Writer/Artist: Osamu Tezuka
Publisher: Viz
The Godfather of manga. The god-king of manga. The Walt Disney and Jack Kirby of manga. These are just some of the titles used in reference to legendary Japanese creator Osamu Tezuka. When it comes to manga, he did everything first and he did everything best. While Astro Boy is his most easily identifiable creation, the Phoenix saga is regarded as his greatest artistic achievement, created over a span of more than thirty years and to this day still incomplete. Twelve separate chapters exist in a unique order: the first story, Dawn, occurs in the third century A.D. while the second story jumps ahead to the far future. Then the third story occurs in the past at a later date than Dawn, and the fourth story is again in the future, but a closer date to the present. This pattern continues back and forth and was likely intended to converge in the present, if Tezuka had been able to complete the saga.
The greatest strength about the Phoenix series is that every chapter is self-contained. There exists no direct continuity from story to story, although certain themes, elements, and occasionally characters or ancestors of characters reappear along the way. The casual reader gets an entire story in each volume and the devoted fan gets to note the trends and cameos along the way. All the stories are linked by the appearance of the titular mythic bird which has a unique significance, pertaining to life and death, in each story. Spanning centuries and involving life and death, it’s no light read.
As a personal recommendation, let me just say that anyone interested in the Phoenix series should first seek out volume two. Not only is it the best in the series, let alone one of the most incredible stories in the graphic literature medium, but it’ll provide a good estimate of whether you’ll want to buy the rest of the series or if you should consult your local physician about why your pulse has stopped beating.
Gotta explain the art. While fans of western comics will surely balk at the “doe-eyed chicken bathed in disco lights” on the cover (as I’ve heard it once described), even fans of current manga may have to adjust their expectations. We’re talking about the creator who popularized the manga scene in the first place, whose influences came from Disney and other western cartoons. Some of his animal designs look like they were ripped right out of the animation cells for Bambi. This isn’t a bad thing after seeing how he applies this style to the story. Many people might assume that such a kid-friendly style implies a kid-friendly tone and approach to the story. Not so: there’s enough death, burning, blinding, swelling and stabbing to fill a Gladiator sequel. That doesn’t mean the subject matter is graphic either; it’s mature in execution, not necessarily in presentation or content. What this means is that the cartoony style lends itself equally well to scenes of drama, action, humor, as well as innovative layout and occasional detailed rendering while still retaining a simple unified look. In other words: don’t judge this book by its cover.
Within the Phoenix saga, Dawn is an epic in itself, chronicling the fall of civilizations in the midst of a quest for eternal life. Nagi is the sole survivor of an attack on his village by the Queen Himiko, who is searching for the legendary phoenix to cure the damage time has taken on her beauty. Saruta, the man who led the charge against the village, takes Nagi as his slave while secretly training him in archery to become stronger, knowing that one day he may have the capability to take his revenge. Bowman is the lone mercenary hired to capture the phoenix, but whose intentions may be even more honorable than he himself realizes. And Uzume, the ugliest woman of Emporer Jimmu’s rival army, possesses a secret that will determine the survival of an entire population.
Dawn is a modern legend, intertwining mystical elements with Japanese history, similar to Age of Bronze’s reinterpretation of the Trojan War. The two stories make a decent comparison as both feature epic battles by which civilizations live and die. But while Age of Bronze seeks to downplay the spiritual and mythological aspects of the Iliad, Dawn centers on the existence of the phoenix. The phoenix, for the most part, plays a role no greater than that of the Holy Grail in Arthurian legend, until the very end when an aspect of its mystery and significance is finally revealed. In many of these volumes, the phoenix is typically the object of desire for the promise of eternal life, but its influence and effect on the characters play out differently in each story. Even if the stories weren’t so compelling and well-written, they would still be worth reading just to discover what purpose the phoenix serves in each one.
It’s hard to find fault in any of the volumes. They aren’t absolutely perfect, but they stand head and shoulders above 99% of all graphic literature (more gushing praise in the next volume’s review). As such, the bullet score I assign doesn’t ever really fall very far, but if a certain volume doesn’t earn five bullets, it’s all in relative comparison to its peak. Dawn and most of the stories set in the past don’t reach the level of imagination, insight and ingenuity found in the futuristic stories, and as such I feel they’re slightly less satisfying reads, but that’s like complaining you only won $500,000 in the lottery. The kind of storytelling that Phoenix attempts is what all comic storytellers should aspire to, if not in scope then at least in depth. Sandman is comparable in this regard, and readers of that series, though used to a completely different style, tone and western storytelling sensibilities, might appreciate Phoenix more than the usual manga-oblivious comic reader.
Forget manga. Forget Disney. Forget black and white. Tezuka knows how to write and draw a story of epic proportions and that’s really all that matters.
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