Tezuka's Blog

150 000 pages and more than 700 volumes !

tezukablog — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:11:18 +0000

Osamu Tezuka has “produced” more than 150 000 pages of manga during his lifetime. At the Tezuka museum, a stack of sheets shows the huge space it represents:

This picture has been borrowed from this site. Go consult it if you want more info about the museum.

2006 was the best year for the French Tezuka fan

tezukablog — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:20:36 +0000

Osamu Tezuka’s mangas have been translated since June 1978 in French. It started with “Le système des super oiseaux” (Chôjin Taikei) published in “Le cri qui tue”. This magazine published the first chapters during its short life (6 numbers were only issued).

However, we had to wait until 1996 so see the first paperback translated. The two mangas which had the honour to be translated were Astro Boy and Black Jack (started together).

Below a small histogram showing the repartition of series translated during these last fourteen years.

If you want to know more about “Le cri qui tue”, see this detailled article (in French).

How many volumes of Tezuka’s work have been translated in French ?

tezukablog — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:35:03 +0000

As you may know Osamu Tezuka is one of the author who has been the most translated in French.

A lot of editors have translated his work: Asuka, Glénat, Delcourt, Tonkam, etc.

Historically, Glénat was the first to issue a full volume of the God of manga in October 1996. They started with Black Jack and Astro Boy. Unfortunately it hadn’t enough success and they stopped the publication after twelve volumes of each serie. Fourteen years later, it’s another story and more than 170 volumes have been translated. To be precise, 179 is the exact number of translated volumes available in French!

But in fact, this number doesn’t mean anything as there are multiple editions of the master’s work. Some of them are edited in one big volume (e.g.: Gringo), others in two or three…

So, the interesting question: “How many series have been translated ?”

Currently (December 2009), 41 different series have been partially (f.i.: Astro Boy) or completely translated.

Attached the table I used to count this “very interesting” number: Tezuka Series in French.

A great source of information is the following post on TezukaInEnglish’s forum.

Hello to this new blog about Osamu Tezuka

tezukablog — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:37:36 +0000

This blog will contain various content about Osamu Tezuka. It will focus on his manga available in French and English.