'Apollo's Song'

Vertical, Inc., 2007 (this version), 535 pages
Originally serialized in Japanese as Aporo No Uta in Shukan Shonen Kingu, Shonen Gahosha, 1970

Written and Illustrated by Osamu Tezuka
Translated by Camelliah Nieh

Apollo's Song follows the tragic journey of Shogo, a young man whose abusive childhood has instilled in him a loathing for love so profound he finds himself compelled to acts of violence when he is witness to any act of intimacy or affection whether by human or beast. His hate is such that the gods intervene, cursing Shogo to experience love throughout the ages ultimately to have it ripped from his heart every time. From the Nazi atrocities of World War II to a dystopian future of human cloning, Shogo loses his heart, in so doing, healing the psychological scars of his childhood hatred.

Master storyteller Osamu Tezuka's Apollo's Song is a lyrical tour-de-force on the human spirit, the destruction of hate, and the triumph of love.