News
Unpublished Early Osamu Tezuka Manga Discovered
posted on by Egan Loo
An unpublished manga that pioneering creator Osamu Tezuka (Mighty Atom/Astro Boy, Jungle Emperor/Kimba the White Lion, Phoenix) drew when he was in his late teens has been discovered. The manga dealt with post-war societal problems such as the black market and food shortages.
Tezuka had given the 19-page manga to a middle-school classmate, who then kept it for over six decades. Tezuka Productions acquired the manga for about 3 million yen (about US$37,000) after it was displayed in a Tokyo used bookstore this past April, and the studio confirmed that the manga is from the studio's namesake founder.
Tezuka was born in 1928 and he passed away in 1989. Tezuka drew the manga immediately after World War II and just before his professional debut. Harumichi Mori, the head of Tezuka Productions' archives, said that they were completely unaware of the manga's existence until now and declared it to be an extremely valuable work.
Tezuka Productions is looking into a possible future release of this manga.
