An Akiko Flashback
Akiko, the charming SF adventure comic series by Mark Crilley, celebrated its 20th anniversary at the end of last year. I loved this comic! (I have a piece in issue #50 saying so.) It was published by Sirius Entertainment, which also put out Artesia, Joseph Michael Linsner’s Dawn, Poison Elves, and the Scary Godmother comics, but no longer appears to exist.
Akiko was the story of a girl’s journey through space with an alien, a robot, a scuzzy rogue, and a fuzzy professor type. It reminded me, with its sense of whimsy, of The Wizard of Oz, with plenty of imagination. There are over 50 issues and seven collections, now out of print.
Crilley has posted a retrospective video with some fun bits of information about the history of the series (and his early use of Photoshop) as he walks through the first 10 issues. Ah, what memories.
Crilley now has a very popular YouTube channel full of art tips and how-tos. He’s also written a series of reference books, Mastering Manga.
8:27 pm
I absolutely loved Akiko! Besides Millie the Model, it was probably one of the first comic book series that I fell in love with. I even had Akiko stationary at one point that I picked up from Crilley at a convention. Thank you for the flashback!
6:41 pm
Akiko was a great series. It was also followed by some scholastic illustrated novels. Crilley pioneered some very unconventional styles. He briefly sold artwork and I have a page. I would welcome more adventures of Akiko, Spuckler, Mr. Beeba, Poog and Gax. How about it Mark Crilley? A kickstarter?