katsuhiro otomo's steamboy
Forenoon Filings is in a bit of a comic appreciation mood this week, so let us take another opportunity to broaden your appreciation of this art.
Today’s featured artist/writer is Katsuhiro Otomo. A native of Miyagi Japan – Otomo has produced some of the most ground breaking science fiction of recent years. His most well known work Akira weighed in at over 2000 pages and took over eight years to complete. With exception of Dave Sim’s Cerberus, it is difficult to think of a similar comic project of such size and scope being executed with such a high level of narrative brilliance.
But while many people take note of this and the equally amazing animated adaptation, don’t forget the smaller works of Domu – A Child’s Dream (a more psychological drama set in a Tokyo housing estate) and even the Legend of Mother Sarah. At the time of writing this is Otomo’s last published work – this time he only provided the script.
Recurrent themes in all these works are the effects of isolation and the destructive effects of technology when in the wrong hands. Even his first major work Fireball (which is increasingly difficult to find in the West) was initially recognised for these qualities.
Keeping this in mind, the newest animated feature from Otomo is Steamboy – which unlike all of these works is set in London of the past. As with all Otomo projects, this has been a long time in the making. The story and themes of this anime is very different from what we have previously come to expect – set in the U.K. in the middle of the 19th century, this revolves around an invention called the Steam Ball and the ensuing struggle over who should control it.
This has been given a theatrical release in USA, and is expected to reach the UK on [date].
This entry was posted
on Thursday, March 31, 2005 at 11:55 am.
