Akira #1
Vol. 1 No. 1 · Epic Comics · first printing · first American English-language issue · Katsuhiro Otomo
12 May 1988 (on-sale date; indicia year 1988) · ★ Gold Star object
First printing of Akira #1, the opening issue of Epic Comics / Marvel's landmark American English-language edition of Katsuhiro Otomo's manga. The $3.50 cover price distinguishes this original printing from the later $3.95 second printing.
Read the catalogue note →- Publisher
- epic-comics
- Condition
- Fine range, ungraded; conservatively assessed from the supplied exterior and indicia photographs.
- Completeness
- Apparently complete but not page-count collated. Front cover, rear cover and interior indicia are present and photographed; all 68 pages and the full binding have not been individually checked.
Catalogue note
First printing of Akira #1, the opening issue of Epic Comics / Marvel's landmark American English-language edition of Katsuhiro Otomo's manga. The $3.50 cover price distinguishes this original printing from the later $3.95 second printing. The Epic edition presented Akira in a Western left-to-right format and full colour, with Steve Oliff's pioneering computer-assisted colour work becoming an important milestone in digital comics production. This issue begins the 38-issue American series and introduces the English-language Epic readership to Kaneda, Tetsuo and Neo-Tokyo.
Why this object matters
The first American English-language Akira issue records a major international publication and computer-assisted colour-production milestone. Its identified original first printing and Oliff/Otomo context justify Gold at 9.8; this significance belongs to the specific Epic edition, not an assumed Japanese first publication.
Evidence limits: Apparently complete but not page-count collated. Front cover, rear cover and interior indicia are present and photographed; all 68 pages and the full binding have not been individually checked.
Score and assessment method
Archive Importance: 9.8 / 10 · Gold Star.
This is a curatorial judgement, not a measurement accurate to one tenth or a market valuation. Read the explanation and its evidence limits together.
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