Product Description

From Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy, comes Metropolis, the legendary 1949 graphic novel that inspired the animated fame that floored audiences and critics alike. In a not-so-far-off future a beautiful, artifically created girl -- unaware of her non-human background -- searches for the non-existent parents she believes must exist, wandering alone in a world populated by humans and by the slave-driven robots who serve them. Tezuka's key theme of the nature of humanity in a technological society is framed in bold relief, as well as his wry allegorical observations of the Cold War that was escalating when he created Metropolis. A brilliant work of wit and wisdom -- and guest-starring some friends you may recognize from Astro Boy! -- Metropolis is one of graphic fiction's most enduring tales, availabel for the first time in an English-language edition.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #571930 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 169 pages

From Publishers Weekly
A still from the German film Metropolis inspired the famed creator of Astro Boy to draw this graphic novel in 1949, and the process was reversed last year, when the graphic novel was made into an animated film. The tale concerns a scientist who's forced to create a genderless being named Michi and then steals it from the criminal who forced its creation. Eventually Michi runs away from its surrogate father and wanders the world searching for its nonexistent parents. Michi's encounters provide a tragicomic commentary on Tezuka's surroundings: the escalating Cold War, human folly and the search for love and affection in an increasingly harsh world. As with Astro Boy and the Disney films Tezuka loved, this work elicits strong emotions through simple allegory. The art, done in Tezuka's early style, beautifully combines classic American cartooning, Art Deco and the Disney stylings of the day. Tezuka's character designs are elaborate and decorative but never distracting, and his panels are crammed with machinery and people, giving his world a bustling vibrancy. He also never lets an opportunity for a joke pass him by. When confronted with a gun, one character says, "I've hated pistols since I was born. Pistols and carrots." Likewise, when the scientist recounts Michi's hardships, Tezuka seizes a chance for melodrama and draws the flashback sequence in an exquisite silhouette style. Metropolis has a bit of everything and is a wonderful graphic novel for both children and adults. With each American release of Tezuka's work, it becomes clearer why he's regarded as the master of Japanese comics.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Not Like the Movie At All
This has the usual well-done and entertaining Tezuka artwork and humor, but if you are looking for the book form of the excellent movie that was supposedly based on this you may be disappointed. Beyond the title and some of the main characters, the two bear almost no resemblance. Taken on its own merit, it is a fun and very quick read. If you like the Astro Boy books, you will almost certainly enjoy this.

Anti-Futurism...
When people think about Metropolis, the one from Germany or Japan, they think Futurism. But in fact the movies, plus this manga are about bringing the human INTO the society. Futurism is about speeding, shiny cars without humans slowing things down or getting in the way. But Metropolis is about humanity and mercy and the human heart. Even Michi was built with a heart, a symbol of hope in a machine designed as a super being. This story just cannot be compared to the films or any other work of art. And it is a work of art that EVERYBODY should read at least once in their lifetime, like 1984, Brave New World, or Dandelion Wine.

manga new to you? this book is a good start.
When a story contains a couple of cliches you imagine them as the author's lapse but when a story seems composed entirely of cliches you suspect the author has had a breakthrough. That is my sense of METROPOLIS by Osamu Tezuka. Everything essential to comics is somehow gathered here. It is an excellent tour of the cartoon dimension.

Anyone at all familiar with the beginnings of American comic strips and animations will delight in this book, just as clearly as Tezuka delighted in those early American gems. The art of this book is part Fleischer Brothers cartoon, part McManus's "Bringing Up Father" and just as insanely manic as you would imagine a combination of those two to be.

It's what you always hope for from cartoons -- sort of a shared dream, the panels are crowded with cartoon figures seemingly poured from the subconscious. Crazy on the surface, full of disturbing idiosyncrasies, but somehow resonantly true. The turn the story takes was remarkably alarming, moving and effective. All the more so for the Astroboy Betty Boopish artwork.

This is not close to the 2001 movie version. This is immeasurably better than the movie version. Take a look. You'll be surprised.