Akira, like most manga, was drawn in black-and-white. However, U.S. distributors were unconvinced that America was ready for a black-and-white comic, so when the manga was serialized in 1989, it was colorized by the extraordinary Steve Oliff, who used a variety of mediums, such as airbrush and watercolor, to achieve optimum effect. Every page of Otomo's 2,200 page manga was colored by Oliff, and thereafter used for the U.S. release.
Over the last few months, Felix Comic Art hosted two sales of these color guides, each comprised of approximately 300 pieces. I missed the first sale, but managed to acquire a selection of choice pieces on the second run. All 300 were released simultaneously on the website for a buy-it-now price, and sales were based on a first come first serve basis. A majority of the art sold out within a day. These pages are an important piece of comic-art history, and for an Akira-phile such as myself, a must-have for the gallery.
http://celluloidcentral.rubberslug.com/ ... mID=396562
http://celluloidcentral.rubberslug.com/ ... mID=396593
http://celluloidcentral.rubberslug.com/ ... mID=396594
http://celluloidcentral.rubberslug.com/ ... mID=396696
http://celluloidcentral.rubberslug.com/ ... mID=396595
http://celluloidcentral.rubberslug.com/ ... mID=396697
Thanks for looking!
