Astro Boy TPB (2002-2004 Dark Horse Digest) comic books 2002

Volume 1 - 1st printing.

Story and art by Osamu Tezuka.

Published for the first time in America! Dark Horse proudly presents another of the crown jewels of international graphic fiction -- Astro Boy!

Created by the late Osamu Tezuka, a revered animator and cartoonist -- who created over 150,000 pages of comics in his career! -- and considered the Walt Disney of Japan, his Astro Boy was the first manga series to be adapted to animation and became a worldwide phenomenon, making Astro Boy the Mickey Mouse of anime -- a jet-powered, super-strong, evil-robot-bashing, alien-invasion-smashing Mickey Mouse, that is! Exciting, whimsical, and touching, Astro Boy hearkens back to the classic era of comics and animation, featuring stories that readers young and old will enjoy.

Don't miss the opportunity to experience this landmark series, never before available in America, each volume featuring over 200 pages in an affordable and convenient pocket-sized format as currently collected in Japan!

Softcover, 5-in. x 7-in., 224 pages, B&W.

Cover price $9.95.

Volume 1 - 2nd and later printings.

Story and art by Osamu Tezuka.

Published for the first time in America! Dark Horse proudly presents another of the crown jewels of international graphic fiction -- Astro Boy!

Created by the late Osamu Tezuka, a revered animator and cartoonist -- who created over 150,000 pages of comics in his career! -- and considered the Walt Disney of Japan, his Astro Boy was the first manga series to be adapted to animation and became a worldwide phenomenon, making Astro Boy the Mickey Mouse of anime -- a jet-powered, super-strong, evil-robot-bashing, alien-invasion-smashing Mickey Mouse, that is! Exciting, whimsical, and touching, Astro Boy hearkens back to the classic era of comics and animation, featuring stories that readers young and old will enjoy.

Don't miss the opportunity to experience this landmark series, never before available in America, each volume featuring over 200 pages in an affordable and convenient pocket-sized format as currently collected in Japan!

Softcover, 5-in. x 7-in., 224 pages, B&W.

Cover price $9.95.

Volume 2 - 1st printing.

Story and art by Osamu Tezuka.

As Mickey Mouse is to American animation, so to anime and manga is Astro Boy, the quintessential creation of Osama Tezuka, one of the world's revered giants of comics and animation. Dark Horse brings the original Astro Boy manga to America for the first time in an English-language edition, translated by Frederick L. Schodt, renowned for his work on Ghost in the Shell and for his books on Japan, including Manga! Manga! In this volume, Astro Boy comes to the aid of Gravia's robot president to prevent his overthrow at the hands of a secret anti-robot society; a robot magician is cloned as a setup to start a movement against intelligent robots, and only Astro Boy can expose the conspiracy; and Astro Boy defends a powerful robot race car from an evil gang in the globe-spanning Equator Race! Astro Boy is an all-ages delight, as fresh, exciting, and innovative today as when it was created forty years ago. Everything is Go, Astro Boy!

Softcover, 5-in. x 7-in., 208 pages, B&W.

Cover price $9.95.

Volume 3 - 1st printing.

Story and art by Osamu Tezuka.

A timeless comics and animation classic, Osamu Tezuka' Astro Boy is still going strong nearly half a century after its creation, and Dark Horse brings Tekuza's original Astro Boy manga to America for the first time in an English-language edition. In the novel-length "The Greatest Robot on Earth," a wealthy sultan creates a giant robot to become the ruler of all other robots on Earth. But in order for that to happen, he must defeat the seven most powerful robots in the world, including Astro Boy, who must have his horsepower raised from 100,000 to 1,000,000 to face the challenge! And his sister, Uran, also flies in to lend a helping hand! Plus, in "Mad Machine," Professor Fuller invents a device that causes other machines to go berserk, and Astro Boy has to save the day!

Softcover, 5-in. x 7-in., 208 pages, B&W.

Cover price $9.95.

Volume 4 - 1st printing.

Story and art by Osamu Tezuka.

Standing shoulder to shoulder with comics and animation icons Krazy Kat, Mickey Mouse, and Tin Tin, Osama Tezuka's Astro Boy remains as fresh today as when the boy robot first appeared nearly fifty years ago. And Tezuka's Astro Boy original manga are now finally available in America in an English-language edition, produced in collaboration with Studio Proteus and translated by Frederik L. Schodt, well-known to manga readers for his work on Ghost in the Shell. In this volume: Astro fights to free abused robots from a robot theme park that masks a secret weapons factory; Astro and fellow robots are stranded on the moon only to discover a valley full of diamonds...but they are not alone, and the diamonds are not unguarded; Astro becomes trapped in the twentieth century after a child prodigy's time machine breaks down; and Professor Ochanomizu and Astro Boy are caught up in a movement to overthrow a dictator who has a machine capable of producing human clones...and a force of evil robots to defend it!

Softcover, 5-in. x 7-in., 216 pages, B&W.

Cover price $9.95.

Volume 5 - 1st printing.

Story and art by Osamu Tezuka.

Half a century old, Astro Boy has once again taken America by storm! Created by the late, great Osamu Tezuka, Japan's "God of Manga," Astro Boy is the cornerstone of today's thriving manga and anime industries. Never before available in an English-language edition in the States, Dark Horse brings Astro Boy to America in collaboration with Studio Proteus, with translations by Frederik L. Schodt, author of Manga! Manga! and translator of Ghost in the Shell and Barefoot Gen. In this volume: Astro Boy must convince a confused robot not to aid an evil plot to take over an island rich in mineral wealth; a space leopard sent by conqueror aliens must be stopped before he can drain Earth's energy; and Astro must team with a robot-hating detective to apprehend thieves who have stolen an artificial sun!

Softcover, 5-in. x 7-in., 216 pages, B&W.

Cover price $9.95.

Volume 6 - 1st printing.

Story and art by Osamu Tezuka.

In the wake of the critical acclaim of the incredible Metropolis animated feature, interest in the work of Osamu Tezuka, creator of Metropolis and the godfather of Japanese comics and animation, has never been greater, and Astro Boy is the flame that ignited the modern manga and anime industries. Perhaps the most endearing, and enduring, character to emerge from Tezuka's volcanic imagination, Astro Boy thrills, amuses, and warms the hearts of readers of all ages. In this volume, a collision with an alien spacecraft sends Astro and the craft's female pilot fifty years into Earth's past, a past before robots -- not to mention aliens! Astro must find a way back to his present -- our future -- before he runs out of power, but his power is desperately needed in a world torn by war and the terror of nuclear weapons!

Softcover, 5-in. x 7-in., 232 pages, B&W.

Cover price $9.95.

Volume 7 - 1st printing.

Story and art by Osamu Tezuka.

From the infinite imagination of the revered Osama Tezuka, creator of Metropolis, comes Astro Boy, the launching pad for the worldwide phenoma that are manga and anime. Standing among the pantheon of classic comics series, Astro Boy shows the absolute excitement, wonder, and entertainment that only the greatest comics can achieve, as only the true masters of the medium can create. In this volume, Astro Boy's adventures in the 20th Century continue. After lying buried beneath the Mekong river during the Vietnam War, Astro is discovered and revived many years later in a time when robots are worked like slaves and discarded like broken toys. Teaming with the young and idealistic Dr. Ochanimizu, Astro fights for robot rights...and encounters his creator, Dr. Tenma, at the time of Astro's creation, a situation that could create a dangerous time paradox!

Softcover, 5-in. x 7-in., 216 pages, B&W.

Cover price $9.95.

Volume 8 - 1st printing.

Story and art by Osamu Tezuka.

Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy has for fifty years represented the best in all-ages graphic fiction and is regarded universally as the launching pad for the worldwide manga and anime explosion. Filled with humor, action, drama, and humanity -- not to mention robots! -- Astro Boy will remind you why comics first grabbed your heart and imagination. In this volume, Astro remains stranded in the 20th century, but he's certainly not laying about! Astro must save the Earth from a voracious Martian fungus -- and save the intelligent organism from the hydrogen bomb -- all the while having to begin the fight for robot's rights and to keep robots from fighting each other! The classic and endearing adventures of Astro Boy will soon be captured on the big screen in a feature film by Sony Pictures! In early 2001, the animated adaptation of Mr. Tezuka's Metropolis hit movie theaters nation-wide, earning rave reviews and introducing mass film-going audiences to the exhiliarating appeal of this legendary creator's work.

Softcover, 5-in. x 7-in., 200 pages, B&W.

Cover price $9.95.

Volume 9 - 1st printing.

Story and art by Osamu Tezuka.

Osama Tezuka's Astro Boy is the all-time, 100,000 horsepower champion of classic all-ages robot action! Available for the first time in America, these tales are as exciting, touching, and hilarious as when Tezuka crafted them almost half a century ago! In this volume: Astro Boy tries to foil a mad scientist's plot to use a robotic Cleopatra to recreate the ancient kingdom of Egypt; Astro tries to solve the mystery of a young ghost appearing on 3D TVs; and Astro joins with the robot Cobalt in a race against time to stop a lost H-Bomb from devastating Japan!

Softcover, 5-in. x 7-in., 216 pages, B&W.

Cover price $9.95.

Volume 10 - 1st printing.

Story and art by Osamu Tezuka.

With the Metropolis animated feature a critically-acclaimed must-see, and with the upcoming Sony Astro Boy film readying for 2003 release, the works of Osamu Tezuka are being enthusiastically discovered and re-discovered by American audiences. Tezuka is the unquestioned creative wellspring for the modern anime and manga industries, the influence of his genius now pervading popular culture around the globe, and Astro Boy is the quintessential Tezuka work -- innovative, exciting, hilarious, and even heartbreaking. Few works of graphic fiction -- or any fiction, for that matter -- offer so much fun and humanity that appeals to so many different ages. In this volume: Astro battles the mighty (and really BIG!) Garon; Astro must solve "The 100 Million Year Old Crime;" and Astro is stolen!

Softcover, 5-in. x 7-in., 216 pages, B&W.

Cover price $9.95.