This is a medical drama in which an unlicensed but gifted surgeon, Black Jack, is the main character.
Endowed with excellent surgical technique, Black Jack always miraculously saves seriously ill patients and those on the verge of death. But he always claims an outrageous price for his surgery, which is why his presence is rejected in medical circles.
Black Jack lives quietly in a clinic out in the deserted wilderness with his assistant, Pinoko, whose life he had saved. Patients whom other doctors have given up on come to see him every today; he represents their very last hope.
November 19, 1973 to October 14, 1984
Appeared serially in "Weekly Shonen Champion" (Akita Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd.)
Tezuka Osamu himself was a licensed medical doctor.
In "Black Jack," he depicts the kind of doctor he would like to have been of he had chosen to continue as a physician. Under the title of Tezuka Osamu's one-man theater production, commemorating the 30th anniversary of the start of his career as a cartoonist, "Black Jack" was originally planned as a series of 5 independent episodes in which all characters of Tezuka Osamu's Manga would appear. As it became popular, however, over 230 independent episodes were published one after the other over a period of 5 years. Even after completion of this series, an additional 13 independent episodes were produced.
Among all Tezuka Osamu's works, this one is particularly popular, appealing to his die-hard fans as well as the general audience.