METROPOLIS (Metoroporisu), by Osamu Tezuka. First published in 1949 and first published in North America in 2003.
PLOT:
The city of Metropolis is under threat by the wicked Duke Red, who ropes an unwitting scientist into creating an artificial humanoid named Michi. The scientist fakes his death to hide himself and Michi from Duke Red, but eventually Michi escapes to learn about the world. Meanwhile, a group of international detectives are trying to hunt down Duke Red, and these plots end up crossing thanks to Michi making friends with a couple of local children.
STORY:
Metropolis is an interesting work to look at in the context of Tezuka's larger career. This is one of his earliest works, only two years removed from his first notable work New Treasure Island. It's also easy to see elements here that he would refine upon in the decade to come. For example, Michi's struggle with their identity and the eventual conflict between robots and humans would be refined upon in Astro Boy. Michi is also a genderless being (even if the translation can't quite decide on pronouns and can switch sex with a press of a button in their throat), and Tezuka himself admits that he would return to a similar idea with Princess Knight.
Yet it does stand on its own as an original sci-fi story, albeit one that owes some of its inspiration to both the silent film it takes its name from and sci-fi serials of the era. Its pacing is positively breathless, leaping from one plot thread to the next. That same quality is also one of this story's worst problems, though. The pace is so breathless that the reader never has a moment to rest or contemplate anything that's going on. It's as Tezuka was afraid that slowing down even a little would lead to his audience of young children getting bored.
There also a lot of going on, but it's not woven together very elegantly. You get the feeling that he was striving for an epic, cast-of-hundreds sort of story, but he wasn't experienced enough yet to know how to interweave all these stories in a way that reads smoothly and really capitalize on its potential. Still, there's enough action, humor and pathos that you can understand what drew readers to it in the first place, and how Tezuka would become such a legendary creator.
ART:
Despite its name, Tezuka is upfront in the author's note that he didn't take much visual inspiration from the original silent film of the same name. He had only seen stills of it in a film magazine at this point. He combines that with some riffs on Western animation (including some giant rats with a close enough resemblance to Mickey that would probably not be allowed today) along with some clever visual gags. My favorite was the scene where Detective Mustachio and a sympathetic robot are separated by a wall represented by the gutter between the panels.
There's also a lot of two-page spreads of large crowds that not only help sell the size of the city and the panic that ensues from Duke Red's actions. There's a lot of interesting little actions and reactions going on during these scenes, as well as some fun jokes and some unfortunate racial stereotypes as well. The character designs are pretty much what you would expect from early Tezuka - round, squishy, but with strong, distinctive silhouettes. He may have been still learning the ropes of being a storyteller, but as an artist he had already found a style that stood out and would only grow stronger as time went on.
PRESENTATION:
There is not only a translated author's note from Tezuka himself in back, reminiscing on the creation of this work, but also a brief and well-appreciated foreword warning readers about some of the racial stereotypes that may be present. It's nothing more than you would get from, say, a collection of Warner Brothers cartoons, but it's a thoughtful and appropriate touch at a time when such things were less common.
RATING:
Metropolis may suffer from some growing pains and some awkward artifacts of its time, but I'm glad Dark Horse brought this over. It has a lot of historical value, but it's also just a fun book on its own. It's an easy rec for anyone interested in early manga or the career of Tezuka himself.
This series was published by Dark Horse. This book is currently out of print.
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