Akira

Building the Flying Gun Platform from Akira

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There are a lot of great vehicle and technology designs in Akira. Everybody (me included) loves Kaneda’s bike, but it’s hard to find models of many of the rides. So I had to make the flying gun platform when Fichtenfoo put a file on their Patreon page.

The markings aren’t accurate to the manga or the anime, but it’s another build I’m glad to add to the display case.

The Fichtenfoo Patreon is on a hiatus, but you can buy their 3D printable designs at Industria Mechanika.

Warren Ellis has got me thinking about Point of Contact again

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Warren Ellis » SPACEGIRL And Why Your Funny Webcomics Bore Me.

Wouldn’t this be a demented, lovely, quixotic thing? If a bunch of people said fuck all you people who do nothing but newspaper comedy strips on the web, we’re going to do newspaper dramatic strips and do crazy stuff.

I didn’t do an adventure strip, but I did try to do an adventure serial with US comic size pages. Point of Contact fell victim to my usual lack of time/discipline and an uncertainty about where the story was really going. I came in with a plan for hundred plus page tale, but began to lose my way quite quickly.

I still want to do some graphic storytelling, and maybe I’ll make Mr. Ellis’ day by having it be a newspaper strip (or blogstrip, sized more appropriately for screens and the three column layout I prefer). I certainly have a bunch of half ideas ready to throw at one another. Whilst unpacking I’ve been stopped by Timularo and Akira and want to do something crazy and apocalyptic.

Possibly with ninja. And zombies.

Let me see how soon I can clear space for the drawing board.

A live action Akira?

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Warner Brothers is planning to make two live action films based upon manga/anime cult classic Akira. I hope that the mention of “New Manhattan” is a mistake in the report, but I don’t hold out much hope. Give the Japanese classic to a US film company and it’s no longer Tokyo that gets razed (twice) but the city that never sleeps gets yet another wake up call.

I’d be lying if I said I won’t go to see these films. That’s what Orange wednesdays are for. However, I don’t expect them to be good adaptations. And they’ll undoubtedly sanitise the collateral damage, depicted in manga and anime, that comes from flattening a major city, even though the aftermath of all that destruction is a key part of the second part of the series.

Now I’m going to have to lose a day re-reading the original manga. Such a chore.

Update Rumour is that the film will star and be produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and the New Manhattan bit wasn’t a mistake. I’m feeling even less positive about it.

Akira Book 1, Akira Book 2, Akira Book 3 (currently out of stock at Amazon), Akira Book 4, Akira Book 5, Akira Book 6. Akira- The Ultimate Collect dvd

via io9

Under the Olympic Stadium

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I’ve spent the last three days re-reading Akira. I think it’s the first time I’ve worked through all six albums back to back. I may be suffering from speed line overdose. I’m going to round out the whole experience by watching the film again.

I don’t know how long the original Japanese version took to be published, but the planning must have been meticulous, because there are incidents in the first volume that are only fully explained right at the end. I also noticed the decompression more this time. The story could be told in half the pages, but it wouldn’t be any where near as good. Destruction on the level depicted needs to be shown from several viewpoints to let it all sink in.

Akira Volume One, Volume Two, Volume Three, Volume Four, Volume Five, Volume Six. Akira Ultimate Collection DVD

Telling Tales

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William Gibson on blogging.

I spotted Pattern Recognition in the bookshop yesterday. Must buy it soon.

For now, because I’m EBaying a load of 2000ADs, I’ve been re-reading Zenith. I’m still waiting for reprints of the series, but they seem to be trapped in some sort of legal dispute. The thudding great Akira volumes have been calling to me as well, I’ve managed volumes one, two, three and four.

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Comic collections for your must have list-
Castle Waiting, by Linda Medley. A wonderful take on fairy tales. The castle is home to a bunch of waifs and strays looking for redemption. All ages stories with strong moral, in the best possible way, undertones.

The Tale of One Bad Rat, by Brian Talbot. I’ll never stop boosting this story, one of the best things I’ve ever read. It’s about abuse, recovery and finding a family.

Akira (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) A complete change of place from the previous two. The big daddy of manga, and the first really successful anime in the West. It’s far more complex than the genre’s speed lines and violence stereotype, and more destructive than anything this side of Dragonball Z.