OTOMO, Katsuhiro

(1954-)

   Japanese comic-book illustrator and film animator, one of the most popular in the new generation of "manga" (Japanese COMICS) artists. His debut, not sf, was in 1973 with "Jusei" ("Gun Report"), based on thenovella "Mateo Falcone" (1833) by Prosper Merimee (1803-1870). Since then he has pleasantly shocked the comics world with his excellent artwork, his surreal way of telling a story and the dynamic movement of his scene-setting. His breakthrough from cult status to national fame came with the GRAPHIC NOVEL Dohmu ("A Dream of Childhood") (1981; 1983; English trans projected 1992), which won the Nippon SF Taisho and a Sei'un Award (JAPAN). This describes a conflict between the PSI POWERS of a murderousold man and of a group of children. KO's international status largely rests on the still-continuing Akira story, a graphic epic (over 1500pp) rather than a graphic novel. This began its first serialization in 1982-6, and resumed in 1988, in which year an English-language version commenced publication from Epic Comics. It has also been published in book form - several volumes - in both Japan and the USA. During the hiatus KO wrote, designed and directed the feature film version, AKIRA (1987), a tour de force of animation which, like the comic, alarmingly blends elements of "splatter" (SPLATTER MOVIES) with images of post- HOLOCAUST evolutionarytranscendence in a somewhat CYBERPUNK manner. KO's other main works include "Kibun Wa Moh Senso" ("Almost Enjoying the War") (1979), "Highway Star" (1979) and "Rohjin Z" ("Old Man Z") (1991).

   TSh/PN