The Los Angeles Times visits the “Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga” exhibit at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum and considers the work, and the legacy, of Osamu Tezuka, the “God of Manga”:
“The manga form can be treated as a serious art form,” says Australian artist Philip Brophy, who curated the show. “Magna has a very long historical tradition. It’s a purely Japanese sensibility. This is a very sad exhibit. There is not a lot of fun stuff.”
Tezuka’s universe is filled with orphans and outcasts: Astro Boy, the Pinocchio-like robot abandoned by its creator who tries to reconcile humans and their warring machines; Kimba, the parentless lion who seeks to bring about peace between man and the animal kingdom; Black Jack, the tortured renegade surgeon who operates on the desperately needy (and, on occasion, himself) and makes TV’s Dr. House look like Mary Poppins. Tezuka even created a manga version of Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.” Raskolnikov could have been one of Tezuka’s antiheroes. The artist was a pacifist, yet violence permeates his oeuvre.
“Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga” runs through Sept. 9.
