Word: karma
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...continues to publish his Astro Boy series (see TIME.comix review) while Vertical Inc. just released volume four of the gorgeous eight-volume "Buddha" series (see TIME.comix review). Meanwhile VIZ has been publishing the first of the "Phoenix" books - the master's unfinished, twelve volume magnum opus. The fourth, "Phoenix: Karma" (366pp; $15.95) has just been released. The fifth volume, "Resurrection," is due in November. (Sadly, the remaining seven have not yet been contracted for publication.) While doing other projects, Tezuka worked on the series from 1967 until his death. Though each story stands independent of the rest, they remain interconnected...
...Phoenix" series alternates between past and future stories that range from 240 A.D. to 3404 A.D. "Karma" takes place in 8th century Japan. It begins cruelly as the newborn Gao tumbles down a rock face when his father slips while on the way to pay homage to the mountain spirit. Fifteen years later, the one-armed, one-eyed Gao has become the village pariah. When their scorn becomes more than he can bear he unleashes a savagely violent revenge that begins his days as a hunted, merciless bandit. And yet, in a moment that I missed on the first read...
...begins Gao's slow reformation. Upon learning of the wheel of karma, wherein the things we do in this life affect our reincarnated form in the next, Gao travels Japan as a wandering monk's acolyte. Along the way he discovers his own talent for sculpting. Meanwhile Akanemaru has a vision of the Phoenix, a bird who represents the eternal reborning of all life. His carving of the bird earns him a commission from the emperor to oversee the construction of a giant Buddha. Eventually, after many more twists, Gao and Akanemaru meet for the last time in a contest...
...confines of a review. It would take something more along the lines of an exegesis. Tezuka has created a book that combines the excitement, plotting, and characterization of the best novels with the philosophy of the best spiritual essays and the beauty of the drawn arts. Among other themes, "Karma" manages to be about the role of the artist in society, the relationship between religious experience and human endeavors, the misuse of religion for the sake of power and the importance of trying to lead a moral life. Wisely putting the needs of good art before the needs of religious...
...extra space just for breathing room. A temple sits stoically in the woods, or flowers blow in the breeze, or a moth gets caught in a spider web. Tezuka may also be the supreme master of dynamic yet readable layouts - a talent that reaches its pinnacle in "Karma." No two pages have the same design. Particularly frenetic sequences inhabit small, jagged panels that work like a strobe light on an action too fast for the eye to see. When Akanemaru despairs of finding the Phoenix he sits at the bottom of tall, full-length panels that make him seem tiny...