Black Jack, Volume 9 (Black Jack (Vertical)) [Paperback]

Osamu Tezuka (Author)

Book Description

Series: Black Jack (Vertical) | Publication Date: January 19, 2010

Black Jack is a mysterious and charismatic genius surgeon who travels the world performing amazing and impossible medical feats. Though highly trained, he freelances without a license because he disdains the medical establishment. This leads to run-ins with the authorities and unscrupulous, sometimes criminal, individuals. Because Black Jack keeps his true motives secret, his ethics are perceived as questionable and he is considered a selfish, uncaring devil my the medical industry.

The Black Jack series is told in short stories. Volume 9 will contain 14 stories, each running approximately 20 pages in length. This ninth volume includes the following stories:

Pinoko is Alive--Black Jack`s walking teratoma turned medical technician Pinoko loses consciousness while doing chores around the doctor`s compound.  Once tests are performed Black Jack is confronted with the horrible fact that his little assistant is suffering from lukemia. 

Eyewitness--Disaster strikes in the heart of Tokyo when a bomb was detinated in the metropolis` eternally busy Tokyo Station.  Scores of innocent travelers waiting to board a bullet train to Osaka are injured or killed in the blast and a suspect is nowhere to be found. 

"With his shock of white hair and rock-star demeanour, Black Jack transfers well to the manga version of the operating room. The book is peppered with enough knowledge to hint at Tezuka's fascination with the frailty of the human body. It means he can avoid the clichés of most manga storylines." --The Guardian (U.K.)

"Tezuka effortlessly integrates scores of different surgical procedures into short, sharp tales that eviscerate the codified vicissitudes (especially reticence and duty) of Japanese society with, yes, surgical precision." -- The Village Voice

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Osamu Tezuka was born on November 3, 1928, in Osaka. He grew up in an open-minded family exposed to comics and Walt Disney. As a boy he also had a love for insects, which he would later as a grown-up incorporate into pen name. Having developed an intense understanding of the preciousness of life from his wartime experience, Osamu Tezuka aimed to become a physician and later earned his degree in medicine, but ultimately chose the profession he loved best: manga artist and animated film writer.

Tezuka's manga and animated films had a tremendous impact on the shaping of the psychology of Japan's postwar youth. His work changed the concept of Japanese comics, transforming it into an art form and incorporating a variety of new styles in creating the "story cartoon." Osamu Tezuka lived out his entire life tirelessly pursuing his efforts, passing away at the age of 60 on February 8, 1989.

In all, Tezuka produced more than 150,000 pages of graphic storytelling before his death.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Vertical; 1 edition (January 19, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934287733
• ISBN-13: 978-1934287736
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #808,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Osamu Tezuka (1928-89) is the godfather of Japanese manga comics. He originally intended to become a doctor and earned his degree before turning to what was then a medium for children. His many early masterpieces include the series known in the U.S. as Astro Boy. With his sweeping vision, deftly interwined plots, feel for the workings of power, and indefatigable commitment to human dignity, Tezuka elevated manga to an art form. The later Tezuka, who authored Buddha, often had in mind the mature readership that manga gained in the sixties and that had only grown ever since. The Kurosawa of Japanese pop culture, Osamu Tezuka is a twentieth century classic.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Medical Morality Tales, October 3, 2011

By 

Paige Turner "Paige" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Jack, Volume 9 (Black Jack (Vertical)) (Paperback)

This set of Black Jack stories is heavy. Heavy on the morality tales, and heavy subjects. Black Jack gets shot, he fails in several operations, he gets robbed, he gets shipwrecked. Even Pinoko narrowly escapes death. Maybe Tezuka was going through a rough patch in his life. It shows here, as he puts Black Jack through the wringer. There are none of Pinoko's cute little antics, and for the first set of books that I can remember, it seems as if Black Jack's bank account goes backward in this volume.

However, the stories are still glorious, exciting and fresh. Even after 9 volumes of 14 stories each (that's over 100 stories), every story still feels new and original. It's amazing what this creative genius can do. He needs to lend some of his skills to today's professional writers at DC and Marvel, that's for sure. Many of the endings are "twists upon twists." Even as an "experienced" Black Jack reader, I am often surprised by the ending. Tezuka is indeed the "god of Manga."

Read the entire series in order to experience the gradual development of Black Jack and Pinoko. This is still a great volume, but for new readers to the series, I would strongly recommend starting at Volume One, the beginning, because there is some gradual character development that takes place.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars About halfway through the series..., January 30, 2010

By 

ChibiNeko "Sooo many books, so little time!" (Whereever I go, here I am.) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Black Jack, Volume 9 (Black Jack (Vertical)) (Paperback)

I purchased this volume & the previous one at the same time & I'm glad that I did. It's much more fun to read Black Jack straight through. (Plus it gives me a bigger dose so I can get a better fix before I start jonesing for more Tekuza again!)Staring at the number of the volume, it made me realize that we're already about halfway through the series. (There's about 17 volumes in the series.)

This volume continues the series & as with previous volumes, you can read this one without having read the previous stories. (Such is the case with the entire series with a few exceptions.) The stories in this volume range from Pinoko getting a horrible disease to a story about a bombing. The stories are all a little on the strange side, but that's what you can expect from Tekuza.

I've really enjoyed the series so far & I'll be sad to see it end. I don't normally collect long series like this because at some point the plot lines get so horribly drawn out that I lose patience & interest in the series. Perhaps it's the standalone format paired with the genius of Tekuza (ok, I'll admit it I'm a fangirl) that makes this series so great. Whatever your personal reasons are for following the series this far, this is another "must buy" manga for me.

5.0 out of 5 stars Doctor, Doctor, give me the news---, January 15, 2012

By 

Bre "Bre&Bubba" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Jack, Volume 9 (Black Jack (Vertical)) (Paperback)

I got a bad case of loving you!

Okay, okay, enough ya say, I'll stop singing and squealing pathetically! I understand, I'm terribly, flinchingly off key. I've been on a black jack binge these past few days, strangely enough, having just ran through vol. 8 yesterday. I have to say, accurate you are not, Black Jack, but who am I to resist you even when you fill my mind with competely impossible things like cancer riding surgeries, and the amazing discussion of cryptogenic freezing in the 70's or 80's. (Did your contemporaries even know about that then, or did Tezuka really just see that far ahead?!)Anwway, I am unable to resist your charms, and your smug surgical prowess.

Here, we see a whole bunch of different cases, ranging from a nail biting case of leukemia inflicted on Ponokio, the drama between a pupil and profesor, leading to tradgedy, and a priestess that claims a boy's strange "frog skin" is caused by a curse. Weird, weird stuff! But I couldn't stop reading. My favorite case was "Three Legged Race." Remember, life is a three legged race. Oh gosh, just read it, I was kind of mehhh on it until I read the end and then it broke my heart. Snifffle. You'll understand why life is never a two legged race when you get there. Urgh, now I'm depressed again.

High recommendations! Off to vol. 10!