When I was in Paris last year, at the JapanExpo, I found the most awesome manga, the jewel of my collection: Osamu Tezuka's biography.

'What!?' you say, 'what's so awesome about a biography about a long dead manga author?'  'Well,' says me, 'First, it's about the man who singlehandedly created manga and anime as we know it today. Secondly, it is a sorely underrepresented genre in todays mangalandscape, and shows how much you can do with the medium. Thirdly, it's actually a pretty engaging story.'

If anyone has the opportunity to read this, you should! I do not know how many languages it has been translated to though. Possibly english is not one of them.

And if you have already read it, let me know what you thought. Did the awesomeness of Tezuka spill over on you as well?

And for anyone even remotely intersted in realizing the greatness of the man, here are two wikipedia links to the manga and anime he created:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Osamu_Tezuka_anime

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Osamu_Tezuka_manga

Yes, he was an overproductive workaholic.

Tezuka singlehandedly created both the Manga and Anime industries in Japan.

Just like many genius, he was an extremely prolific creator. Over 40 years, he produced a great number of memorable franchises which run across a broad range of genre. Some of them are aimed for adults and are still entertaining for appreciative readers today.

His influence is extremely pervasive. Every Manga or Anime we consume today is indebted to him, one way or another.

He had an extraordinary ability to recognize/discover/encourage younger talents like Hagio Moto (Poe no Ichizoku), Ohtomo Katsuhiro (Akira), Takemiya Keiko (Tera He) , Miyazaki Hayao (Ghibli Studio), Toriyama Akira (Dragon Ball), and Yoshida Akimi (Banana Fish).

Tezuka is a legend. If you have a chance, try read some of his works for adults such as:

Buddha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha_(manga)
Adolf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_(manga)
Hino Tori http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(manga)
Black Jack http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Jack_(manga)