Original comic strips by Te●uka to be released in book form
A collection of newspaper comic strips by the late Japanese manga creator Osamu Tezuka featuring handwritten dialogue as well as previously unreleased works will be published as a set of books in November.
The three-volume box set titled “Tezuka Osamu Comic Strips” includes the complete stories in the size they were originally drawn such as Tiger Land — a comic about the coexistence of humans and animals — published in 1974 in the Japanese Communist Party daily currently known as Shimbun Akahata, among others.
The Tiger Land volume features landscape pages, measuring 80cm across when opened. The collection also includes Adventure 21, a series of stories set in 1998 about a humanoid rabbit that were published between 1970 and 1971.
In order to publish his horizontal comic strips in vertical book form, Tezuka (1928-1989), author of popular manga series such as Astro Boy, Black Jack and Jungle Emperor, would often personally cut and paste his work, touching up the story and sketches.
“We were able to publish the book in the manuscripts’ actual size when we found out that some of his original works were miraculously intact,” said Takayuki Hamada, who organised the project and edited the new books.
“You can feel the vibes of the past just by seeing his unique roundish handwriting in the speech bubbles,” he added.
The box set will also include Tezuka’s five other comic strips, being released in book form for the first time, including one aimed at children called Donaru- kun, which was published in the central Japanese newspaper Chunichi Shimbun in 1965.
The collection costs ¥13,200 (3,900 baht) and can be reserved on the website of publishing company 888 books.