Hello All

[Frank Venture]

Hey everyone,

I'm a grad student in my twenties from southeastern Pennsylvania. My very first exposure to the work of Osamu Tezuka was the Unico cartoon, which I rented from a local video store. The man who turned people into marionettes was particulary traumatizing to my young mind. I didn't really get into manga and anime until middle school, but after I did I bought Frederik L. Schodt's books on manga and read the translated exert of Phoenix, which was also extremely memorable. My current interest in Tezuka's work was sparked by the Anime World Order podcast and their many entertaining reviews of Tezuka's manga and the anime based off of it.

I've read many of Vertical's releases and Viz's release of Phoenix, and I'm always picking up more as money allows. My favorite Tezuka manga that I've read so far is Phoenix, with Dororo as a close second. I'm a student of Japanese history, and I really enjoy how Tezuka uses famous people and events from Japanese history in some unexpectedly dark and critical ways (Take THAT, Yoshitsune!).

I attended Otakon 2008 last weekend and met putrocca after a panel. She gave me her card, which prompted me to join the forums. I don't know anyone else who likes Tezuka, so I looking forward to being to discuss his comics here. Nice to meet you all.

[Princess Sapphire]

[Rock's Sunglasses]