Akira - Dark Horse or Kodansha?

[Hawkmumbler]

After some procrastination and good timing I finally got my mitts on the first volume of Akira in our local library. Naturally, as a fan of the film I had high expectations for the manga. And I was most certainly not disappointed. A solid, flag stone for what looks to be a sprawling epic. Wonderfully stuff.

I'm looking to buy a copy, but Dark Horse (who published the library volume) have now lost the rights to Kodansha who have re-released it. Can anyone verify for me if their is any drop in quality to the print or if the translations come off more iffy?

[Professor Bear]

If you want to change over to one or other company's version because of limited access to volumes I think you'll be fine as Kodansha retain the westernised "flipped" pages format* (I think they might have dropped some of the colourised pages but don't quote me on that), while the translated dialogue is also different from Toren Smith's work on the 1990s DH/Marvel run of the title as it's a new translation and script.  It's interchangeable with the DH stuff, but a bit more precise in translation here and there that makes me think the small army of western scripters employed for the Kodansha outing didn't have Smith's experience in translating the spirit of the original words when direct translation is clumsy and/or borderline nonsensical - which is odd because the usually-reliable Jo Duffy is credited as one of the writers - but if you've been reading manga produced in the last decade by companies other than DH, I dare say you'll be well-used to the occasional lull in the otherwise high quality of writing.



* A word of warning: never go on any manga forums and say that you don't mind the flipped pages, or - God forbid - actually prefer them that way.  Amusing as the weeaboo meltdowns that follow usually are, it's hours of your life you won't get back.

[Mabs]

After some procrastination and good timing I finally got my mitts on the first volume of Akira in our local library. Naturally, as a fan of the film I had high expectations for the manga. And I was most certainly not disappointed. A solid, flag stone for what looks to be a sprawling epic. Wonderfully stuff.

I'm looking to buy a copy, but Dark Horse (who published the library volume) have now lost the rights to Kodansha who have re-released it. Can anyone verify for me if their is any drop in quality to the print or if the translations come off more iffy?

There isn't really much difference between the Kodansha and Dark Horse versions. In fact they're both almost identical except for the logo on the spine. I have the Kodansha volumes 1-5, and I must say I'm really happy with the quality. They do have the first few pages in colour in smoother paper quality. Also, if you look on Amazon or The Book Depository, the Kodansha versions are clearly much cheaper. So I'd definitely go for them!

[Hawkmumbler]

Much belated thanks to both Prof.T.B and Mabs. I spotted the first volume of the Kodansha series in waterstones so whipped to the library, took out the dark horse edition once again, and compared them side by side. For the most part, dialogue wise I see no difference, so all is good their, i'm sure on closer inspection I willl spot something of a drop in quality but i've read a fair bit of Viz media recently and Kodansha are far and away superior most of the time. In fact, the one thing I disliked about the Dh edition was the often over sized speech bubbles (the many, notoriusly many KANEDAAAAAA! Moments anyone?) where downsized in the Kodansha editions. Some people might prefer to large bubbles, but I don't so thats another tick for the latter company. Or this last point might be completely my imagination. Huh.

On flipping, and I really don't want to cause controversy here, but I do prefer to read in the typical "right-to-left" format, preserving the authintic feel to the manga. Akira felt somewhat different due to the drasticaly larger format anyway so the conversion went over my head a little, but it's the kne example of a "flipped" manga that i'm Ok with.

[Professor Bear]

While it's always worth pointing out that manga was a breakout cultural phenomenon in the West when publishers flipped the pages - and how many publishers of "unflipped" manga have gone out of business despite their low production costs - I've been reading manga for as long as I can remember and couldn't give a monkeys about flipping one way or the other as long as it results in more kids who actually want to read something.

[Ancient Otter]

Anyone ever read the coloured Marvel versions?

[Professor Bear]

I saw the coloured version in one of those Marvel anthologies from the 1990s - Chernobyl or Holocaust or something like that - and it actually looked pretty decent when the colour job wasn't overpowered by the halftones on the original mono art.  Pretty sure there weren't any story differences and it was just the Toren Smith version Dark Horse ran in Manga Mania (man, now there was a manga title!).

Of course Marvel were running it in five page chunks, so it would have taken decades to actually finish the story, which was admirable optimism for a UK comic book publisher to display even back then.

[I, Cosh]

Anyone ever read the coloured Marvel versions?

I saw the coloured version in one of those Marvel anthologies from the 1990s - Chernobyl or Holocaust or something like that - and it actually looked pretty decent when the colour job wasn't overpowered by the halftones on the original mono art.

Are you guys talking about the Epic comics version or is this something different? If so, yes, that's the version I have. It's hard to compare as I've only ever flicked through copies of the monochrome set. The colouring is a bit variable. The last time I read it I remember thinking the first issue looked spectacular then being a bit up and down. As the Prof observes, that's probably down to the difficulties of colouring something which wasn't drawn with that in mind.

[HdE]

Hawkmonger, if you've never read Akira before, you're in for a real treat.

The manga diverges pretty wildly from the content of the movie after a certain point, and what you'll see transpire before your eyes is simply one of the best graphic narratives in existence. Enjoy!

[Tjm86]

The last time I read it I remember thinking the first issue looked spectacular then being a bit up and down. As the Prof observes, that's probably down to the difficulties of colouring something which wasn't drawn with that in mind.

I started out with the Epic version back in the early nineties courtesy of a friend from Hatfield Polytechnic.  The variability was down to the reproduction of some of the painted pages verses the colourised black and white. I personally thought that they did a cracking job.  For me it was Otomo's architecture that was the real standout.

They had trouble with some of the latter issues and I think the last dozen or so took years to come out  (issue 24 dated 1990, issue 38 dated 1995!).  I did have copies of the Dark Horse B&W as well but passed them on to one of our sixth formers since I still had the Epic editions and needed the shelf space.  The original B&W works incredibly well as well but that may be down to old school tooth sensibilities.

[radiator]

Worth pointing out that Akira has only been widely available in the West since DH got the rights back in 2000ad. I think up to that point there was a single collection called 'The Beginning'.

I remember having several scattered issues of Manga Mania (it was a hard magazine to come by as I lived in Germany) and reading them over and per trying to piece the story together. It was kind of a holy grail to me and I can't tell you how excited I was when it was finally published in its entirety, and when I finally got to read it all, it didn't disappoint.

Easily one of my favourite comics ever, and I don't even like manga for the most part.

[I, Cosh]

They had trouble with some of the latter issues and I think the last dozen or so took years to come out  (issue 24 dated 1990, issue 38 dated 1995!).  I did have copies of the Dark Horse B&W as well but passed them on to one of our sixth formers since I still had the Epic editions and needed the shelf space.  The original B&W works incredibly well as well but that may be down to old school tooth sensibilities.

Yeah, I can't remember the exact details but the last five issues pretty much disappeared into thin air the minute they eventually came out. #38 is by a considerable distance the most expensive comic I've ever bought.

[Tjm86]

#38 is by a considerable distance the most expensive comic I've ever bought.

For me that would have to be tooth prog 1.  Foolishly missed a number of opportunities over the years and ended up with a higher end price tag.  Not that I'm complaining too much.