Here's a distant early warning from ICv2's Japanese correspondent-- Katsuhiro Otomo, creator of the classic Akira manga (see 'Dark Horse Retro Manga Boffo'), is publishing his first comic work in five years.  The first installment of the new Otomo story, Orbital Era, will appear in Kodansha's weekly Young magazine. Otomo's previous major works like Akira have all been published by Kodansha, which has a close relationship with Dark Horse Comics in the U.S.  So American readers can look forward to an English version before too long.  Of course the Japanese series is just starting, so it will take awhile, but in both anime and manga the gap between when the Japanese version debuts and the American version is published is narrowing all the time (see 'Cartoon Network Adds Two New Anime').