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Astro Boy Paperback – November 1, 2004

by Osamu Tezuka (Author)

4.4 8 ratings

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As Mickey Mouse is to American animation, so to anime and manga is Astro Boy, the quintessential creation of Osama Tezuka, one of the world's revered giants of comics and animation. Dark Horse brings the original Astro Boy manga to America for the first time in an English-language edition, translated by Frederick L. Schodt, renowned for his work on Ghost in the Shell and for his books on Japan, including Manga! Manga!. In this volume, Astro Boy comes to the aid of Gravia's robot president to prevent his overthrow at the hands of a secret anti-robot society; a robot magician is cloned as a setup to start a movement against intelligent robots, and only Astro Boy can expose the conspiracy; and Astro Boy defends a powerful robot race car from an evil gang in the globe-spanning Equator Race! Astro Boy is an all-ages delight, as fresh, exciting, and innovative today as when it was created forty years ago. Everything is Go, Astro Boy!

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Print length

96 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Tokyopop
Publication date

November 1, 2004
Grade level

4 - 6
ISBN-10

1595320601
ISBN-13

978-1595320605
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tokyopop (November 1, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 96 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1595320601
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1595320605
Grade level ‏ : ‎ 4 - 6
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.11 pounds

Customer Reviews:
4.4 8 ratings

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Osamu Tezuka

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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.

Photo by Unknown, scanning and editing was done by Ogiyoshisan (Last edited Desember 27, 2013) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

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If robots can think, should they vote for president?

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2004

"Astro Boy Vol. 2" continues the excellent tales of Tezuka Osamu's seminal creation, the boy robot Astro Boy! (Can't you just hear the theme music!)
This second volume continues Tezuka's familiar themes, exploring the political and emotional impact of robot populations, are they second class citizens or individual beings, do they have souls and emotions? All very common themes in modern Science Fiction, but Tezuka did it first here.
There are 3 stories, the first featuring Astro Boy and a plot to prevent robot voting rights, the second staring a robot magician who's body is stolen yet who's soul remains his own, and a final story of Astro Boy's love for a special plant and the story behind it. All 3 stories are very well crafted, blending entertainment with social commentary seamlessly. A great series for parents looking for comics for their kids.
The only problem with the Dark Horse presentation is the order in which the series are released. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the order, and volume 2 has two new characters appear, Uran and Cobalt, without any explanation or origin.

7 people found this helpful

Excellent Stories, Weak Presentation

Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2012

Verified Purchase

Volume 2 immediately reminds me that Dark Horse's Astro Boy collection is far from complete by very briefly bringing Uran and Cobalt (an Astro Boy look alike) into the story despite never introducing them in any way. In the first story Astro Boy becomes embroiled in a plot to ruin the first robot president; president Rag (as in Rag Doll). Rag's primary desire as president is to see humans and robots in a more cooperative position which doesn't sit well with many humans who prefer their robots working as servants. The main threat against Rag's presidency is Deadcross, a costumed villain intent on destroying him. The robots are clearly surrogates for any oppressed group although oppressed groups don't generally manage to secure highest position in the land. This is a classic example of Osamu Tezuka using robots and science fiction to tell a tale of morality that's relevant in any era.

Dealing with the topic of sentient robots is one of Tezuka's common stories. In the second story a robotic (but very human looking) magician named Kino is framed for the theft of priceless paintings. In response the police want to change the robot rules and force all robots to have their intellects dumbed down to prevent robots like Kino from committing crimes. This would include Astro Boy. The general population of robots are not surprisingly unhappy with the proposed change and begin marching in the streets. Lowering the intellect of free robots is perhaps not such a bad idea since they are flat out superior physically to humans and have repeatedly shown themselves to be dangerous. On the other hand the dangerous robots are generally created by villains who simply don't adhere to the robot rules while creating lethal robots. In this case Kino's duplicate was created by a magician named Noh Unoh who gave the robot limited intelligence to make him easily controlled.

As in volume 1 Osamu Tezuka breaks in to complain about his stories being censored in the United States for excessive violence and brings up the very good point that this is the same country that was involved in multiple wars in southeast Asia where real people were being killed. At the same time Tezuka can be very playful as when he does some fourth wall breaking. In the Kino story the police attempt to hide the valuable paintings from Kino's double by folding back the comic panel and hiding them behind it. Tezuka is frequently a mix of serious and silly.

In my review of volume one I compared this collection to the recent Fantagraphics release of Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse. The Fantagraphics books are gorgeous hardcover editions fit for display. They are complete and given their page count and dimensions add up to 26254 sq inches of high quality pages for $21.89. Dark Horse gives around 6702 sq inches of cheap quality paper in this paperback collection that includes huge gaps in the stories. Currently the volumes are selling for between 8 and 10 dollars per. This is pretty much a done on the cheap collection although I won't deny that the translating seems to be well done. At this point Dark Horse is the only show in town so if you don't want to pay the asking price for this collection you don't get to read Tezuka's stories. Maybe some day a publisher will decide to give Tezuka and Astro Boy the star treatment they deserve but until then people will have to settle for this overpriced collection.

One person found this helpful

George Hagenauer

More for kids than adults

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2022

As I work my way through all the volumes ( and granted I am only on #2) I am struck by the different types of stories Tezuka tells compared to many Golden and Silver Age American comic books. I am also struck that Astroboy may be best experienced at age 8 to 10 as opposed to 72! These are light on characterization, big on action and not much humor or satire . Well done but definitely for a younger audience and not as interesting as a lot of the graphic novels my 8 year old grandaughter reads. Review 909

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