Cross Pinocchio with Superman and you might well get something like Tetsuwan Atomu, renamed Astro Boy when he was imported to the United States.
“Astro Boy wasn’t a boy any more than the Human Torch was human, but a robot,” observed comics historian Don Markstein. The groundbreaking manga series, written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka, was serialized in Kobunsha’s Shōnen from 1952 to 1968.
“It was the heart-rending tale of a rich business inventor whose son is killed in an accident,” noted Tim Pilcher in The Essential Guide to World Comics.
“(Tetsuwan Atomu, i.e. “Mighty Atom”) was made in 2003 (a half-century in the readers’ future) by Dr. Tenma, a high-ranking scientific bureaucrat, to replace his son, Tomio,” Markstein noted. “Of course, the boy couldn’t be replaced; so rather than keep a constant reminder around the house, Tenma sold him to Ham Egg, a circus owner who treated him about like Stromboli had treated Pinocchio in similar circumstances.
“Later, he fell into the hands of Prof. Ochanomizu, successor to Tenma as head of the Ministry of Science, who put him to work as a superhero. The abilities Tenma had built into him were a lot like Superman’s — super strength, super hearing, supervision, a super brain, and the ability to fly (using rocket thrusters in his feet). But since he was only a robot, the public often treated him like Marvel Comics’ public later treated the X-Men.”
The comic feature became a 1963 Japanese animated series that was syndicated in the U.S.
“While Astro Boy was re-edited and redubbed to conform to American broadcast policies, much of the casual sadism of the original remained intact,” observed The Complete Anime Guide. “Surprisingly, considering the youth market for which it was aimed, the morbid opening episode sequence involving the death of Astor Boynton was left untouched, as was the curiously cruel black humor surrounding Dr. Boynton’s eventual descent into gibbering madness.
“These and other no-nonsense touches elevated Astro Boy from the usual kiddie adventure cartoon rut. Although the animation was primitive to the point of nonexistence … Astro Boy moved with swiftness, vigor, intelligent plot development, and a welcome dash of knockabout humor.”
Astro Boy fought such menaces as Phoenix Bird, Sphinx, the Mist Men, and Zero the Invisible.
Mushi Productions also produced the series Eighth Man, Gigantor, Speed Racer, Jet Boy, Prince Planet and Johnny Sokko, and His Flying Robot.
The idea of combining Mickey Mouse with Superman resulted in the highly popular Mighty Mouse, and this Pinocchio-Superman mixture proved equally successful. Adapted several times for animation, the character’s 23 tankōbon volumes have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling manga series of all time.
Simplifying art and story, Western Publishing adapted the character for a single issue of Astro Boy (August 1965) as well as March of Comics 285 (Jan. 1966).
Unsurprisingly, the Gold Key version did not emphasize the collapsible machine gun Astro Boy had in his butt.
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