FOCUS // 2.20.03

ASTRO BOY: "Once Upon a Time"
by Jeff Chon

ASTRO BOY Vols. 6-8
Dark Horse Comics
US $9.95 each

I can't say enough wonderful things about Dark Horse's ASTRO BOY reprints. This is my favorite series in recent memory, the one comic that gets me excited about comics, and as innovative and relevant now as they were when the god of manga, Osamu Tezuka, first imagined them in post World War II-era Japan.

Originally serialized in a Japanese newspaper from 1967 to 1969, Once Upon a Time is a change of pace from the earlier ASTRO BOY collections. As the other books were essentially anthologies of short stories, these three books are one long epic that re-imagines Astro Boy's origin and an in-depth examination of the rise of robots and the titular character's role in the genesis of robot rights. It's a tale of loss, friendship, and inclusiveness told with heart, grace, and Tezuka's trademark playful humor. It is also the best Astro Boy tale yet, and a crowning achievement in storytelling from one of the artform's true masters.

While patrolling the harbor, Astro Boy comes across the wreckage of an alien craft at the bottom of the sea. The ship's explosion causes a chain of events sending Astro and the ship's female pilot through a timewarp, back to the year 1969.

Most storytellers would have created a "back door" of some sort that would send the hero back to the future, but the courageous Tezuka makes sure there is no way back home. Astro and the alien pilot, Scara, who comes from a race of locust-like creatures, are trapped in the past, forced to live out the years if they hope to ever see their loved ones again.

Astro must do this knowing that he's living in a world where robots haven't been created yet, his only friend is an alien who knows as much about the specifics of 20th century living as he does, and that his energy will eventually run out before he gets back to his timeline. The ways in which Tezuka deals with these issues is like a primer on storytelling technique and how to deliver payoffs from cliffhanger endings.

The storyline starts in 2017, goes back to 1969, and works its way back up to the events at the beginning of ASTRO BOY, Vol. 1, where we revisit the scene and particulars of Tobio's death and the birth of Astro Boy. The ways in which Tezuka does this, retreading over a story he's already told in an inventive way, is such a magnificent bit of moebius strip-style storytelling that one can't help but wonder why it took so long to translate these stories for an American audience.

It's amazing to me that a book written essentially for young children has more depth and characterization than the "It's sexy shit you fuck to" brand of sequential art that we've grown accustomed to. These characters are well-constructed and complex, without screaming "Look! I'm quirky and have shades!"

If the easy-going style it's written in-with all its cute characters and silly in-jokes-have put up an "It's for kids" roadblock, tear it down. WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY was written for kids too, and it's still better a better read than PATRIOT GAMES. There's a deceptive charm to Tezuka's characters and stories, and this is the comic's strongest point:

We meet Shingo, the young beggar boy who befriends Astro Boy, and grows up to become a millionaire industrialist with dreams of building a glorious city on top of an island of discarded junk.

Taba Koh, the heartbroken Japanese-American businessman, who lobbies on behalf of robot rights by having robots registering as humans and demanding equal treatment.

And the sweet-natured Scara, the alien pilot who escapes her loving marriage and comes to Earth for the sole purpose of walking in nature and living the kind of simple life her locust ancestors had led.

An added entertainment value is the fact that we meet characters from Astro's timeline in their younger forms as people with hopes dreams and ambitions. To see a young Dr. Ochanomizu dreaming of creating the perfect robot, and hiring a mysterious young boy (Astro in disguise) as his assistant is not only a good time, but also further entwines the thematic fiber of the entire series thus far even tighter.

Every tale in the series is about inclusiveness and embracing that which is different, without embracing the hackneyed "Stick it to the man" tropes a lot of creators have fallen into in the past. By setting a bulk of the action in the 60's, smack in the middle of the American Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War, Tezuka is able to address the events of his lifetime in a more direct manner, concretizing the already established allegory (the crusade against prejudice and ignorance) without losing its power.

One of Astro's great charms as a character is the fact that everyone, from the Vietnamese villagers rescued from Napalm-dropping American bombers to the programmed-for-destruction robots he stomps the Hell out of, are better beings through their interactions with our boy robot. In the end, even the cruelest of characters, such as the tragically tortured Dr. Tenma, are worthy of Astro Boy's forgiveness. The world is a better place because of Astro Boy, both literally and story-wise. This kind of gentle kindness is sorely lacking in modern comics, and I really think we could use more of it.