Strange way to get into Tezuka?

[Pureboy]

Hi all- I've been an anime/manga fan for a long time, starting with watching Robotech, Tranzor Z, and Transformers as a child in the early 80's. Of course I had no idea it was anime at the time. I was aware of Tezuka from Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, loved Metropolis, and bought the first volume of Adolf but never read it. I ended up working for Central Park Media for a year doing some work on their release of the Black Jack OVAs and really got hooked. Now I have young children, and am starting to get the older one into manga, starting with Doraemon and Princess Knight. I am starting my library of Tezuka manga in English, with Ayako, Black Jack (got vol 1-3 hardcovers!), MW, Princess Knight, Dororo, Apollo's Song, Book of Human Insects and Unico.

I eventually want to collect all of Astro Boy, and am trying hard to resist the temptation to collect the Buddha hardcovers with jackets because a few of them are so damn expensive now. (I actually interviewed at Vertical and could have taken a Buddha HC home with me. ) I should be satisfied with used HCs without the jackets- those are far easier to find.

I'm into reading pretty much anything he's done at this point, but so far I'm finding the more mature stuff more interesting. Ayako was great!

[Marc]

Hi! Welcome to the forums!

I also got hooked on Tezuka through Black Jack--first the manga, then the anime, and then the OVAs. It remains my favorite of his series though I'm a big fan of his mature stuff as well. Ode to Kirihito is my favorite of those so far, and I read Ayako recently and it was excellent! Just got the first volume of Adolf in the mail the other day, but sadly I won't be able to start it until this weekend because I'm swamped with homework.

Buddha's on my to-collect list as well, and I'm debating between getting the hardcovers (sans jacket) or paperbacks. Since I'm just a college student I'll probably get the paperbacks because they're much cheaper, lol.

Again, welcome to the forums! I hope you enjoy it here.

[Pureboy]

Thanks for the welcome, Marc! I ended up getting all 8 HC volumes of Buddha used (good condition) without the jackets for $100. It wasn't worth spending multiple times that just for the books in new condition with the jackets, and to me a much better deal than buying the softcovers new. Now it looks great on my shelf! I finished the first HC of BlackJack and am already seeing the Star System in play. Also, I have the first volume of the VIZ version of Adolf that I never read in mint or near-mint condition. I should totally offload it and get Vertical's 2-volume version.