Tezuka in English

The Black Queen first appeared in issue #57, 'Black Queen,' (1/13/1975). She is Black Jack's other potential love after Kisaragi Kei. Konomi Kuwata was a young and beautiful female doctor, specializing in amputations, and so infamous in the medical world for her cold-hearted approach to her 'butchery' that she earned the nickname 'Black Queen,' referring to Black Jack. Her fiancée, the young and ambitious businessman Rock Holmes (see the Rock character profile and secondary character profile) asks her to give up her work because her bad reputation is interfering with his chances for promotion. Angry and conflicted, she goes out and gets drunk in a bar Black Jack frequents, and introduces herself to him as the 'Black Queen.' This lady doctor so similar to himself makes a strong impression on Black Jack and he comes to the hospital soon thereafter, on Christmas Eve, with a present for her in an envelope, 'from the Jack to the Queen.' On arrival, he finds her in horrible turmoil, because her fiancée Rock has been in a terrible accident and she needs to amputate both his legs, but finds herself unable to do it, for once feeling the patient's suffering strongly. Black Jack gets her drunk and has her sleep, while he performs the operation, saving Rock's legs. Then he leaves, tearing up the envelope so we never see its contents.

We see the Black Queen again in issue #199, 'The Last Train,' (1/16/1978). Here, a year later, Black Jack ran into the Black Queen on a train. She and Rock were now married, and Rock wanted her to move overseas with him for business reasons, but she was afraid to leave the well-equipped Japanese hospital she was accustomed to. Black Jack was stranded because the train he was on was the last one and he missed his connection to his destination, so the Black Queen brought him home. She demonstrated her willingness here to leave Rock for Black Jack, but Black Jack got her drunk and spiked her drink to keep her asleep. He reported to the operating room the next morning when she should have operated, and reported that he had spent the night in her room, and she was asleep with a hangover and had sent him to do the operation. The staff were outraged and fired her, thus forcing her to stay with her husband and move overseas. In the end she was grateful.