Osamu Tezuka is a reference of manga and he deserved a prestigious edition. The Delcourt edition has immersed itself in this work and today offers Phoenix, the firebird, the favorite saga of the Japanese master.
Phoenix, the firebird: a titanic project
Unlike other series by writer and artist Osamu Tezuka, Phoenix is not a continuous set but a series of stories set in different periods. Each is marked by the presence of this mythological animal. The immortal bird travels through time but it is not the only one. Humans return after death and change their names. Phoenix is about the human condition. This satire on the torments of being mixes classical Japanese and Western influences. We will meet Faust and Pinocchio. However, Buddhist reincarnation is at the heart of Tezuka's project.
This series appears in a personal and cultural context. The 60s mark the revival in manga with the arrival of young authors with a more biographical and sensitive vision of manga: the gekiga. Tezuka also wants to renew itself. He creates a new COM magazine and Phoenix must be the banner of this change. It would become a long-running series that Tezuka wrote for 34 years. It will be famous as a masterpiece of literature and rewarded with several awards but will remain unfinished.
Delcourt offers an edition worthy of Tezuka's project. Tezuka's afterword looks back at the origin and purpose of Phoenix. A text by the director of the Tezuka archives follows with the shocked history of the publication. At the end of the volume, reproductions of several pages in color allow to see the different versions as well as the images of the COM magazine.
A beginning at the dawn of humanity at the end in future times
Phoenix begins in antiquity with the first traces of a unified Japan. The first chapter follows a young man seeking revenge for the disappearance of his entire tribe, but this is only one element of a larger whole. Tezuka multiplies the side steps and the characters in a very soap opera structure. The author has fun creating a whole prehistoric world. He invented healing rites, a burial and wedding ritual. The tone is certainly totally fanciful but, by involving Princess Himiko, it is based on Chinese legends. Tezuka also plays with genres. In one page, we go from drama to comedy. He frees himself from the shackles.
The second chapter begins without transition at the beginning of the XXXV century. In a declining post-apocalyptic world, the surface of the earth has become uninhabitable and humanity is sheltering in five megacities underground. Humanity is bored in a sanitized world. The reader follows astronaut Masato in love with Tamami. However, the young woman is actually a polymorphous animal to which he gave a human form. Arriving on the surface, the fleeing love couple accidentally goes to the home of a mad scientist. He recreated the animals to eventually repopulate the Earth.
This part of Phoenix is the closest to science fiction by addressing cloning and humanity. It also shows Tezuka's rejection of systems and his critique of power over time. Fear of machines is at the center as society is run by artificial intelligences that can have devastating effects when they connect with each other. It is also a spiritual account with a savior to prevent the death of a planet and several references to the Bible.
A timeless drawing
The volume opens with terrible images of a volcanic eruption proving the quality of the draftsman. Even if the dialogues have a role, Phoenix essentially goes through the image especially the humorous shift. Of course, in the eyes of young readers, the layout may seem wise and the forms closer to Tintin than One punch Man. But the choice of scenes creates a very fast reading pace. Tezuka's polymorphic stroke allows you to manage different feelings. Humor coexists harmoniously with a bloody death. Frontally or by a subtle framing towards the off-screen, Tezuka shows the violence of men. He also experiments by literally breaking the boxes. He also plays on anachronism to convey a political message: an ancient princess becomes Hitler, Mao and then Napoleon.
Phoenix is the most ambitious work of manga master Osamu Tezuka. In the series, empires collapse and hearts break. The company's vision is marked by deep pessimism and a cyclical conception of time. By the conclusion of the second chapter, we can also read this volume as a complete story that proposes the beginning and the end of the large series. JustFocus therefore strongly advises you to go hunting for firebirds.
Find on the site other articles about Tezuka with Barbara and Dororo.
