Josh in Japan

The OP is absolutely correct: AKIRA is skyrocketing. Not necessarily just the EPIC version. Anything AKIRA is on fire and will only continue to do so. I started collecting the EPIC books when I was in middle school, right after I saw the anime at my local arthouse theater. This was in early 1990. I managed to grab up all the back issues at local comic conventions, and continued buying the book monthly. Then things got very sporadic. There were droughts of months between books, and then for no reason, it just stopped altogether. It didn't resume publication until 1995, my senior year of high school! That's a hell of a long wait to complete a 38 issue story. But yes, those last 5 issues after the long hiatus are definitely the hardest to find. 37 and 38 include "tribute" pieces by international comics writer and artists, and those pieces have never been reprinted, not even in the Japanese reprint of the EPIC books. For a long time, it seemed like Japan enjoyed the exclusivity of the early material. The original YOUNG magazines where AKIRA was published in serial form are insanely rare. First of all, only the savviest of nerds would even think of stockpiling the thick 400 page weekly books, especially when any storage space is a premium in tiny Japanese apartments. Second, the book are printed on the cheapest of cheap newsprint, and they'd need to be very carefully taken care of to survive Japan's humidity. On the rare occasions you'd see the first AKIRA in YOUNG issue for sale, it's always in terrible condition and pages frayed and yellowing. It's a miracle any survived at all after 40 years! I spent most of my time in Japan grabbing up anything by Otomo that I could afford. At first that meant going to the big manga stores in Tokyo, but eventually people started selling more and more stuff on yahoo japan auctions, and mercari. That's what opened the floodgates. A few years ago, I'd see the first AKIRA going for $2-300. These days it's been pushed up to $2-3000. International fans are rabid for AKIRA, especially in France and America. These collectors have now turned their sites on owning the original magazines, and there simply aren't enough to go around. Japanese collectors are upset that they're getting outbid left and right by foreign buyers that have inflated the price to ridiculous highs. I was very lucky. I snagged two of the most desirable YOUNG magazines before the foreign boom came in. I think I only paid about $50 for each. But that was a wonderful investment. I never want to sell these, but if I had to, I'm sure these are gonna be worth a fortune someday. In the entire original run of AKIRA, it was only featured on the cover FOUR times. I own two of those issues. So I believe those original YOUNG issues are a great investment...IF you can find them. As for the original Japanese printing of the 6 volumes (tankoban) that collect the whole series? I don't think the prices will ever get crazy on those. Those exist in the millions upon millions. The first volume has over 100 printings. I'm not aware of any American comic book that has 100 prints. Imagine trying to collect all them, having to check the indicia hoping for that 57th printing your missing. I think that first printings of these may eventually become sought after, but just owning them at all is no big deal cause there's sooo many circulating out there. So the TL;DR to my rambling post is this: AKIRA is hot and it's only gonna get hotter. That includes the EPIC books of course, but more so the insanely scarce original YOUNG magazine run.

Hey, I'm new here. I joined yesterday to ask about my copy of Dark Knight number 2, and thankfully, it seems like I asked the right guy. I just wanted to chime in on this thread that this has always driven me nuts too. Originally the book was simply "The Dark Knight." On the school yard, when my friend first told me about the book (we were about 9 or so, he was telling me all this unbelievable stuff like "Batman is so big and strong his fingers are like sausages and he kills the Joker and that Alfred dies!") and we always just called it DARK KNIGHT. When I finally got my copy in paperback about two years later, it was the Warner version, and it did indeed say "Dark Knight Returns" on the cover. But it'll always just be plain old "Dark Knight" to me cause that's how me and my schoolyard chums used to describe it back in the 80s when it just came out. Mr. Amadeus...based on this thread and the fact that you used to have boxes full of every print of every issue, I trust your word completely. Any reason why some copies of number two have the top of his head and ears cut off, and some don't? Does it make any difference to the value? I assume it was just a side effect of however they printed it back then, but it does irk me that my copy has more "feet" than "head" showing. Nobody seems to talk about it. Any ideas?

Thank you....BOTH of you!! I feel like my butthole has been so clenched it could create a diamond out of coal. I never got this book for investment...this was MY personal treasure: a set of DK 1-4, all 1st prints. I didn't even care so much for grade, as long as they were genuine 1st prints. And then less than a month ago the hand of the master himself scrawled his signature on all four issues. I'm keeping these til the day I die. So obviously it was poor research on my part that I only discovered roughly 24 hours ago that second prints weren't clearly marked. I've been freaking out. You guys are collectors; you know how that would just "ruin" things in my eyes...gazing lovingly at the set of four but lingering on issue 2...knowing it's an imposter. What am I supposed to do? Buy another issue 2 and try to find Frank again? Just seeing him once nearly wiped me out...that was a once in a lifetime thing for me. I feel so relieved now...thank you so much for the peace of mind!! I think I can finally unclench now....

I have a difficult comic book question and I don't know any real experts, so I thought I'd ask you guys. I'm a Frank Miller fanatic and I had the thrill of my life last month when I got to meet him at the Baltimore Comic Con. He signed all 4 of original issues of Dark Knight, which I was told when I purchased them that they were all 1st prints. I only recently discovered that there's a chance that Dark Knight Triumphant (book two) might be a second print. Apparently the only way to tell is that the inside front cover is a darker grey than the first print. DC never properly marked the second prints, so people have been selling them for years as first prints. If I used my one and only chance to meet Frank Miller and had him sign a second print instead of a first, I'll be crushed. Still....I have to know the truth! I did my best to take pics of the inside cover of my book for reference, but I just don't know what I should be looking for, how "dark" the grey is, etc. Is there anyone that knows for sure, or could I be directed to someone that would be able to help me by looking at my pics? I've included them in this email, just in case. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, and if you could help, I'd truly appreciate it!