at the edge of space, firing arcane rays of hi-tech destruction down on a battlefiaitl of men and something more than man, From below, the teiekinetic power that is Tetsio rages to be unleashed anew, promising awesome revenge for this latest attack from nations fearful of the unknowable might that is Akira.

And trapped between the heavens and hell on earth, an anxious himanitv all too aware of their own mortality.

AKIRA

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