Book excerpt: World War III is over, but for nomad soldier Deunan Knute and her cyborg lover, Briareos, the greatest challenge lies ahead. Not in the abandoned cities and DMZs of a post-war battlefield, but on the streets of a new "utopia." Shirow Masamune's visionary Appleseed is widely regarded not only as one of the lynchpin works of graphic fiction, but one of the most influential science-fiction stories in recent memory, culminating in the astonishing 2005 animated adaptation. Appleseed: Hypernotes, never before collected in America, features an over eighty page Appleseed tale, plus reams of detailed information and art of the characters, machines, and weapons of Appleseed.