Astro Boy 13
December 24, 2007
Most of this volume was taken up by a really long story about a robot named Zolomon who wasn’t really a robot (and wasn’t really a golem either, come to think of it), a tiny alien planet, a lucky jewel, a boy who wanted to be changed into a cyborg, a disembodied queen head with psychic powers, and a whole bunch of other insane things that came together to form a really long, epic Astro Boy story. At one point, Ochanomizu is shot and killed. Who are the only two characters in Tezuka’s staff evil enough to start the riot and do the actual shooting? Why, Hamegg and Lamp, of course. It took me a minute to recognize Lamp, but Hamegg actually has a bit part in this story. And it’s hard not to recognize Hamegg. While Lamp can be made to look like a regular person, Hamegg just can’t be disguised.
There were two other short stories which were also awesome. One was about Astro getting emotions like a human (basically a human heart) so he could appreciate things like art and music. This backfires when it also makes him a scaredy cat unable to fight evil. This was apparently drawn by someone else, though Tezuka went back and redrew most of the pages for the graphic novel.
The last story is about a little robot boy who lies, which robots don’t do. He says exactly the opposite of the truth every time, and he causes several panics when he is released into the public. His real purpose is to serve a dying old lady, and he was made to lie so that he would make her feel better when she asked how she looked today. Aww.
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