Customer Reviews

Astro Boy Volume 9

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The first story in this book, "The Secret of the Egyptian Conspirators" inspired no fewer than two episodes of the black and white series, and one of the 80s color remake (B&W tape 3, B&W 30th anniversary # 2, and 80s color version tape 9). A madman desires to rule the world, and decides to win the Egyptians' hearts by 'resurrecting' Queen Cleopatra. However, he cannot present his robotic Cleopatra as the real thing unless she has a heart shaped jewel as the center of her necklace. By a twist of fate, the robot Caesar, whom the madman himself created, turned against his scheme, and gave the jewel to Astroboy for safe keeping. Astroboy must persuade Cleopatra that her master's scheme is evil, and that she, as a robot has the duty to resist him. Prior to beginning this story, Osamu Tezuka explains his experiments with drawing Astroboy at different stages of development, and how when his making an 'older' version failed, and he returned to drawing Astroboy as a cute little kid.

The second story involves matter transferal via electronic signals. Tezuka credits "The Fly" as his inspiration, but this story instead of having two different creatures fused together, results in "The Invisible Giant".

The third, and final saga, is about Astroboy's little known brother Cobalt (Jetto in the B&W animated series, see tape 7). In this story, when Astroboy seems to be missing, Dr. Ochanomizu (Elefun) hurriedly creates Cobalt, a near identical twin of Astroboy, hoping he can perform the mission in Astroboy's absence. Although Astroboy has the mental characteristics of an eight to nine-year old boy, Cobalt has an even lower intellect that is unsuitable for the task. Can they find Astroboy in time?