As an archaeological window into the development of the form, yes. As the comics form has evolved and storytelling grown into using a more mature set of tools, I find myself unable to appreciate Tezuka as story.

They are so deeply products of their times that they appear quaint and stilted-to me at least (I've spoken before of my trouble with attempting to escape my biases). I think I may be too far divorced from the period of his innovation to view the works as fresh. Beyond a hard-won affection for his Buddha, I haven't come to take much enjoyment from the other books of his I've sampled. Urasawa has also become involved in the world of academia, and in 2008 accepted a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University, where he teaches courses in, of course, manga.I haven't actually been a huge booster of the works of Osamu Tezuka. Edition of International Material-Asia, and is a three-time recipient of the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award, a two-time recipient of the Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize, and also received the Kodansha Manga Award. No stranger to accolades and awards, Urasawa received the 20 Eisner Award for Best U.S. Many of his books have spawned popular animated and live-action TV programs and films, and 2008 saw the theatrical release of the first of three live-action Japanese films based on 20th Century Boys. Well-versed in a variety of genres, Urasawa’s oeuvre encompasses a multitude of different subjects, such as a romantic comedy ( Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl), a suspenseful human drama about a former mercenary ( Pineapple ARMY story by Kazuya Kudo), a captivating psychological suspense story (Monster), a sci-fi adventure manga ( 20th Century Boys), and a modern reinterpretation of the work of the God of Manga, Osamu Tezuka ( Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka co-authored with Takashi Nagasaki, supervised by Macoto Tezka, and with the cooperation of Tezuka Productions). Born in Tokyo in 1960, Urasawa debuted with BETA! in 1983 and hasn’t stopped his impressive output since. Naoki Urasawa’s career as a manga artist spans more than twenty years and has firmly established him as one of the true manga masters of Japan.

Pluto manga 1