Ghost in the Shell: Vol 1 (1991)
Author + Illustrator: Masamune Shirow | Page Count: 368
"…[T]here was an 'SOS' literally written in blood on the cyberbrain unit…"
The serialised manga that started the Ghost in the Shell phenomenon is both a product of its time (weird noses and comedy/chibi style reactions) and light-years ahead conceptually and philosophically of where most western comic writers were at the time.
Shirow locates the work in a similar futuristic world to what he'd created for his previous works as a foundation, such as Appleseed (1985) and Dominion (1986), but by introducing GitS-specific concepts he effectively crafts something totally unique.
The blurb on the back makes it sound like what you're getting is the same story that was featured in Mamoru Oshii's much-loved 1995 anime adaptation. That's not strictly true. You do get that story, but it's only a small part of the entire book and it doesn't appear until late in the day. If all you wanted was the movie in manga form, then you'll perhaps be slightly disappointed. Admittedly, Oshii took the best of what the collection has to offer, but on the plus side you get a lot more content herein than was featured in the film, so it's actually better this way.
