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This month marks the 60th anniversary of the beginning of Tezuka's manga serial, "Atomu Taishi" aka "Ambassador Atom" aka "Captain Atom"! (Atom does not make an appearance in the serial until the fourth installment which would be the July, 1951 issue of "Shonen")

Recently I purchased "The Mighty Atom Happy Birthday Box" on eBay. (For those who may have seen this item when it was posted for sale, yes I did pay that much for it.) This item was another one of those items released to commemorate the 40th anniversay of the premiere of the original anime in 2003 and as such was part of the Atom Dream Project! Not only does it contain a small "Astro Boy" figure, it also contains set of trading cards which feature the covers of "Astro Boy"'s manga.

It also has reprints of some of Astro Boy's manga, which feature some "Mighty Atom" pages in color, particularly, "Atomu Taishi"! but this version is not the one shown in the Dark Horse edition, but rather the version published by Kodansha which is said to be the closest to the original. The interesting thing about this reproduction is it shows that Dr. Tezuka's style in the beginning wasn't as polished as his later stuff. I'd be interested in knowing if the current reprint boxes of the original manga features the oriignal version of "Captain Arom"!

I

"ASTROBUDDY" wrote:This month marks the 60th anniversary of the beginning of Tezuka's manga serial, "Atomu Taishi" aka "Ambassador Atom" aka "Captain Atom"! (Atom does not make an appearance in the serial until the fourth installment which would be the July, 1951 issue of "Shonen")

Recently I purchased "The Mighty Atom Happy Birthday Box" on eBay. (For those who may have seen this item when it was posted for sale, yes I did pay that much for it.) This item was another one of those items released to commemorate the 40th anniversay of the premiere of the original anime in 2003 and as such was part of the Atom Dream Project! Not only does it contain a small "Astro Boy" figure, it also contains set of trading cards which feature the covers of "Astro Boy"'s manga.

It also has reprints of some of Astro Boy's manga, which feature some "Mighty Atom" pages in color, particularly, "Atomu Taishi"! but this version is not the one shown in the Dark Horse edition, but rather the version published by Kodansha which is said to be the closest to the original. The interesting thing about this reproduction is it shows that Dr. Tezuka's style in the beginning wasn't as polished as his later stuff. I'd be interested in knowing if the current reprint boxes of the original manga features the oriignal version of "Captain Arom"!

I

I believe so; the 7/7 set scheduled for release later this month lists a work of the date that Ambassador was 1st published (as I do not read J--, I use the dates). Though, I freely admit, I really do not know just what versions are in the 7 box set, I am guessing by the content that these may be the oldest versions. In the preface to DH version of URAN, Tezuka says he does not remember in which story U-- 1st appeared. I have the comics that show not only U--, but Cobalt leaping out of the box at the end of INVISIBLE GHOST! (recall T-- saying that C-- was destroyed in the 1st version of MIDORO MARSH). For fans of ROBOT LAND, mama & papa play a larger role than in the current versions, anime or manga! There are more than a few other stories in which I have seen content I never heard of before; thus, my guess is that these are originals. Yet, there are differences between the versions in the pocket-sized books and the larger volumes.

Wow ASTROBUDDY that sounds really cool

AAAWWW! D: I saw that on ebay the other day.

(Includes pics if anyone else wants to see it...)

I'm tempted to dig deep for this one myself...

I received my 193 book today! It has far more detail on the episodes than the one in this set, but the one in this thread's topic has its own merits. I think I will start a new thread.

Thank you, Gotta love Astro Boy and The Tawashi Bus Hat. Although I was lucky and did not have to pay as much as they are asking for that one, it was nice of you, TBH to post the link so others could see what I am talking about. (Unfortunately I am not that computer savvy, so thank you again.) An interesting thing is the particular manga reprints that were included in the box. The most important for me was the nicely reprinted "Captain Atom" manga. This reprint not only reprinted the entire serial more or less in its original form with color pages, but also included a gallery of the original covers for "Shonen" magazine. These did not feature Atom, but each cover had a picture of a Japanese boy involved in different activities. For ex., the cover of the first installment of "Atomu Taishi" features a boy in what appears to be the wind up for a pitch, I presume, since the boy is wearing a baseball glove and his hand appears to be behind him as his head almost juts out off the page.

Of course I did not expect the "Happy Birthday Box" to be so big. (I've got to pay more attention to the descriptions of items because I usually just go wild when I see something I would like to have and I forget myself!) The other manga reprints include one that has its own recent thread here at Astro Boy Discussions, ("Denko") ; "Black Lux"; and "Sea Serpent Isle" under its original title, "Atom goes to the Equator". I found it interesting that those three were the ones chosen to include in what is basically a time capsule for Astro Boy!

While "Sea Serpent Isle" is one of my favorites, ("the orignal anime version any way), if I were choosing an Astro Boy manga to include in an "Astro Boy Happy Birthday Box" I would pick instead of "Black Lux" maybe "The Mars Expedition". Especially because of that scene where Atom and Ochanomizu Hakase are walking past the space ship Atom will be going to Mars in.

Oh, yeah before I forget, in the same manga that features "Captain Atom", they feature the very first story to bear the "TetsuWan Atomu" title. That story is also different from the opening of the version in the DH series. The story is known as "Atom's Parents" and for those who may not know this, in the DH series it is featured as part of the story about the Mist people. Instead of background on the Ministry of Science where Astro Boy was created. It begins with a two page splash of the "TetsuWan Atomu" title with a head shot of Atom in the same panel, then going into the action where Atom is at school. The rest is about the same as in the DH volume. (I think the volume is #15). Let me ask you all what Atom stories would you put in an "Astro Boy Happy Birthday Box?

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...yay.
I M V U.
X3
ATOM FOREVER. Wow. He's sixty years old. And he still looks great 83

well... y'know.
Kindof. x3