I know I can't be the only person who first got introduced to Astroboy through the NOW Comics series of the 1980s. So why is there nothing--and I do mean *nothing*--about them on the web from a fan viewpoint? The way they presented the emotional relationships between the chief characters was at times really gripping--in particular that between Astro and Dr. Boynton.
At the very least, the artwork on the covers by Ken Steacy was superb, and really deserves to be scanned and archived for more fans to see.
1980s NOW Comic scans--why aren't there any?
-
Thylacine 2000
- Kokoro Robot
- Posts: 20
- Joined: 20 years ago
I recently re-read through the whole NOW run--the 20 issues of Astroboy itself, the back-up story he got in an issue of NOW's Speed Racer comic, and some promotional interviews--for the first time in about eight years. Here are a few thoughts on the overall structure of the series. Again, if this is all second nature to most Astroboy fans then I apologize, but I get the feeling based on the total lack of references on the 'net that most people have really never been exposed to these comics, and so starting some discussions might be worthwhile.
#1-8: "The Boy in the 'Bot". Written by Michael Dimpsey, illustrated by Ken Steacy. The artwork is by and large gorgeous--Steacy knows how to make his creations somehow both humanlike and mechanical and is great at evoking personification through facial expressions. This story arc is the origin of Astroboy--basically a prolonged, character-driven retelling of the first episode of the 1960s cartoon. Yes, that's about 200 pages of illustrations to depict what the cartoon had established in 24 minutes; so there's lots of room to introduce new characters and emotional threads. The relationship between Astro and Dr. Boynton is deep, frightening, almost heartbreaking..... Boynton is more unstable here than I think any other medium ever depicted him. Astro, for his part, alternates between trying to win his dad's affection and deeply resenting his manipulative and abusive attitude. As for the "good doctor"'s style of disciplining Astro: Gah. Bruno the torture-spider just scared the crap out of me when I was a kid, and now when I re-read it as an adult I find it downright perverse... really just weirdly cruel that someone would have thought they could get away with writing and drawing a story element like that into a kids' comic book. In other news, we also find out just why this would-be child of a reclusive scientist also has all those weapons and jets built into him: Boynton only got the money for the project by agreeing to build it for military use! General Hawkins is none too happy when Astro doesn't show up for duty, and she and her combat legions put some pressure on both him *and* Boynton. Cacciatore's accent is an intrusive and annoying bit of stereotyping, but that's more or less what he was like on the show. Astro definitely "grows" during this story: he starts out totally childlike and good-natured; then he becomes a technical and scientific genius while still being naiive and gullible; after his abusive treatment by both Boynton and Cacciatore he is sullen and bitter; and after seeing how the other cast-off robots look to him for inspiration he becomes a pacifist and mediator to human/robot conflict.
#9-16: The credits now say the books are written by Steacy, with artwork by both him and Andrew Pratt.... however, the art style and quality of these books as compared to the first eight is so drastically different--having changed for the worse--that I believe that either Pratt was doing all the work or Steacy was so preoccupied with writing that he didn't have time to draw well and so Pratt came in for cleanup-work. There is much less attention paid to shading and color gradations, to proper humanoid proportions, and in some cases even to "finishing" the art--in some places quick movement is shown by mere scribbles. Production values really seemed to take a turn for the worse; many of the word balloons have visible white-out marks inside them, and on one page in issue 15 you can see the photographic after-images of pieces of Scotch tape that had been used to hold some of the picture elements together. Though at least all the covers are still vintage Steacy works of art. The stories are not as impressive as the origin arc had been (which is deliberate, as the Amazing Heroes interview below mentions), though they did not fall as seriously as the art quality. They're now mostly stand-alone pieces: Astro's first day of school, Astro meets his sister, Astro fights dinosaurs, etc. There's an interesting sub-story where Astro has to disprove some parents' fears in order to be allowed to attend a normal school; during a later battle, his internal nuclear reactor malfunctions and he actually becomes radioactive--now Astro even frightens himself! To make up for this, he insists that Dr. Elefun reconfigure him to run on batteries--a move that makes him significantly less powerful. What's really remarkable about these issues is that they establish Dr. Boynton as trying to redeem himself, issuing a heartfelt apology to Astro and even acting as a sort of behind-the-scenes guardian. Issue 13 is kind of a funny satire of the comics industry: small, innocent, unassuming Astro meets up with "Mutex the Mutant Marvel," a savage, foul-mouthed mutant superhero with a suspiciously familiar pointy costume. Seeking more headlines and attention for himself, Mutex ambushes Astro and just about demolishes him in a very one-sided battle--but a crowd of onlookers jeers at him for being an un-heroic bully, and so he backs down out of embarassment! Issues 14 and 15 both feature Astroboy reading a "bedtime story" to Astrogirl, which in both cases turn out to be reprints of short sci-fi comics that Ken Steacy had earlier published in the 1970s; Steacy's name is featured very prominently as the "author" of these "bedtime stories," and since each is at least 4 pages long I found them to be really intrusive and unwelcome distractions away from the real story.
#17-20: Written and illustrated by Brian Thomas, who in my opinion does not do either job at all well here. The artwork is now almost totally flat, and the proportions of the characters are awful--I can best describe Thomas' work as "slug-like." Everybody is this vaguely human-shaped blob, without a single rigid structure or sharp angle anywhere in their bodies. Also, Thomas stole Astro's pinky-fingers, so now he looks like Mickey Mouse. The story development is very strange: at the end of issue 17, Astro is blown up into little tiny pieces--yet on the next page the other heroes are giddily dancing and celebrating, and Astrogirl declares it a "happy ending." (Issue 18's cover is Astro's lifeless decapitated head, its eyes staring blankly.) Issues 19 and 20 are pure stand-alones. Comic Shop News featured solicitations and promotional blurbs for issues 21 and 22, but to the best of my knowledge, having spoken to several comic shop managers about this, they were never actually released. I don't know the reason for this--I suspect that perhaps Osamu Tezuka passed away around that time and they could no longer secure the license, or perhaps sales numbers were really dropping (as the later interview in 'Amazing Heroes' suggests).
Speed Racer #17: Astro gets a six page back-up story, again written and drawn by Brian Thomas, but a Thomas who seems to have gotten his head in the game. There's no escaping the "slug" art style, but at least now the coloring and shading are more detailed and vibrant. More importantly, the story is great--in a bizarre and black-humored manner. Astro is afraid that if any of his mental circuitry were to be damaged or over-stressed, then with all of his strength and firepower he could inflict terrible damage on innocent people. Dr. Elefun agrees to run computer tests of how Astro's brain would respond to extreme stress--but before he can finish, a madman goes on a sniper rampage at a school, killing several children--really. Astro defuses the situation, and Elefun sadly reports to him that his test results do seem to show that Astro could be just as prone to becoming unhinged as any human is. Astro responds happily--joyously, even--because this means he is even more human-like than he had hoped to become. It's.... true, I guess, though a weird and creepy thing to show him being grateful for. Which, I guess, is the point.
Amazing Heroes #153: There's a very long interview with the NOW team, of which some is devoted to Astroboy. NOW publisher Tony Caputo says that the series had not caught on with audiences as well as Speed Racer and other titles. Ken Steacy says the eight-part origin story arc had aimed too high for their audience--that Michael Dimpsey "was writing for a teen-and-older audience", whereas Steacy wanted the character simpler and more childlike. So that explains the clear difference that we saw when he took over writer's duties in issue 9. And in some respects I can totally understand where he was coming from.... I mean, come on, BRUNO THE TORTURE-SPIDER. Anyway, Steacy also said that he had made Astro ditch his nuclear reactor because he felt the character needed a real weakness, and the need for near-constant recharging of his battery packs would fill that gap. Speaking of Astro's fuel requirements, Steacy also opined that the "fuel injections" from the original manga were "not quite ready for newsstand comics... too disgusting. Astro bends over with this huge smile on his face as his mother rams this huge thing.... I had kittens the first time I saw this."
OVERALL: In case it's not clear enough yet, I'd say the eight-part origin story is just superb and all serious fans should strongly consider picking up a set; and up through issue 16 it's at least still worth looking at because they're still developing the relationship between Astro and Boynton--though otherwise those issues are much lighter and less serious than the opener. Once Brian Thomas takes over, I don't see much to like anymore--except for his ingeniously dark Speed Racer back-up story.
Comments, anyone?
#1-8: "The Boy in the 'Bot". Written by Michael Dimpsey, illustrated by Ken Steacy. The artwork is by and large gorgeous--Steacy knows how to make his creations somehow both humanlike and mechanical and is great at evoking personification through facial expressions. This story arc is the origin of Astroboy--basically a prolonged, character-driven retelling of the first episode of the 1960s cartoon. Yes, that's about 200 pages of illustrations to depict what the cartoon had established in 24 minutes; so there's lots of room to introduce new characters and emotional threads. The relationship between Astro and Dr. Boynton is deep, frightening, almost heartbreaking..... Boynton is more unstable here than I think any other medium ever depicted him. Astro, for his part, alternates between trying to win his dad's affection and deeply resenting his manipulative and abusive attitude. As for the "good doctor"'s style of disciplining Astro: Gah. Bruno the torture-spider just scared the crap out of me when I was a kid, and now when I re-read it as an adult I find it downright perverse... really just weirdly cruel that someone would have thought they could get away with writing and drawing a story element like that into a kids' comic book. In other news, we also find out just why this would-be child of a reclusive scientist also has all those weapons and jets built into him: Boynton only got the money for the project by agreeing to build it for military use! General Hawkins is none too happy when Astro doesn't show up for duty, and she and her combat legions put some pressure on both him *and* Boynton. Cacciatore's accent is an intrusive and annoying bit of stereotyping, but that's more or less what he was like on the show. Astro definitely "grows" during this story: he starts out totally childlike and good-natured; then he becomes a technical and scientific genius while still being naiive and gullible; after his abusive treatment by both Boynton and Cacciatore he is sullen and bitter; and after seeing how the other cast-off robots look to him for inspiration he becomes a pacifist and mediator to human/robot conflict.
#9-16: The credits now say the books are written by Steacy, with artwork by both him and Andrew Pratt.... however, the art style and quality of these books as compared to the first eight is so drastically different--having changed for the worse--that I believe that either Pratt was doing all the work or Steacy was so preoccupied with writing that he didn't have time to draw well and so Pratt came in for cleanup-work. There is much less attention paid to shading and color gradations, to proper humanoid proportions, and in some cases even to "finishing" the art--in some places quick movement is shown by mere scribbles. Production values really seemed to take a turn for the worse; many of the word balloons have visible white-out marks inside them, and on one page in issue 15 you can see the photographic after-images of pieces of Scotch tape that had been used to hold some of the picture elements together. Though at least all the covers are still vintage Steacy works of art. The stories are not as impressive as the origin arc had been (which is deliberate, as the Amazing Heroes interview below mentions), though they did not fall as seriously as the art quality. They're now mostly stand-alone pieces: Astro's first day of school, Astro meets his sister, Astro fights dinosaurs, etc. There's an interesting sub-story where Astro has to disprove some parents' fears in order to be allowed to attend a normal school; during a later battle, his internal nuclear reactor malfunctions and he actually becomes radioactive--now Astro even frightens himself! To make up for this, he insists that Dr. Elefun reconfigure him to run on batteries--a move that makes him significantly less powerful. What's really remarkable about these issues is that they establish Dr. Boynton as trying to redeem himself, issuing a heartfelt apology to Astro and even acting as a sort of behind-the-scenes guardian. Issue 13 is kind of a funny satire of the comics industry: small, innocent, unassuming Astro meets up with "Mutex the Mutant Marvel," a savage, foul-mouthed mutant superhero with a suspiciously familiar pointy costume. Seeking more headlines and attention for himself, Mutex ambushes Astro and just about demolishes him in a very one-sided battle--but a crowd of onlookers jeers at him for being an un-heroic bully, and so he backs down out of embarassment! Issues 14 and 15 both feature Astroboy reading a "bedtime story" to Astrogirl, which in both cases turn out to be reprints of short sci-fi comics that Ken Steacy had earlier published in the 1970s; Steacy's name is featured very prominently as the "author" of these "bedtime stories," and since each is at least 4 pages long I found them to be really intrusive and unwelcome distractions away from the real story.
#17-20: Written and illustrated by Brian Thomas, who in my opinion does not do either job at all well here. The artwork is now almost totally flat, and the proportions of the characters are awful--I can best describe Thomas' work as "slug-like." Everybody is this vaguely human-shaped blob, without a single rigid structure or sharp angle anywhere in their bodies. Also, Thomas stole Astro's pinky-fingers, so now he looks like Mickey Mouse. The story development is very strange: at the end of issue 17, Astro is blown up into little tiny pieces--yet on the next page the other heroes are giddily dancing and celebrating, and Astrogirl declares it a "happy ending." (Issue 18's cover is Astro's lifeless decapitated head, its eyes staring blankly.) Issues 19 and 20 are pure stand-alones. Comic Shop News featured solicitations and promotional blurbs for issues 21 and 22, but to the best of my knowledge, having spoken to several comic shop managers about this, they were never actually released. I don't know the reason for this--I suspect that perhaps Osamu Tezuka passed away around that time and they could no longer secure the license, or perhaps sales numbers were really dropping (as the later interview in 'Amazing Heroes' suggests).
Speed Racer #17: Astro gets a six page back-up story, again written and drawn by Brian Thomas, but a Thomas who seems to have gotten his head in the game. There's no escaping the "slug" art style, but at least now the coloring and shading are more detailed and vibrant. More importantly, the story is great--in a bizarre and black-humored manner. Astro is afraid that if any of his mental circuitry were to be damaged or over-stressed, then with all of his strength and firepower he could inflict terrible damage on innocent people. Dr. Elefun agrees to run computer tests of how Astro's brain would respond to extreme stress--but before he can finish, a madman goes on a sniper rampage at a school, killing several children--really. Astro defuses the situation, and Elefun sadly reports to him that his test results do seem to show that Astro could be just as prone to becoming unhinged as any human is. Astro responds happily--joyously, even--because this means he is even more human-like than he had hoped to become. It's.... true, I guess, though a weird and creepy thing to show him being grateful for. Which, I guess, is the point.
Amazing Heroes #153: There's a very long interview with the NOW team, of which some is devoted to Astroboy. NOW publisher Tony Caputo says that the series had not caught on with audiences as well as Speed Racer and other titles. Ken Steacy says the eight-part origin story arc had aimed too high for their audience--that Michael Dimpsey "was writing for a teen-and-older audience", whereas Steacy wanted the character simpler and more childlike. So that explains the clear difference that we saw when he took over writer's duties in issue 9. And in some respects I can totally understand where he was coming from.... I mean, come on, BRUNO THE TORTURE-SPIDER. Anyway, Steacy also said that he had made Astro ditch his nuclear reactor because he felt the character needed a real weakness, and the need for near-constant recharging of his battery packs would fill that gap. Speaking of Astro's fuel requirements, Steacy also opined that the "fuel injections" from the original manga were "not quite ready for newsstand comics... too disgusting. Astro bends over with this huge smile on his face as his mother rams this huge thing.... I had kittens the first time I saw this."
OVERALL: In case it's not clear enough yet, I'd say the eight-part origin story is just superb and all serious fans should strongly consider picking up a set; and up through issue 16 it's at least still worth looking at because they're still developing the relationship between Astro and Boynton--though otherwise those issues are much lighter and less serious than the opener. Once Brian Thomas takes over, I don't see much to like anymore--except for his ingeniously dark Speed Racer back-up story.
Comments, anyone?
-
Thylacine 2000
- Kokoro Robot
- Posts: 20
- Joined: 20 years ago
Some representative images from the NOW series:
One of my all-time favorite images of the character
The Valentine's Day cover, with Metropolis robo-girl
More great Steacy art
Flashback, part 1
Flashback, part 2
Flashback, part 3
Hello, Bruno, part 1
Hello, Bruno, part 2
Hello, Bruno, part 3
Hello, Bruno, part 4
One of my all-time favorite images of the character
The Valentine's Day cover, with Metropolis robo-girl
More great Steacy art
Flashback, part 1
Flashback, part 2
Flashback, part 3
Hello, Bruno, part 1
Hello, Bruno, part 2
Hello, Bruno, part 3
Hello, Bruno, part 4
Yes, thanks for the review and the images. I was wondering about that series. That's a little too much abuse, poor Astro. I think Tenma/Boyton just crossed the forgiveness line. Evan in Tezuka's version, Tenma never abused Astro like that. If someone used a spider to control me, I wouldn't forgive him. So how does Astro get rid of the spider and get justice for this crime?
-
Thylacine 2000
- Kokoro Robot
- Posts: 20
- Joined: 20 years ago
Originally posted by Atoman@Apr 11 2005, 06:09 AM
I think Tenma/Boyton just crossed the forgiveness line. Evan in Tezuka's version, Tenma never abused Astro like that.
Yeah, there's a lot of intense stuff like that. You can imagine my surprise, as someone first introduced to the characters by this comic series, when I first had the chance to watch the '80s cartoon and saw Boynton being so kid-gloves by comparison!
So how does Astro get rid of the spider and get justice for this crime?
I'm afraid that's even worse.
For the next 3 issues, Astro is in the robo-circus, being forced by Cacciatore (with Bruno's "help") to fight against other robots. During this time he is befriended and mentored by another 'bot, Simon, who teaches him about his own self-worth and the dream of human / robot equality. Eventually, some of Astro's friends disable Bruno's remote control and try to remove it.....
....but the mad scientist had booby-trapped it
Ahem. So, yeah, THAT is what Ken Steacy was talking about when he said Dimpsey had written the origin story older than their audience.
Astro holds Cacciatore responsible....
...and is understandably furious...
...but when push comes to shove...
...he's learned Simon's lesson after all.
The next time Astro and Boynton confront each other, the doctor has gone way off the deep end and we see that he is hallucinating and insane; his thought bubbles show that he accuses himself of "inexcusable, unpardonable sins". He tries to attack Astro, but in mid-rant he just collapses, and flashes back to the fatal car crash and the whole real truth of Astro's origin. We are then told that he's institutionalized and that Astro just feels sorry for him. Fast forward to 7 issues later:
I don't know if this would be enough for me...
...but Astro looks relieved, maybe even happy.
Thanks for the new scans.
The original Tezuka manga, which I have, had Hamegg(Catcciatore) using a whip to control him, in combination with only giving him low energy refills, so Astro can't fight back. It's shocking enough to read that, but the Now Comics version,
that's the stuff of nightmares.
The closest Tezuka came to that was in the 60's anime version. In one episode there is a flashback to Astro's circus days and Astro has just collapsed after fighting some other robots. Instead of Hamegg congradulating Astro for wining the fight and giving him a refill of energy, he's furious that Astro collapsed and then draged Astro back stage, tied some electrical wire to him, threw a switch electricuting him and left Astro screaming in agony. 
Damn Hamegg :angry: If it wasn't for another robot friend who later released him, he might have died. In another episode called Demented Cobalt, Cobalt is kidnapped by aliens and they put a device in his chest to controll him, much like the Now Comics story. But Cobalt with Astro's help gets revenge and beats the crap out of the aliens. Go Cobalt. 
Who's that military guy think he is giving orders to Astro. Astro should just ignore him, because having gotten rid of the spider, there's no reason for him to follow his or anyone elses orders, especially after what he just went through. I'd tell him to (you know).
He at least should have beat the crap out of Hamegg, He came close though. Astro was probably tramatised for life with that spider thing in him. I bet he has nightmares about it, poor little guy.
The original Tezuka manga, which I have, had Hamegg(Catcciatore) using a whip to control him, in combination with only giving him low energy refills, so Astro can't fight back. It's shocking enough to read that, but the Now Comics version,
that's the stuff of nightmares. The closest Tezuka came to that was in the 60's anime version. In one episode there is a flashback to Astro's circus days and Astro has just collapsed after fighting some other robots. Instead of Hamegg congradulating Astro for wining the fight and giving him a refill of energy, he's furious that Astro collapsed and then draged Astro back stage, tied some electrical wire to him, threw a switch electricuting him and left Astro screaming in agony.
Damn Hamegg :angry: If it wasn't for another robot friend who later released him, he might have died. In another episode called Demented Cobalt, Cobalt is kidnapped by aliens and they put a device in his chest to controll him, much like the Now Comics story. But Cobalt with Astro's help gets revenge and beats the crap out of the aliens. Go Cobalt. Who's that military guy think he is giving orders to Astro. Astro should just ignore him, because having gotten rid of the spider, there's no reason for him to follow his or anyone elses orders, especially after what he just went through. I'd tell him to (you know).
He at least should have beat the crap out of Hamegg, He came close though. Astro was probably tramatised for life with that spider thing in him. I bet he has nightmares about it, poor little guy.Ken Stacy's artwork was very good for this series too, he also did some work in the 80's with the Johny Quest classic comics as well.
The last comic which had Astro chasing some robot assassins through a skyscrapper where Doctor Elephant was justifying the huge cost used to build Astro came out in February 1989. Of course Tezuka died. That , along with the dropping subscription rates probably ended the comics run . NOW didn't last that long, I think they went out of Business around Spring of 1990.
The last comic which had Astro chasing some robot assassins through a skyscrapper where Doctor Elephant was justifying the huge cost used to build Astro came out in February 1989. Of course Tezuka died. That , along with the dropping subscription rates probably ended the comics run . NOW didn't last that long, I think they went out of Business around Spring of 1990.
"You guys have some serious Mommy issues."
Return to “Astro Boy Discussion”
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest
