Synopses & Reviews
Black Jack is a mysterious and charismatic genius surgeon who travels the world performing amazing and impossible medical feats. Through highly trained, he freelances without a license because he disdains the medical establishment. This leads to run-ins with the authorities and unscrupulous, sometimes criminal, individuals. Because Black Jack keeps his true motives secret, his ethics are perceived as questionable and he is considered a selfish, uncaring devil.
Volume 15 contains fourteen of Black Jack's many worldly adventures...
A Life to Live: Black Jack is called in to treat a young flower arrangement master. The talented artisan is suffering from acute porphyria which is impacting her digestive and nervous system. Given her current condition she cannot even stand to be in sunlight;
as it often induces fainting spells, hallucinations and seizures. For an artist who focuses on light and life, to not be able to use sunlight to bring life to her art the ikebana master almost believes she has no life to lead. However with every new piece that she creates there is no doubt to her mentors that life itself is worth living. And if she survives she might have a life-changing decision to make about her career.
A Star is Born: In a rare chapter where Black Jack does not perform an operation, the good doctor must treat a previous patient's heart and soul. Award-winning actress Igusa Suginami says she owes all her success to the treatment she received from
BJ years ago. Since she had her operation she feels she has been blessed by a god of luck and is now ready to embark on the biggest performance of her life...She wants to confess her feelings to Dr. Black Jack. Sadly the doctor does not recognize Igusa the
superstar. He says he treated Chika the young singing talent with ambitions of making it big with her skills. Their reunion does not appear to be destined as the next big romance; instead it might end up becoming a tragedy for the ages.
About the Author
Osamu Tezuka was born on November 3, 1928, in Osaka. He grew up in an open-minded family exposed to comics and Walt Disney. As a boy he also had a love for insects, which he would later as a grown-up incorporate into his pen name. Having developed an intense understanding of the preciousness of life from his wartime experience, Osamu Tezuka aimed to become a physician and later earned his degree in medicine, but ultimately chose the profession he loved best: manga artist and animated film writer.
Tezuka's manga and animated films had a tremendous impact on the shaping of the psychology of Japan's postwar youth. His work changed the concept of Japanese comics, transforming it into an art form and incorporating a variety of new styles in creating the "story cartoon." Osamu Tezuka lived out his entire life tirelessly pursuing his efforts, passing away at the age of 60 on February 8, 1989.
In all, Tezuka produced more than 150,000 pages of graphic storytelling before his death. Posthumously Tezuka's work have won a number of awards in the U.S., including the 2009 Eisner Award given to his series Dororo.