Katsuhiro Otomo was born in 1954 in Japan's Miyago Prefecture, a rural province some 300 miles northeast of Tokyo. While in high school, Otomo became, in his own words, "crazy about the movies." The young artist often traveled three hours by train just to see films, and the influence of cinema is a constant thread that runs through Otomo's work.
In 1979, publication began on Otomo's first serialized work, Fireball, a story built around a "man versus computer" theme. Though the series was never completed, Fireball marked the beginning of Otomo's interest in science-fiction themes. Domu, first serialized in 1980 and collected in 1983, became a best seller and was the first manga to win the coveted Science Fiction Grand Prix Award, Japan's equivalent to America's Nebula Award.
Upon completion of Domu, Otomo began work on Akira, a two-thousand-plus-page epic of staggering illustrative virtuosity and gut-wrenching thematic power. Ten years in the making and eventually collected in six volumes, Akira went on to win every possible award and spawned an animated feature film directed by Otomo himself. After completion of the animated Akira, Otomo has gone on to work on a variety of animated films, including Labyrinth Stories, Robot Carnival, Roujin Z, Spriggan, and Memories. Otomo lives and works in Tokyo.
Source (used by permission): DarkHorse.com
Akira vol. 1