Astro Boy Volume 1
By Osamu Tezuka
Published September 2002 by Dark Horse, first published
1952.
·
The origins of Astro Boy ironically do not show
up in the first publications of Tezuka, instead jumping directly to the high
fantasy sci-fi that is prominent for most of the story. Given that context,
Astro Boy’s origins plays similarly to Batman’s in Detective Comics in that we
know nothing about him in his original publication until much later.
·
Most of the first arc is dedicated to the
“Hotdog Corps” arc where a loyal dog to a side character in Astro Boy’s mythos
is turned into a cyborg man soldier to take over the moon with an entire corps
of other cyborgs. This plays with 44, the dog once known as Pedro, always
having an issue with loyalty given his stance against working with Astro Boy
yet wanting loyalty for his former mater.
·
It is gruesome yet iconic for the dog cyborg 44
to be holding Pedro’s body in a non-horrified manner, giving a sense of macabre
to the scene as Pedro is being intimate towards his fallen body.
·
The high fantasy end of this series stems from
technology allowing robotics to allow people to the moon and other marvelous
feats that is even today not in our grasp.
·
The plant people note that there are indeed
aliens in this universe.
·
For some odd reason Tezuka notes that Astro
himself is not allowed clothes in his origins.
·
The rushed part of Astro being discovered by the
professor in a circus act mirrors that of Peter Parker’s introduction as a hero
with him being a wrestler in his depute instead of a hero.
·
As one of the first manga series published, a
lot of the narrative flows take its inspiration from the Golden and Silver Age
style of high-end narrative and dynamic punches and poses to convey narrative
as opposed to modern subtle methods that comics have adapted.
·
Though drawing heavily from Golden and Silver
Age comics of America, the narrative of Astro Boy comics are not necessarily
self contained and thus shows the prototype of story arcs which are commonly
used in manga today.
·
Given the sci-fi nature of Astro Boy and other
comics published in Japan around the same time, it can be seen why people
labeled manga as sci-fi originally in its genesis.
·
It is noted that Astro Boy is the prototype for
what would be called the “Shonen” genre of manga, which would have a
demographics of adolescent to young adults much similar to how comics of the Golden
Age were aimed towards the demographics of young boys.
·
It is to note that manga was originally printed
on much cheaper and disposable paper than even its American counterparts,
mirroring the fast-paced market of consumerism that Japan was emulating from
the West.
·
Tezuka himself introduces story arcs in what is
presented in the first volume’s tales, going as far as to critique with the
characters troupes of narrative common in other media.
·
Overall, for one of the first manga ever
published in a definition close to what we call “manga” today, Astro Boy stands
the test of time as a great story enjoyable for all ages.
Bibliography:
Tezuka, Osamu, and Frederik L. Schodt. Astro Boy. Milwaukie, OR: Dark
Horse Manga, 2002. Print.
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