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Great Comics Artists Series
God of Comics: Osamu Tezuka and the Creation of Post-World War II Manga
Cartoonist Osamu Tezuka (1928–1989) is the single most important figure in Japanese post-World War II comics. During his four-decade career, Tezuka published more than 150,000 pages of comics, produced animation films, wrote essays and short fiction, and earned a Ph.D. in medicine. Along with creating the character Astro Boy (Mighty Atom in Japan), he is best known for establishing story comics as the mainstream genre in the Japanese comic book industry, creating narratives with cinematic flow and complex characters. This style influenced all subsequent Japanese output. God of Comics chronicles Tezuka's life and works, placing his creations both in the cultural climate and in the history of Japanese comics.
The book emphasizes Tezuka's use of intertextuality. His works are filled with quotations from other texts and cultural products, such as film, theater, opera, and literature. Often, these quoted texts and images bring with them a world of meanings, enriching the narrative. Tezuka also used stock characters and recurrent visual jokes as a way of creating a coherent world that encompasses all of his works.
God of Comics includes close analysis of Tezuka's lesser-known works, many of which have never been translated into English. It offers one of the first in-depth studies of Tezuka's oeuvre to be published in English.
The book emphasizes Tezuka's use of intertextuality. His works are filled with quotations from other texts and cultural products, such as film, theater, opera, and literature. Often, these quoted texts and images bring with them a world of meanings, enriching the narrative. Tezuka also used stock characters and recurrent visual jokes as a way of creating a coherent world that encompasses all of his works.
God of Comics includes close analysis of Tezuka's lesser-known works, many of which have never been translated into English. It offers one of the first in-depth studies of Tezuka's oeuvre to be published in English.
208 pages, Paperback
First published May 14, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 20, 2012
Power's dissertation comes as many other Tezuka books have; well thought-out, researched into the ground, and with great pictures at that. The books main fault is its beginning which gives a brief (but not too brief) account of manga before WWII, starting with great visual poets like Kakuyu (1053-1140), who Tezuka appropriated and used himself, and moving all the way to post-war Tezuka, as the title states. It was interesting for me, but for anyone but the hardcore collector, it may seem like a slow buildup to our main subject.
But when Power starts talking Tezuka, it's ON. An in depth analysis covers almost every major work he's done from 'akahon' like "New Treasure Island" and its wonderful, film-like narrative, all the way to greats like "Black Jack" and "Buddha". Chapter 4 is a look at Tezuka's "Star System", his inherent (and fictional) world of 'stars' that make up his manga world, and, like movie stars, appear all over. This is one of the most interesting and memorable things about Tezuka's art, and Power does a great job reminding us why this man is worshiped as a god.
Power also gives us Tezuka's look at animation and his difficulties with it. Chapter 8 focuses on the multiple styles that Tezuka worked in and one begins to wonder how one man put out so many tens of thousands of pages. But Power covers that as well, telling of Tezuka's large fan-base (ranging from ages 5 to 80) and his loyal workers who did countless hours of beta and coloring work so that he could complete the massive amount of work he started (though "Phoenix" and a few others were left unfinished at his death in 1989).
This is some great research accompanied by untranslated pages of certain Tezuka works, all nicely tied in with each topic. While you may prefer something like "The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution," nothing I've seen has come close to the detail and analysis of works outside of his popular manga. This will tie down any Tezuka fan until they rush back to the store for the newest volume of "Black Jack". Highly recommended for ANYONE who knows (or doesn't know!) who the god of manga was, and how he influenced everything we read in panel form today.
But when Power starts talking Tezuka, it's ON. An in depth analysis covers almost every major work he's done from 'akahon' like "New Treasure Island" and its wonderful, film-like narrative, all the way to greats like "Black Jack" and "Buddha". Chapter 4 is a look at Tezuka's "Star System", his inherent (and fictional) world of 'stars' that make up his manga world, and, like movie stars, appear all over. This is one of the most interesting and memorable things about Tezuka's art, and Power does a great job reminding us why this man is worshiped as a god.
Power also gives us Tezuka's look at animation and his difficulties with it. Chapter 8 focuses on the multiple styles that Tezuka worked in and one begins to wonder how one man put out so many tens of thousands of pages. But Power covers that as well, telling of Tezuka's large fan-base (ranging from ages 5 to 80) and his loyal workers who did countless hours of beta and coloring work so that he could complete the massive amount of work he started (though "Phoenix" and a few others were left unfinished at his death in 1989).
This is some great research accompanied by untranslated pages of certain Tezuka works, all nicely tied in with each topic. While you may prefer something like "The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution," nothing I've seen has come close to the detail and analysis of works outside of his popular manga. This will tie down any Tezuka fan until they rush back to the store for the newest volume of "Black Jack". Highly recommended for ANYONE who knows (or doesn't know!) who the god of manga was, and how he influenced everything we read in panel form today.
November 27, 2022
I don't recall the author–or the exact quote. But, years ago, I read an article in The Comics Journal that said something to the effect that the major comics cultures of the world each have a single creator who left such an indelible stamp upon them that it shaped the very formats in which comics are enjoyed within those cultures. In North America, it was Jack Kirby. In Europe, Hergé. And in Japan, it was Osamu Tezuka.
Tezuka is best known in English-speaking countries for creating Astro Boy, with perhaps Kimba the White Lion as a close second. But in Japan, he's known for creating thousands of pages of comics over the years. Even today, with much more of his work available in English than was even dreamed of back when this book was published, it still represents a small fraction of his complete output.
In God of Comics, Natsu Onoda Power has given us an introduction to Tezuka's work. She gives an overview of his career, touching on the major works. There are chapters on recurring characters, jokes, and themes, as well as a chapter about his animation career. And there are panels and illustrations throughout, most of them from works that still, as of 2022, have yet to be translated into English.
Osamu Tezuka is an important figure in the history of manga, and this book is a great introduction to his work. Recommended!
Tezuka is best known in English-speaking countries for creating Astro Boy, with perhaps Kimba the White Lion as a close second. But in Japan, he's known for creating thousands of pages of comics over the years. Even today, with much more of his work available in English than was even dreamed of back when this book was published, it still represents a small fraction of his complete output.
In God of Comics, Natsu Onoda Power has given us an introduction to Tezuka's work. She gives an overview of his career, touching on the major works. There are chapters on recurring characters, jokes, and themes, as well as a chapter about his animation career. And there are panels and illustrations throughout, most of them from works that still, as of 2022, have yet to be translated into English.
Osamu Tezuka is an important figure in the history of manga, and this book is a great introduction to his work. Recommended!
March 11, 2012
As a budding Tezuka scholar, I fail to understand raring this book anything less than 4 stars. Power bills the book as an academic examination of Tezuka's works and stylistic trends as they relate to Japanese history and the cultural movements that entailed in a post-WW2 environment. That's exactly what this book is, and unless Power has stretched the truth or inaccurately rendered historical events, I think she deserves applause for bringing to life in Englush such a studious treatment of Tezuka. I learned plenty from this book and its style, despite publication through a university press, did not turn me away at all.
November 2, 2012
One of the most in-depth English language studies of the genius cartoonist Osamu Tezuka, covering his life biographically and academically. This is definitely worth reading for anyone interested in the history of Tezuka and manga (especially the section about the comics and movies in Japan before, during and, after world war II
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews