Before dedicating himself completely to his art Tezuka attended medical school and, unlike his unlicensed Black Jack protagonist, he was a licensed physician.
I don't know what he was thinking when he decided to blend mystery, medical melodrama, body horror and a few silly gags to create Black Jack, but I'm glad he did it. Never had the words amputation and trepanation been used so often, and so casually, in a comic book before.
