TEZUKA

OSAMU TEZUKA ASTROBOY Original illustration created on August 2, 1982, featuring the characters of Astro Boy and King Leo, signed on verso and dedicated in felt-tip pen to the author François Corteggiani. Signed. India ink and colored inks on Shikishi board 24.2 × 27.2 cm (9.53 × 10.71 in.) Angoulême, 1982. Paul Gillon is president. Yves Mourousi makes the trip and devotes TF1's 1 p.m. newscast to this provincial town that's making bubbles with growing success. A little man strolls down the aisles. He wears a Basque beret, in homage to Foujita of Montparnasse. It's Osamu Tezuka, the "God of manga". He has come to present his latest film, Phoenix 2772 (Hi no Tori 2772), at a local cinema. The room is almost empty. No one is interested in this unknown artist. He spends some time at the stand of France's first manga magazine, Le Cri qui tue. He gets to meet Moebius, an artist he sincerely admires. He invited the author of L'Incal to Kyoto in July of the following year to present the premiere of Les Maîtres du Temps. The young screenwriter François Corteggiani was one of the few to spot him at the Festival. They hit it off, and he too was honored with an invitation to his home in Kurume-Shi. It was on this occasion that Tezuka drew him this picture of his most emblematic characters: Astro Boy and King Leo. A piece that can only be described as historic.