Black Jack, Volume 11

Black Jack is a mysterious and charismatic genius surgeon who travels the world performing amazing and impossible medical feats. Through highly trained, he freelances without a license because he distains the medical establishment. This leads to run-ins with the authorities and unscrupulous, sometimes criminal, individuals. Because Black Jack keeps his true motives secret, his ethics are perceived as questionable and he is considered a selfish, uncaring devil. The Black Jack series is told in short stories. Volume 11 will contain 15 stories, each running approximately 20 pages in length. This eleventh volume includes the following stories: Spasms: Black Jack is ill. After hundreds of operations Black Jack's health and career hangs in the balance. The good doctor has come down with a condition that might force him into retirement and the medical world is now on baited breath as they wait to hear whether Black Jack will ever return to the operating table again. The Only Means of Living: While in Paris Black Jack is witness to a horrible jet accident. A passenger jet burst aflame upon landing at Paris' Orly International Airport and the doctor is called to the scene to treat the wife of a passenger he was to meet. The Dog Whispers: Young love meets a tragic ending, when a young woman while rushing on her way to work is struck dead by a commuter train. Her boyfriend Tadaaki is so distraught by the thought of being left alone he wishes he could only hear his darling Sayori's voice once again.

Osamu Tezuka was born on November 3, 1928, in Osaka. He grew up in an open-minded family exposed to comics and Walt Disney. As a boy he also had a love for insects, which he would later as a grown-up incorporate into pen name. Having developed an intense understanding of the preciousness of life from his wartime experience, Osamu Tezuka aimed to become a physician and later earned his degree in medicine, but ultimately chose the profession he loved best: manga artist and animated film writer.

Tezuka's manga and animated films had a tremendous impact on the shaping of the psychology of Japan's postwar youth. His work changed the concept of Japanese comics, transforming it into an art form and incorporating a variety of new styles in creating the "story cartoon." Osamu Tezuka lived out his entire life tirelessly pursuing his efforts, passing away at the age of 60 on February 8, 1989.

In all, Tezuka produced more than 150,000 pages of graphic storytelling before his death.