Vertical licensed Black Jack!

[cmoon]

[Duofan]

I really can't wait to buy them all..

[putrocca]

Yes, it's going to be a long year waiting for it, but at least it'll be a year with an END and not an indefinite period.

[cmoon]

A year with Dororo to keep us busy in the interim

[Angelcake]

[Jiminy]

You mean bigger than the normal Tezuka disclaimer about racial stereotypes? They'd have to increase the page size just to fit it all in...

[putrocca]

I'm sure they would treat the racial images in some way, since they're very prominent. There was a stink over that when the manga was reprinted in Japan in the 1980s and that was Japan, the US is even more sensitive.

[Ash]

[Lemi]

[snake search]

I love this new direction that Vertical is moving in whit publishing Dororo and black jack. I hoping that they publish more manga like Dororo and black jack in the future. (crossing my fingers for The Three-eyed One or Rainbow Parakeet.)

[Deda]

[cmoon]

[strobe_z]

Getting information from Chapters.ca - I think this is the first confirmation we've had of actual publication dates. Looks like volume 2 will only be 2 months later. Hopefully that means once we get rolling we'll be getting our Black Jack fix regularly...

Black Jack, Volume 1
Author: Osamu Tezuka
List Price:$20.00
Online Price:$13.20
Format:Trade Paperback
Published:September 23, 2008
Dimensions:300 Pages, 0 x 0 x 0 in
Published By:Vertical Inc.
ISBN:193428727X

Black Jack, Volume 2
Author: Osamu Tezuka
List Price:$20.00
Online Price:$13.20
Format:Trade Paperback
Published:November 18, 2008
Dimensions:300 Pages, 0 x 0 x 0 in
Published By:Vertical Inc.
ISBN:1934287288

From the Publisher
Black Jack is a mysterious and charismatic young genius surgeon who travels the world performing amazing and impossible medical feats. Though a trained physician, he refuses to accept a medical license due to his hatred and mistrust of the medical community''s hypocrisy and corruption. This leads Black Jack to occasional run-ins with the authorities, as well as from gangsters and criminals who approach him for illegal operations.

Black Jack charges exorbitant fees for his services, the proceeds from which he uses to fund environmental projects and to aid victims of crime and corrupt capitalists. But because Black Jack keeps his true motives secret, his ethics are perceived as questionable and he is considered a selfish, uncaring devil. The Black Jack series is told in short stories. Each volume will contain 16-20 stories, each running approximately 20-24 pages in length.

Black Jack is recognized as Osamu Tezuka''s third most famous series, after Astro Boy and Kimba, the White Lion.

About the Author
Osamu Tezuka (1928-89) is the godfather of Japanese manga comics. He originally intended to become a doctor and earned his degree before turning to what was then a medium for children. His many early masterpieces include the series known in the U.S. as Astro Boy. With his sweeping vision, deftly interwined plots, feel for the workings of power, and indefatigable commitment to human dignity, Tezuka elevated manga to an art form. The later Tezuka, who authored Buddha, often had in mind the mature readership that manga gained in the sixties and that had only grown ever since. The Kurosawa of Japanese pop culture, Osamu Tezuka is a twentieth century classic.

[pomocho]

I am probably more excited about this than any other forthcoming Tezuka release. I have heard so much about this manga, I eagerly await the opportunity to finally read it in its entirety.

At any rate, the cover art features some pretty loopy designs -- and yet, like all of Vertical's publications, they are very eye catching.

[Princess Sapphire]