Nice one, Vinson. This weeks Top Shelf Friday submission is Epic Comics Akira #1. The first English translation of the seminal work of Katsuhiro Otomo. In many cases it was probably the first exposure many had to manga in the US.
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The Epic line Akira was one of my first exposures to manga as well ❤️
aug 22, 2025, 8:40 pm • 4 0 • view
This book was amazing, and iirc something of a revolutionary book in printing
aug 22, 2025, 8:43 pm • 1 0 • view
The backstory on what they did to “translate” the series is something else. It wasn’t merely replacing the Japanese text with English. They had to completely rework the pages due to manga reading right to left and that required reworking the backgrounds and word balloons. And then adding color.
aug 22, 2025, 8:48 pm • 2 0 • view
And they really went all in on that prestige format to boot!
aug 22, 2025, 9:18 pm • 2 0 • view