I'm a latecomer to Tezuka's work, but I started off with some of his well-regarded works like Phoenix and Astro Boy, which may have set my expectations a little bit too high. Because while Metropolis certainly has the same stylish cartooning as Tezuka's other work, the writing pales in comparison to his later work. The lead character, themes and general style reads like a rough draft of Astro Boy, and the plot sort of swerves all over the place, never quite coming together as a seamless whole. In fairness, Metropolis is a comic that was produced in 1949, and it's certainly ground-breaking work from that time, but as a modern read, it's fairly disappointing.
Metropolis opens with a fairly lofty premise, promising to explore human evolution and see if they could push themselves to extinction the way that earlier species had. Unfortunately, this intriguing premise never quite materializes, and when the old man predicting mankind's doom shows up at the end, it's to pose essentially the same question, leading me to think that Tezuka raised a question and then sort of went off on a tangent rather than answering it. Certainly the notion of mankind failing thanks to its own technology bears little relation to the story of a terrorist madman and a robotic boy, even considering the robotic revolt that takes up the last few pages of the story.
Mostly, Metropolis is an example of a lot of neat ideas and scattered or failed execution. The notion of Duke Red, the criminal mastermind who is a master of disguise, is certainly decent enough for an antagonist, but Tezuka seems unsure of whether he's a wanted fugitive or a criminal who can move about in society. And he starts a story here that seems very similar to some of the themes and even plots he'll explore in Astro Boy, including a devoted scientist father and the notion of robots feeling abused and betrayed by the system that creates them. There's even a touch on evolution and the far future, as he explored so well in Phoenix. However, mostly it seems like Tezuka is just throwing ideas out and seeing what sticks... it's interesting as a look at a then-developing talent, but when there's so much else out there by the same creator that is more polished, it's hard to look on Metropolis as much more than a curiosity.
That said, one aspect of Metropolis stands up nicely compared to Tezuka's later work, and that's the artwork. Tezuka is obviously influenced by Disney (going so far in this issue to introduce Mickey Mouse lookalikes... guess Disney wasn't as lawsuit-happy in the late 40s), but I'm also reminded of the Popeye cartoons I used to watch when I was younger. The prominent noses and bulbous designs for the characters give the whole thing a comical and lively energy, and Tezuka really loves the crowded, detailed panels as well. The panic in reaction to Duke Red or the black spots on the sun comes with a lot of chaos and frenetic energy especially.
In the end, Metropolis is for the Tezuka completists, interesting as sort of proto-stories that led to the creation of Tezuka's later work but a little bit dated and uneven on its own. I'm glad that Dark Horse is producing more Tezuka work, but I have to admit to being disappointed in Metropolis overall.
