Sometimes referred to as My Son-Goku, Tezuka's take on the classical Chinese literary work, Journey to the West, tells the tale of the magical stone monkey known as Son-Goku and his adventures with the Buddhist monk Sanzohoshi as they travel to India in search of sacred Buddhist texts. Son-Goku the Monkey (1952-59) was originally published in Manga King from February 1952 to March 1959.
One of Tezuka's most well-known series, Phoenix (1967-88), is a series of twelve loosely connected stories – with the first chapter, “Dawn” published in COM magazine in 1967, and the last, “Sun”, appearing in 1988 in The Wild Age.
Just as Tezuka felt the realism was becoming too much for a shonen periodical, the opportunity to start the ambitious sci-fi series Norman (1968) came up with a different publisher, and Tezuka’s enthusiasm dropped substantially. Ultimately, at the request of the editor, he suspended publication of Dororo (1967-69), leaving the series with no ending.
Originally envisioned as an exploration of the human mind, the series of 17 independent, self-contained short stories that make up The Crater (1969-70) was serialized in Weekly Shonen Champion from August 1969 to April 1970.
One of Tezuka's longest-running chapter serials, Black Jack (1973-83) was originally published in Weekly Shonen Champion from November, 1973 until September, 1978. Although usually serialized with one chapter appearing each week, there are 10 chapters from the original run that were serialized over two weeks - one of which was an actual two-parter. In addition to the regular feature, one chapter, 'U-18 Knew' appeared in a Weekly Shonen Champion special issue and is thus considered to be unnumbered.
English-language translations of Osamu Tezuka's works have have come in several waves. The earliest translation of his work was done as a labour of love by the amateur four-man team known as dadakai - which included noted manga scholar Frederick L. Schodt, author of Manga! Manga! The World of Japanese Comics and Dreamland Japan: Writings on Modern Manga, two of the most influential and important books on the manga industry. In 1977, the team began to translate chapters of Phoenix, with the unofficial approval of Osamu Tezuka himself. This translation was published, in part, in Schodt's 1983 edition of Manga! Manga!, and later served as the foundation for VIZ's edition of Phoenix.
Ongoing Serial: a series of episodes, published over a span of weeks/months/years where the story plot is connected from chapter to chapter and must be read in chronological order for it to be understood properly.
Chapter Serial: a series of episodes, published over a span of weeks/months/years where the story plot is self-contained to a single chapter. There may be an overarching plot, but the stories can generally be read in any order and be understood
Book: an all-in-one self contained story published as a one-off.
Supplement: an an all-in-one self contained story published as a stand-alone supplement to a regular weekly/monthly periodical.
Short Story: an all-in-one, self contained story that was published in a regular weekly/monthly periodical
Anthology: a collection of all-in-one, self contained stories that were published in a regular weekly/monthly periodical but are generally grouped together.
