''Akiko'' is an American

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series written and drawn by

Mark Crilley Mark Crilley (born May 21, 1966) is an American comic creator, artist and children's book author and illustrator. He is the creator of '' Miki Falls'' and '' Brody's Ghost''. He produces instructional videos on drawing on YouTube in various s ...

and published by

Sirius Entertainment Sirius Entertainment was an American comic book company which operated from 1994 to 2007. Sirius Entertainment was founded by Robb Horan, Joseph Michael Linsner, and Larry Salamone, Fassbender, Tom. "A Sirius Interview: With Two Sirius Guys," ...

. The comics have spawned a series of children's novels from

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

. The story has been described as a cross between '' The Wizard of Oz'' and ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'', centering on the adventures of Akiko, a

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

girl, on and around the planet Smoo accompanied by extraterrestrials Mr. Beeba, Spuckler, Gax, and Poog. Akiko was created while Crilley was teaching English in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in December 1992. It was inspired by

ese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

and

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

and classic American comics such as

Little Nemo Little Nemo is a fictional character created by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. He originated in an early comic strip by McCay, ''Dream of the Rarebit Fiend'', before receiving his own spin-off series, ''Little Nemo in Slumberland''. The f ...

and

Calvin and Hobbes ''Calvin and Hobbes'' is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly cited as "the last great newspaper comic", ''Calvin and Hobbes'' has enjoyed ...

. Upon publication in the US it did not become mainstream, but gained an audience nonetheless. Crilley describes his work as safe for children but written for adults. ''Akiko'' has been nominated in the

Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

over a dozen times since 1995. In 1998, Mark Crilley and Akiko were nominated for Best Serialized Story, Best Continuing Series, Best Title for Younger Readers, and Best Cover Artist.

Characters in the series

Protagonist

* Akiko: a Japanese-American girl initially reluctant to distinguish herself, but gradually becomes heroic.

Supporting characters

* Mr. Beeba: a pedantic polymath and librarian who often quarrels with Spuckler. * Spuckler Boach: a self-appointed adventurer and part-time mechanic, who often quarrels with Mr. Beeba. * Gax: a ramshackle

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

belonging to Spuckler, equipped with

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

and a variety of tools. * Poog: an airborne, bodiless head, capable of

psychokinesis Psychokinesis (from grc, ψυχή, , soul and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), or telekinesis (from grc, τηλε, , far off and grc, κίνησις, , movement, label=ㅤ), is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person ...

and occasional

telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W ...

Production

''Akiko on the Planet Smoo'', the first comic in the series, was published in December 1995. Since then, 52 issues of the comic have been published. The story in which Akiko rescues a captive prince (in the first eighteen issues) was originally a reversal of the traditional fairy tale's gender roles, but Crilley said that, later, "...the whole Prince-rescuing plot became little more than a pretext for a long and obstacle-packed journey. I wanted Akiko to start out as quite weak, but have her acquire strength over time." When Crilley originally shopped his comic around, Sirius Entertainment believed it could work as an adult series, despite its child-safe tone. Crilley later expressed some surprise at Akiko's relative success. "The people in the comics world expect grittiness, a certain amount of violence, certainly a lot of bang for their buck, and it's kind of a surprise that it has been so warmly embraced by the critical establishment," he stated. Despite much of the comic having been partially inspired by children's stories such as The Wizard of Oz, he believes that the dialogue strikes a chord in both adults and children, as with the comic strip

. At the suggestion of his fans, Crilley created a series of issues that takes place on Earth. He had Akiko's friends from Smoo crash land in rural Japan, and he thus hoped to possibly enlighten some readers about Japanese culture. The last issue of ''Akiko'' was published in February 2004. On Mark Crilley's blog, he stated that the comic had gone out of production. He continued to write novels in the ''Akiko'' book series, with the tenth and final novel released in 2008. In 2004–2005, he created a new book series about extraterrestrials, ''Billy Clikk''; and in 2007 he created the four-issue

series, '' Miki Falls''.

Children's book series

The first four books borrow their storylines from the comics (detailing Akiko and her team's quest to rescue Prince Froptoppit from the sorceress Alia Rellapor), while the others introduce original plot lines. In ''Akiko: The Training Master'', Akiko is somewhat older and drawn to resemble a teenager rather than a child. Some reviewers referred to the books as a fun adventures appropriate for younger readers, with some describing them as being free of gender and racial bias.

Plot

The first book, ''Akiko on the Planet Smoo,'' begins when 10-year-old name Akiko is removed from Earth and brought to Planet Smoo because its King Froptoppitt believes she can save his son. There, Akiko is introduced to her fellow questers (Mr. Beeba, Poog, Spuckler Boach, and Gax). The next three books depict a series of adventures, arguments, mishaps, and exotic alien places, creatures, characters, and food, until they reach Alia Rellapor's castle. The next three books contain further adventures (''Akiko and the Alpha Centauri 5000'' centered on Spuckler while ''Akiko and the Journey to Toog'' focuses on Poog's backstory) but Akiko always begins and ends the novel on Earth. In ''Akiko: The Training Master'', set some years later, Akiko and her friends attend a special academy to become official guardians of the Planet Smoo.

Publications

Comics

* ''Akiko on the Planet Smoo'' (

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'' (2 ...

) * ''The Menace of Alia Rellapor'' (issues 1-18) (Collected in Vols. 1-3) * ''The Story Tree'' (issues 19-25) (Collected in Vol. 4) * ''Bornstone's Elixir'' (issues 26-31) (Collected in Vol. 5) * ''Stranded in Komura'' (issues 32-34) (Collected in Vol. 6) * ''Moonshopping'' (issues 35-38) (Collected in Vol. 6) * ''The Battle of Boach's Keep'' (issues 40-47) (Collected in Vol. 7) * ''Flights of Fancy'' (a collection of backup and experimental stories from issues 1-46 - includes all of issue 39) * ''Flights of Fancy - The High Flying Expanded Edition'' (all of the original ''Flights of Fancy,'' plus backup from issue 47, all of issues 48, 49, 51, 52, part of issue 50, and an original four-page story with the teenage Akiko from the later novels) Other items: * A color

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

about a

comic book convention A comic book convention or comic-con is an event with a primary focus on comic books and comic book culture, in which comic book fans gather to meet creators, experts, and each other. Commonly, comic conventions are multi-day events hosted at con ...

in ''

Wizard Magazine ''Wizard'' or ''Wizard: The Magazine of Comics, Entertainment and Pop Culture'' (previously titled ''Wizard: The Guide to Comics'' and ''Wizard: The Comics Magazine'') was a magazine about comic books, published monthly in the United States by W ...

'' issue 86

Children's books

* ''Akiko on the Planet Smoo'' (2000) * ''Akiko in the Sprubly Islands'' (2000) * ''Akiko and the Great Wall of Trudd'' (2001) * ''Akiko in the

Castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

of Alia Rellapor'' (2001) (ends adaptations from comic) * ''Akiko and the Intergalactic Zoo'' (2002) (original stories begin) * ''Akiko and the Alpha Centauri 5000'' (2003) * ''Akiko and the Journey to Toog'' (2003) * ''Akiko: The Training Master'' (2005) * ''Akiko: Pieces of Gax'' (2006) * ''Akiko and the Missing Misp'' (2008)

Footnotes

{{reflist

References and external links

Comic Book Awards Almanac

Mark Crilley's official site

An Interview With Mark Crilley at Westfieldcomics.com
Fantasy comics 1995 comics debuts Science fiction comics