Black Jack 12

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 distains 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.

The Black Jack series is told in short stories. Volume 12 will contain 14 stories, each running approximately 20 pages in length. This eleventh volume includes the following stories:

Wildcat Boy: Black Jack is called out to the jungles of Indonesia to help an old friend with some unique research. Renowned Paris based Professor Dr. Triufeaux has stumbled upon a rare case of a modern day wolf-boy. However, in this case the boy believes he is a wildcat.

Whilte Lion: Whille preparing to have a nice homecooked meal, Black Jack and his assistant Pinoko are interrupted by a wrapping on their front door. Awaiting to enter and speak with the doctor are two men, an odd couple of sorts, with a request for the doc's services. The director of the local zoo and a representative from Angola are desperate to have a recently transplanted animal treated immediately.

"Black Jack is a dramatic, nearly Byronic figure...With genre-spanning stories--horror, sci-fi, romance--and Tezuka's signature blend of drama, pathos, and extremely broad comedy jammed together on every page, Black Jack is a wild but extravagently entertaining ride that's far more accessible than the author's novel-length epics." --Publishers Weekly

"2008-2009 Manga of the Year!" --The Manga Critic

"With his shock of white hair and rock-star demeanour, Black Jack transfers well to the manga version of the operating room. The book is peppered with enough knowledge to hint at Tezuka's fascination with the frailty of the human body. [I]t means he can avoid the cliches of most manga storylines." --The Guardian (U.K.)

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 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.