I've been a huge fan of the Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom) cartoon since I was a kid and I even watched that Kimba series.. yeah I'm the dude who always brings up the Lion King controversy. Check me out goin nuts at the Comme ça store in Harajuku. Recently lilgee and my brother both sent me some Astro Boy gear.. nice

Anyway today was the last day to check out the Osamu Tezuka exhibit at the Asian Art Museum, the show opened back in June. Oh boy, was that a good $7 spent, student foe lyfee. This showcase was previously in Australia, ours is the only stop in the US

They set up in the Osher Gallery, the main room on the first floor, organized by manga series and showing panel art and mostly oversized color covers. I read every single words on those description notes, that was a first

No pix allowed, some peeps took some anyways, outlaws!


by mybluemuse


by dubteka

Highlights
- artwork on display be a-m-a-z-i-n-g, ya had to be impressed with the sophistication in the panel shapes, layout and composition.. Bill Watterson is looking tired right now
- there is probably a lot to be said about the progression of his work, I can't say much more than the early stuff was okay, the later stuff looked better
- I was more interested in his concepts and stories
- Atom (of course!), the beloved robot is so the bizzomb they coulda have a shrine that took up half the room for all I care
- Tezuka was very prolific, creating some 700 manga titles
- his inspiration was otherworldly, creating very memorable characters with such originality
- I've seen the Black Jack character before but never really knew what he was about. Burakku Jakku (omg love that) is on some tormented ish, a crazy ass surgeon who charges exorbitant prices for his services, here's the full description off Wikped

Black Jack is a medical mercenary, selling his skills to the highest bidder. He is a shadowy figure, with a black cape, eerie black-and-white hair and a scar across his face. Black Jack cures patients indiscriminately, from common folk to presidents and yakuza leaders. To his VIP patients, he charges absurd sums. All this has given him a reputation for callousness and greed which he gleefully cultivates. However, to the reader it is clear that Black Jack actually is a good man: he is anti-wealth and anti-prestige, and believes he is actually doing rich people a favor by removing their material wealth. The opposition to wealth and power is a common theme in Tezuka's work: powerful men are almost always portrayed in a negative light.

- Ode to Kirihito/Eulogy to Kirihito (Kirihito Sanka) is another real good one involving a man looking for a cure to a strange disease that gives canine features, he himself is afflicted with it
- more cool stuff: MW/Mu, Princess Knight, Apollo's Song, Marvelous Melmo, Human Metamorphosis (Ningen Konchuki), Bomba
- not so much: Buddha, Ludwig B, Crime And Punishment, Metropolis, Phoenix, Wonder 3
- homeboy had a disturbing obsession with androgyny
- I was surprised by the prominent use of whiteout, I guess that stuff does not show up on the scanning/printing process
- the colored stuff was so great, it had a very art deco modernism feel to it
- the type setting used characters printed on paper, cut out and pasted on the art panel bubbles.. weird
- the most amazing piece of art shown may have been the hanging page from Human Metamorphosis

Hope ya made it out there

Tezuka: The Marvel Of Manga
June 2 - September 9, 2007
marvelofmanga.org

Asian Art Museum
200 Larkin St
San Francisco, CA 94102
Google Maps (Larkin @ McCallister)
asianart.org

More
wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka

Some pics, entire set





by amietron




Next stop, the Osamu Tezuka Museum in Japan: 宝塚市立　手塚治虫記念館 / 7-65 Mukogawa-cho, Takarazuka-shi, Hyogo, Japan


by hyougushi

Heh, someday :-)