PRAISE FOR OSAMU TEZUKA’S BLACK JACK:
“Black Jack is a dramatic, nearly Byronic figure… With genre-spanning stories–horror, sci-fi, romance–and Tezuka’s signature blend of drama, bathos and extreme broad comedy jammed together on every page,
Black Jack is a wild but extravagantly entertaining ride that’s far more accessible than the author’s novel-length epics.”
–Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Black Jack, the tortured renegade surgeon who operates on the desperately needy (and, on occasion, himself)…makes TV’s Dr. House look like Mary Poppins.”
–Los Angeles Times
“The stories are a unique mix of an Isaac Bashevis Singer morality tale, and outstanding creative medicine. Though
Black Jack is aimed at a young audience, it has maturity not found in adult works. It’s a piece of comic art that excels in form, and message.”
–Ain’t It Cool News
“While
Astro Boy is more iconic and
Phoenix is more epic in scope,
Black Jack is arguably Tezuka’s best and most enjoyable work… [It] hits Tezuka’s sweet spot where his heart, his head and his sense of humor meet in perfect company.”
–About.com“Surely there’s nothing in this series more continually striking than the artist’s relentless, guaranteed depictions of surgery itself, happy rubber skin always peeled away to show realist meat and bone, minutely detailed organs mended or transplanted, then covered up again in the stuff of effortless napkin doodles… I found even the least of [these stories] fascinating examples of an artist casting his net especially far, secure in his talented hands and firm in his fame–ready to confront any malady, striving to cut away any harm, instrument tips sharp for making flesh whole.”
–Jog The Blog“‘Iconic’ doesn’t begin to sum up
Black Jack’s importance in the world of manga… I see a lot of Tezuka fans reaching for their wallets–not just for this volume alone, but for the whole of
Black Jack as it’s finally being re-released in the English-language edition it has always deserved. It was, and will be, more than worth the wait.
Platinum Award.”
–Advanced Media Network“Great material–classic crazy Tezuka with a bloody medical heartbeat tuning out the sound of man’s inhumanity to man.”
–Newsrama“Totally fun, totally engrossing.
Black Jack is a page-turner of the highest order, and I blew through 280+ pages and I’m hungry for more.”
–Comics212.net
“To match the beautiful outside, Camellia Nieh did a fantastic job with the translation. The entire book was a fantastic read cover-to-cover that I refused to put down. Whether you’re just getting into manga, or have been a fan for decades, it would be a shame not to own this seminal title.”
–Japanator
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, when he 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.
