MIGHTY ATOM CLUB--the covers

[ASTROBUDDY]

Hello boys and girls! I thought it would be a blast to show, one and all, the covers to the magazine, "Mighty Atom Club"! As some of you may know at the height of the original series run in Japan, a magazine was started by Mushi Prod. to highlight our hero, Astro Boy for the Japanese audience. Starting in August of 1964 and therefore for in almost every month until Nov., 1966, the Mighty Atom Club magazine featured a Mighty Atom manga story. While the covers had nothing to do with the story inside, they were still beautiful, eye-catching color covers. Here are the first two: Aug. & Sept., 1964. The stories featured in these two issue were: "The Bad-Guy Robots" (8/64 reprinted and translated in Dark Horses' "Osamu Tezuka's Original Astro Boy" vol. #22, Story #9) and "The Lying Robot" (MAC--9/64, reprinted in "Astro Boy vol. #13, Story# 3)

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[ASTROBUDDY]

The 10/64 issue features "The Brain Swap" (reprinted in AB vol.# 22, story# 11)
Nov.'64 features "The Time Machine" (reprinted in AB vol.# 22, story #10)
Dec. 1964 and Jan. 1965 feature the first two installments of a story never reprinted; even in Japanese sources, known as "The Jungle Kingdom". Now the story is also known as "Jungle Devil Boundary" (Jap. "Janguru MaKyo") This story is actually a reworking of a manga tale Tezuka wrote in 1948. The stars then were Kenichi and Higeoyaji. [The translated title I use is from a book commemorating Tezuka's 40th anniversary.] The manga is the basis for the original series episode, "Jungle Mystery". (Elements of this story were also reworked into an episode of "Shin TetsuWan Atom" "The World of Odin")
(Also note the Christmas themed cover for Dec. 1964. and the Oct. cover commemorating the 1964 Summer Olympics which took place in Japan that year.))

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[ASTROBUDDY]

The Feb. "65 cover featured the last installment of "Jungle Kingdom".
There were no Atom manga in the March, April, and May 1966 issues. (At least that I know of.)
The April, 1965 issue with Kimba, the White Lion joining Astro Boy was made obviously to promote the Kimba anime which premiered that year.

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[ASTROBUDDY]

June and July, 1965, feature the first two installments of "Atom's Been Stolen" (AB vol.# 10, story #4)
Aug. and Sept. 1965 feature the last two installments of "Atom's Been Stolen".

(Oct. and Nov. '65 feature no Atom manga (At least none that I know of) and you will note that Kimba highlights the October cover and that the Amazing Three characters are featured on the 9/65 cover also promoting its debut.)

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[ASTROBUDDY]

"Broadcasts from Outer Space" (AB vol.# 12,story# 4) are featured in 12/65 & 1/66 issues.


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[ASTROBUDDY]

Although Kimba is featured on the cover of 2/66, the manga story "The Face in the Rock" is featured in that issue and the next, (3/66)
The first installment of "Ti-tan(ium)" is featured in the April, '66 issue with a cover celebrating all of Mushi Prod. anime series at that time.

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[ASTROBUDDY]

Issue May, 1966 features part two of Ti-tan's introductory story, which also has never been reprinted. 6/66 features Ti-Tan on the cover. The May issue features the last Atom manga in the magazine.

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[ASTROBUDDY]

The last five issues featured no Atom manga in them and Atom (along with Uran(ium) and Cobalt) are featured on only one last cover (10/66). Nov., 1966 would be the last issue. But the magazine would soon morph into the magazine known as "COM". Hope you guys enjoyed.


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[AprilSeven]

WOW!! This is almost like a Christmas gift from you, Astrobuddy!! They are so gorgeous, and give an idea what the 60's anime would have looked like in color

So you have copies of all of these? That's so amazing - I wish there were some way we could at least "rent" pdfs to read or look through - it's just so fascinating to me to see SOOOO MUCH I never knew existed. I really love having both Cobalt and Ti-tan - they are just so cute as a group of siblings.

Thanks so much for sharing. I take it these are only attainable via ebay or something?

[ASTROBUDDY]

WOW!! This is almost like a Christmas gift from you, Astrobuddy!! They are so gorgeous, and give an idea what the 60's anime would have looked like in color

So you have copies of all of these? That's so amazing - I wish there were some way we could at least "rent" pdfs to read or look through - it's just so fascinating to me to see SOOOO MUCH I never knew existed. I really love having both Cobalt and Ti-tan - they are just so cute as a group of siblings.

Thanks so much for sharing. I take it these are only attainable via ebay or something?

No I don't have all of these. I scanned the pictures of the covers from an article about them in a Japanese magazine.

I was fortunate enough to purchase one (11/64) on eBay and if I remember correctly the bidding wasn't too high as I seemed to be the only person who knew how rare it was. The condition wasn't too bad either, considering the age and rarity of these magazines.

One of my favorites is also the cover featuring Cobalt (or should I say Jetto) as well as Astro Girl (10/66). The one with Ti-Tan is also hilarious! (I wonder what Fred Ladd would have called him!)

Happy Holidays!

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