Sean Witzke

Detail is everything. This whole sequence in Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira - which is I think 4 or 5 issues of the Epic edition of the series, is one of the most dramatic moments I’ve ever read in comics, it draws all of these characters and plot strands together. It amps up the physical scale with the emotional scale, and the absolute worst thing that could ever happen as has been established in the story, happens. In any other book, it would be the logical climax. But the thing that sticks isn’t Akira waking up or the fight with Kei, it’s the jacket Tetsuo wears and the unrelenting arrogance in his gestures. Otomo has this guy really come into his own in these moments, where it’s not his first taste of power after years of being a resentful little shit, it’s something worse. He’s not scared anymore. He will be later, but right now, there’s no part of Tetsuo that cares. He’s going to make sure he looks great while he goes to do something that might kill everyone, because he feels like it. A cold, godlike being is scarier than one who can’t control his anger - especially when he’s dressed to the nines.