Synopsis: (Taken from back of book)
Ancient India vividly comes to life in this multiple award-winning series that has convinced American readers Osamu Tezuka is indeed one of the world’s greatest comic masters.
Bringing unprecedented visual richness to a traditional story of Siddhartha Gautama, Buddha is an epic masterpiece that is as humorous as it is moving. In this first volume of eight, “The Blessed One” is born.
The Himalayas await you, and Kapilavastu….
Review:
When doing research on good graphic novels, the Buddha series by Osamu Tezuks one kept coming up. It’s not your typical manga-style (i.e. Emma or Miki Falls) but instead a historical story based on real history. (Although there are some fictional spins to it, just like any tale..)
I decided that I would purchase it and read it — although I still wasn’t sure I would 100% love it. (But it’s from the “master of graphic novels” — so I had to read it, you know?)
Earlier this afternoon I was sitting in the car, waiting for my husband in Lowe’s (getting a toolbox) when I decided I would enjoy my graphic novel (and peace and quiet since he took the kid in with him). In the time that my husband was in Lowe’s (about an hour, if not a little more) I had finished the entire novel. I could not put it down!
We are taken back to the time in India when social classes were something you were “born into” and not earned. Once a slave, always a slave. We are introduced to a series of characters — who are both magical and inspirational. (And for a story revolving around Buddha, this story did not really center around him — yet). While Buddha is “born” sometime in the duration of the novel, it is centered around other characters.
I felt very drawn into the storyline and very attached to the characters. I definitely plan on purchasing the remainder of the books in the series, and reading it over, and over, and over again! I highly recommend it to anyone who loves graphic novels! Buddha: Volume 1, Kapilavastu was one of the best ones I have read in a long, long time!
