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Underground > Comic Books >

Osamu tezuka's BUDDHA ::

11:02 / 19.05.06

it's funny how things that seem to loom so huge and importantly over an entire genre, can be on the fringes of awareness just a couple of miles across some bodies of water and land. case in point: osamu tezuka.

you can find something about him here and this is a dedicated website.

tezuka is usually being referred to as the 'godfather of manga' and anybody looking into his body of work will surely second that notion. but only very little of his work has been published in english (a bit more was translated and released to german and spanish markets). recently a u.s.-american publisher initiated a release schedule for english translations of what i deem to be tezuka's most crucial finished project ('phoenix', unfortunately, was never completed): BUDDHA.

tezuka's retelling of the mythological history of the buddha not only makes for a highly entertaining read, but also clearly unveils tezuka's keen socio-economical awareness and his insights into the human condition.

what is your opinion of tezuka and especially 'buddha'?

11:08 / 19.05.06

I really wish I had more to say about Tezuka and Buddha than I do - all I've got is one Japanese language Astroboy manga...

Along with Eisner's last book, The Plot, Buddha is on my 'to get' list...

12:19 / 19.05.06

I read Tezuka's ADOLPH under much protest - the art style was too old fashioned, the story sounded boring, the guy was old and wore a beret for Christ's sake. Needless to say, I was riveted. It's the story about - if I remember correctly - three boys named Adolph and what happens to them in WW II and it is astounding. I highly recommend it and I'm constantly surprised to find more of Tezuka's work not lauded by American comics people. I've only read the first volume of BUDDHA and liked it more than I expected as well.

13:26 / 19.05.06

Funny, I was just thinking of picking this up, and now I see a thread on it by a fellow Wolf!

08:29 / 22.05.06

[see, us wolves share a mindlink. : )]

the funny thing with tezuka is actually how much of an influence he has become to non-japanese comic artists and writers within the last decade.

the seperation between japanese manga culture and u.s.-american and (to a lesser extent) european comic culture has always been there, surely to a high degree due to the cultural segregationism of japan and also the geographic isolation. only after the second world war those influences were swapping over, slowly but steadily.

and obviously they were moving from recenty artists back to the roots. the first "big name" of japanese manga to hit us was otomo. then came yoshihiro tatsumi and go nagai. and finally they've arrived at tezuka.

something else: can anyone comment on the historical sequence of tezuka's interpretation?
i do know all of the scene's and stories he has used so far but am not sure about their historical order and connection.

08:16 / 29.05.06

*bump* (?)

came across tezuka again seeing a short interview with lucas (the bloke with the 'star wars' movies, you know'm) where he was talking about japanese culture influencing his work on 'star wars'.

17:38 / 02.06.06

I am midway through BUDDHA and am loving every chapter. Vertical (pub comp) has begun issuing TPBs of the wonderfully designed buy-them-if-you-can HCs. Just went on a huge, decades-delayed Eno binge, which is providing a nice soundtrack to the Tezuka-fest.

I'm definitely on for PHOENIX and, with the above reccomendation, ADOLF too.