When I look at iconic manga and anime Akira, I don't immediately think of Bart Simpson and Milhouse. Cartoonist James Harvey does.
Harvey is spearheading the "Bartkira" project. It's a group project that consists of over three hundred artists, all working in their own styles. Below you can see the cast of characters:
As noted by sister site io9, this was inspired by Ryan Humphrey's Bartkira art (top). The Bartkira project, however, recasts Bart as Kaneda and Ralph Wiggum as the titular character, Akira.
As Harvey explains: "Some aspects of the cast list might be surprising, but I’m confident that you’ll see the logic and consideration that went into the choices I ended up making when you read the book. Believe me, I went through nearly every reasonable combination of characters and this roster works the best, in terms of character motivation and interaction."
This is a "free-wheeling" project, but eventually, the goal seems to be completing all six volumes (over 2,000 pages!) of the Akira manga.
The Awakening of Bartkira [James Harvey]
Springfield Is About to Explode [James Harvey]
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