Julian Gnam
October 10, 2008 
Wow. Just….wow. It’s almost unbelievable that such an innocent and docile-looking a manga series as Black Jack could contain such bizarre stories, but low and behold, open it up and start reading, and there it is, as shocking as a good episode of The X-files watched as a child in the dark on a stormy Friday night circa 1995.
Undoubtedly, what makes the tales in Black Jack so captivating is that it does not present itself as a sci-fi, horror, or even really a fantasy series. Its simple and unassuming visual style only serves to accentuate the drama of the unfolding events. It would be an injustice to describe Osamu Tezuka‘s art as bland, or pedestrian, because it most certainly has character, but time and time again it lulls you into a false sense of security, into expecting something innocuous and uneventful…and then hits you over the head with severed limbs, telepathic tumors, brain transplants, radiation sickness, and even transgender romance! From the perspective of a jaded modern manga reader, at a casual glance it would be easy to mistake Black Jack‘s little sidekick, Pinoko, as a mere piece of generic moe fanservice…but without resorting to spoilers, one only need read the twisted story of her birth to understand the true potency of Black Jack.
And yet, Black Jack is not about blood and guts or shock value, and is not really sci-fi or horror. It might loosely be called “fantasy”, but rest assured there are no dragons or wizards here. It’s hard to see “medical drama”, as it is commonly billed, as a completely accurate term for the series either. Somehow, Black Jack manages to tackle seemingly-generic and well-tread subjects ranging from mythical curses, modern medicine, artificial intelligence, phantoms, nuclear testing, and the joining of man and machine, each in a completely unique and original manner.
Also rare is Black Jack’s approach to continuity. Unlike the vast majority of today’s manga, which chains one volume to the next in an onslaught of soap opera cliffhangers, Black Jack is a collection of quite separate short stories. There is some vague sense of continuity when certain things are revealed about recurring characters, but by and large almost every story is entirely complete as a stand-alone affair. That Black Jack manages to hit you with satisfying and unique yarns time and time again without getting repetitive is quite admirable.
Medical dramas don’t have a reputation for being exciting (I always fell asleep during E.R. myself) and Tezuka’s dated visual style might appear cheesy and boring, but just go out pick up the first volume of Black Jack and start reading, and you’ll see for yourself how punchy and shocking this series actually is. It’s hard to imagine any author continuing to pull off these narrative stunts through volume after volume of intense short stories, even for someone as renowned as Osamu Tezuka, but I’m very curious to see how Black Jack progresses from here on out. Either way, volume 1 is worth owning without a doubt.
Publisher: Vertical Books
Story and Art: Osamu Tezuka
