Cyberpunk as a genre has spread to most modern media and has brought forth quite a few kick ass graphic novels and related animated movies and shows. Akira and Ghost in the Shell stand as great examples of classical japanese animation and are known and loved by enthusiasts in animation, science fiction and cyberpunk.

A 48 pages long comic bok adaption of William Gibsons cyberpunk masterpiece Neuromancer was published by Epic Comics in 1989. Written and Drawn by Tom de Haven and Bruce Jensen the book only covered the first two chapters of the book and was discontinued.

Cyberpunk comics:

• Akira

Katsuhiro Otomo's cyberpunk epic had its first release in 1982.It was concluded in 1990, six thick volumes long collecting over 2000 pages. An animated film adaption was released in 1988. It is distinctly shorter than the drawn version and covers a shorter time span with fewer characters. It's still a masterpiece in animation and a cyberpunk must-see!

• Battle Angel Alita (GUNNM, Gun Dream)

Created by Yukito Kishiro in 1991, Battle Angel Alita tells the story of a cyborg called Alita. Alita is found as a head and torso by cyborg doctor Ido in a scrapyard under the floating city Tiphares. As Alita is fited with a new body she sets off to find out about her past with her expertice in deadlyu cyborg martial arts as her onyl clue to who and what she used to be. As the story progresses it goes from being a quite action based comic to discussing humanity, social segregation and information control.

• Battle Angel Alita: Last order

Overlaps the ending of the original series which creator Yukito Kishiro thought was rushed and poorly executed.

• Blame

Written and drawn by Tsutomu Nihei from 1998 to 2003. The finished series spans over ten manga volumes of dark, dark sci fi, maybe in the future, mayber on earth. The series mostly follows the main character Killy's venture through the "megastructure" as he searches for humans posessing something called net terminal genes. The series has very little dialogue and relies heavily on the incredible art style which shows a marvelous blend of cold steel, hard concrete and organic tissue.

• Eden: It's an endless world

Cyberpunk manga by Hiroki Endo set in the near future after a catastrofic epidemic killing off 15 percent of the worlds population and has left many more disigured, disabled and reliant on cybernetic implants to survive. Cybernetics have advanced a lot being used not only for life support but in weaponry and surveilance tech to a level where whole human bodies are replaced by mechanical ones. The series focuses on the main character Elija Ballard who gets involved with an organisation called Propater, going from a quite naive kid to a hardened warrior as he matures on the run and the battlefield. The series features a lot of cyberpunk themes like cyborgs, droids, AI, megacorporations and hacking.

• Ghost in the Shell

Written and drawn by Masamune Shirow, the first issue released in 1989, GitS is packed with cyberpunk EDGE! Lot's of cyborgs, AI, mind theft, a strong surveilance state and starring a cick ass razorgirl. The manga version has been released in English by Dark Horse and goes far beyond the animated adaption. Deep into the 21st century the line between machine and man is blurred as men take on machine parts and machines are upgraded with living tissue and given artificial intelligences. GitS is a real pageturner, and contains some parts that make you check if anyone's reading over your shoulder, either because the scene is an explicitly detailed, full colour lesbian threesome on a sailboat, or because the violence can be graphic into the extreme. Ultra violence and sexyness aside, the collected manga is a great read packed with philosofical and political themes and featuring awesome artwork.

• Transmetropolitan

Great post-cyberpunk by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson. Think Hunter S. Thompson meets Blade Runner meets Wayne's World. Packed with political satire, attitude and near future weirdness Metropolitan is funny, disturbing and meaningfull. The main character Spider Jerusalem is a gonzo journalist who's feared, loved and hated by the City in a near future. His antagonists are largely the human race, focused largely in the Smiler and the Beast, two opposing politicians with somewhat different agfendas, but both out to reap the city for what it's worth. Through trickery, bribery, drug abuse and gunplay, Spider gets to the core of things and reveals whoever he's te most pissed off at at the time's true intentions. The Beast and SMiler use their massive political influence to make life as sore as possible for Spider, in addition to some brdens he's brought upon himself. Luckily he's helped out by a pair of loyal (and filthy) assistants.