Domu [Paperback]

Katsuhiro Otomo (Author), Katshuhiro Otomo (Author)

Book Description

Series: Domu | Publication Date: August 8, 2001

A twisted old man, gifted with extrasensory powers, silently holds sway over an entire block of apartments. The occupants are puppets for him to control. Life is his to give...and to take. But suddenly there is a new voice in his head, and before he knows it, a young girl with her own battery of psychic abilities has arrived to challenge him! Soon, the sprawling complex becomes a battleground between the two minds.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Domu is a horrific tale of extrasensory powers, mind control, and psychic war as told through the exceptional talent of Katsuhiro Otomo, creator of the popular comics and animated film Akira. Even at under 300 pages--short by Otomo's standard--Domu is a dense thriller about a twisted old man who takes control of an apartment complex, enslaving its tenants with his psychic abilities. No one seems to be able to find a cause--or a solution--until a young girl arrives to challenge this disruptive force with psychic abilities of her own. This is a comics that I can best describe as John Woo meets David Cronenberg. No kidding. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

In 1982, manga modernist Katshuhiro Otomo created a worldwide literary sensation when Japan's Kodansha Publications released the first volume of his 3000 page sci-fi fable of the apocalypse, Akira. Few westerners had experienced manga (Japanese comics) before Akira, and its rocketing ascent through cultural divides helped impress a cynical world that had long been convinced that pictures in books should be relegated to children's stories. Now pictures were being used to tell one of man's most explosive and harrowing tales. Since his groundbreaking work on Akira, Mr. Otomo has completed a number of inspired manga classics, including the powerful post-apocalyptic Legend of Mother Sarah and the dark study of a child's dreams, Domu. Otomo's mastery of the manga artform was recognized with a top Japanese book award, the Grand Prix, awarded to him in honor of Domu in 1989. Dark Horse Comics published the first English-language versions of The Legend of Mother Sarah and Domu, and is currently publishing a true-to-its-original-form, black-and-white, six-volume re-issue of Akira.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; 2nd edition (August 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569716110
• ISBN-13: 978-1569716113
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,935 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sci-Fi/Horror Thriller That Would Make A Killer Movie!, February 11, 2002

By 

Daniel V. Reilly (Upstate New York, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Domu (Paperback)

I started reading Dark Horse's Akira reprints a few months back, and having enjoyed the first volume, figured I'd take a chance (I generally don't like Manga very much...) and order Domu, seeing as how it was also created by Katsuhiro Otomo....

Well, I managed to get all of 20 pages in before I was totally spellbound. Domu tells the story of an apartment block in Japan that has been plagued by suicides and disappearances. A senile old man, with tremendous psychic powers, has been using the buildings inhabitants as his own personal playthings. (One particularly chilling moment has the oldy about to drop an infant to his death, and thinking "Just like a ripe tomato...")

His plans are disrupted, however, by a new arrival: A young girl with the same psychic gift. And soon, the apartment block is turned into their own personal battlefield, as the little girl seeks to ensure no one else falls victim to his depredations.

Otomo's story and art compliment each other perfectly- I had to read the book twice in one sitting: Once to actually READ it, another to savor the magnificent hyper-detailed artwork. The plot is like something out of a Stephen King story, and a GREAT Stephen King story at that. This would make an amazing movie. But could the movie possibly be any more heart-pounding than the book...? Naaah!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars After (or before or during) Akira, read this, November 7, 2001

By 

Michael Battaglia - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Domu (Paperback)

The name "Otomo" is generally associated with either the epic comic Akira or the movie based on the comic. But before he dazzled everyone in the entire world with that masterpiece he did this small (for him, about three hundred pages . . .) comic that manages to nearly equal Akira on several levels. The length gives it a certain tightness and intensity even when the story isn't moving that fast (which is rare) and you hardly notice that as you're reading pages are flying past. The story reads like a sort of prelude to Akira, involving people with psychic powers, especially kids. What makes it different is the setting . . . the story takes place in a large apartment complex that is almost a character in itself, its massive blocky bulk looming over everyone and everything, the spreads of the entire apartment are some of the best comic art I've ever seen. In this rather condensed space an old man with psychic powers is terrorizing everyone for the sheer heck of it . . . he's not so much evil as a senile old man with no sense of right or wrong, he acts purely on demented whim and with his powers he can do just about anything. Until one day a small girl who also happens to have psychic abilities shows up and soon the sparks are flying as the two of them wind up dueling, with the entire apartment as a battleground (you'll never see an elevator the same way again) while the cops try to figure out just what is happening before the entire place explodes. The art is spectacular and easily up to Akira's standards, especially when stuff starts to blow up (which it does often) and Otomo's view of dreary apartment life adds that all important social commentary at the same time. Few comics are as visually and intelluctually gripping as this one and if you have only a passing interest in Akira, or even science fiction in general (it won an international SF award, the Grand Prix) you would do well to pick this up.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Otomo's best work!, September 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Domu: A Child's Dream (Paperback)

Among Katsuhiro Otomo's works, I love Domu best. When I first read this comics, I lived in a Danchi (groups of high-storied apartment), just the same as the background of this comic. Domu well conveys the lonelines and strangeness of a huge Danchi. In a huge Danchi, strange serial murders happen. A primary school girl and her friends find out that the murderer is an old man with psychic power who murders people to get trivials.... The psychic war between the old man with child's dream and children. Domu got Japan SF awards, first as a comic.