Akira, Vol. 1 (1984)

Start with Volume 1 of six. Katsuhiro Otomo's Neo-Tokyo is one of the most completely drawn cities in comics. Every street has its signage, wiring, rubble and traffic, and when the city starts to come apart Otomo draws the destruction at the same level of detail, across whole spreads. The motorcycle chases in the first volume borrow speed lines and camera angles from film to make a static page feel fast. Kodansha's paperbacks, like this one, are flipped to read left to right; its 2017 hardcover box set restores the original right-to-left order and Otomo's hand-drawn sound effects. The plot sprawls over more than two thousand pages, which is part of the experience: give it a few evenings rather than one sitting.