Osamu Tezuka
• Dark Horse (2003)
• Fujishobo (1948)
• Science Fiction
• Unrated/All Ages (mild violence)
Lost World is the first manga in Tezuka’s early “science fiction trilogy,” which also includes Metropolis and Nextworld. Together, they represent Tezuka’s birth as a graphic novelist, learning to create book-
length stories and to establish his own visual language. Lost World is the most primitive of the trilogy, written with a slapdash, almost stream-of-consciousness approach to plotting, and drawn in a style heavily influenced by early American animation. The first half of the manga assembles a motley group of characters; the second half sends them on a trip through outer space to the planet Mamango. This loose plot arc allows room for endless bizarre digressions: animal people, plant people, a shadowy gang, “energy stones,” dinosaurs, mad scientists. Several of Tezuka’s recurring “star system” characters make early appearances here, including the detective Shunsuke Ban (or “Mr. Mustachio”) and the scheming Acetylene Lamp. By the story’s surprisingly bleak and ambivalent end, Tezuka has made obvious strides as an artist and storyteller, although he’s still far from his mature period. It’s extremely unpolished and uneven (and the uncharacteristically stilted Dark Horse translation doesn’t help), but of definite interest to readers curious about the roots of manga
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