Rating: 
Summary: A surgical anti-hero
Review: A super-hero surgeon seems a pretty unlikely protagonist. but Tezuka pulls it off with his hero Black Jack. Like any proper rouge, Black Jack lives outside the rules of society, sweeping in when his skills are needed and making the corrupt pay for their mis-deeds. Hey, he even wears a cape.Each story manages to set up a situation where a super surgeon is necessary. However, due to Tezuka's fine writing skills, there is a humanist element to each tale, that is often melancholy. Black Jack makes other's happy, but he is rarely happy himself. He cannot taste the forbidden fruit that is peace of mind. Life, death, failure, lost love, childhood and age, these are all the themes presented here. Each story is some sort of morality tale, so the logistics behind the melodrama are not as important. Tezuka's cartoony style can be off-putting to those who are used to more refined Japanese manga artists, but it soon flows into the story and is admired rather than questioned. Those already familiar with Tezuka will find the art here as fine as anything done by the "God of Manga." All in all, a really excellent comic. Give it a chance, and you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: A surgical anti-hero
Review: A super-hero surgeon seems a pretty unlikely protagonist. but Tezuka pulls it off with his hero Black Jack. Like any proper rouge, Black Jack lives outside the rules of society, sweeping in when his skills are needed and making the corrupt pay for their mis-deeds. Hey, he even wears a cape. Each story manages to set up a situation where a super surgeon is necessary. However, due to Tezuka's fine writing skills, there is a humanist element to each tale, that is often melancholy. Black Jack makes other's happy, but he is rarely happy himself. He cannot taste the forbidden fruit that is peace of mind. Life, death, failure, lost love, childhood and age, these are all the themes presented here. Each story is some sort of morality tale, so the logistics behind the melodrama are not as important. Tezuka's cartoony style can be off-putting to those who are used to more refined Japanese manga artists, but it soon flows into the story and is admired rather than questioned. Those already familiar with Tezuka will find the art here as fine as anything done by the "God of Manga." All in all, a really excellent comic. Give it a chance, and you won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: About the author.
Review: BJ is one of best known works of the author Tezuka Osamu, the god of manga, the creator of the modern manga in Japan after the WWII. Tezuka Osamu was also a student of medical doctor, and he also obtained Medical Doctors degree in Japan. In his life he wrote more than 400 books of manga as many as 150,000 pages or more than that as well as directed many animations. We hope the US readers have access to more titles of his master pieces like BJ.
Rating:
Summary: Black Jack rocks!!!
Review: Cool stories and one cool main character. Strong character designs and crystal-clear storytelling. I hope that more of Tezuka's work gets translated for the U.S. market -- I like his style!
Rating:
Summary: Black Jack rocks!!!
Review: Cool stories and one cool main character. Strong character designs and crystal-clear storytelling. I hope that more of Tezuka's work gets translated for the U.S. market -- I like his style!
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Cool
Review: Even though it's manga, this is pretty cool. It has a great main character, Blackjack, and very interesting plots based on "true" medical horror stories and other very creative things. Unfortunatly, each section is a story in itself, so it gets repetitive after a while... Of course, I've read the second book, too. That was repetitive. The first book alone is great, I'd highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Cool
Review: Even though it's manga, this is pretty cool. It has a great main character, Blackjack, and very interesting plots based on "true" medical horror stories and other very creative things. Unfortunatly, each section is a story in itself, so it gets repetitive after a while... Of course, I've read the second book, too. That was repetitive. The first book alone is great, I'd highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected from the "Manga Master"...
Review: Having seen a few episodes of "Astro Boy" and "Kimba The White Lion", I never considered the possibility that anime/manga legend Osamu Tezuka was capable of heavier fare. So needless to say I was thrown for a loop when I picked up and leafed through a copy of "Black Jack" volume 1. It's significantly more mature in theme and story than Tezuka's more notable works, and contains some fairly graphic depictions of surgery. But considering the fact that the books' title character, Black Jack, is the world's most skilled and naturally gifted surgeon, I should've at least semi-expected it. The book contains eight one-shot stories, and have no linkage to each other. Probably the most significant chapter is the one that tells the origin of Black Jack's "daughter" Pinoco, since she makes appearances in a few subsequent stories. Another significant chapter is the "origin" of B.J. himself, which tells the story of what inspired him to become a healer, and introduced (and sadly, also bade farewell to) his mentor. But quite possibly the most unusual moment is our hero's reunion with a lost love-an interesting take on the popular manga & anime formula of gender-switching. There's quite a few other offbeat moments inside this tome, which you'll have to read for yourself... Quite a few of the secondary characters depicted in Tezuka's renderings are reminiscent of early Warner Brothers and Hanna-Barbera cartoon shorts, with a little bit of the "Speed Racer" look thrown in for good measure. For someone who's considered the originator of the modern anime and manga genre, I guess it was only natural that Tezuka had to draw his inspiration from somewhere. It's a rather unusual hybrid of mature storytelling and cartoonish artwork that I found to be a bit off-putting at first, but got used to as I kept reading. The only tiny problem I have with this book is the dialogue. It's a bit clipped and relatively simple,likely due to the complexities involved in the translation of the original Japanese text. When the characters "speak", they usually get right down to the point and waste few words. As a result, I found this volume to be a pretty quick read. Oh what to do... 'Late
Rating:
Summary: very well worth to keep
Review: I have always been an Osamu fan. I first read Black Jack over 20 years ago. It's great to own it again in the U.S. Great stories that tell the truth about human minds. Very well worth to collect. When is the next volume going to be published?
Rating:
Summary: very well worth to keep
Review: I have always been an Osamu fan. I first read Black Jack over 20 years ago. It's great to own it again in the U.S. Great stories that tell the truth about human minds. Very well worth to collect. When is the next volume going to be published?
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