Black Jack (manga)

There are 243 stories total in the Black Jack manga series. The numbering can be confusing becuase story #180 "Woman Doctor Falls in Love with Black Jack" is sometimes printed as two separate issues, and special issue "U-18 Knew," printed 3/10/1976, is sometimes left out of the numbering. Of these original stories, three are "sealed," meaning they were excluded from the Japanese collected reprints, because the illnesses they treated were considered too sensitive. A further two are "partly sealed" and excluded from most collections. Thus not even the most recent Japanese Asuka edition has all 243 issues, and the Hazard Italian release, which includes all but seven stories, is as close to complete as most Japanese editions.

The 12 volume Gilet edition was released in both French and Spanish. It is now out of print in French, and has been replaced by the new Asuka edition, which copies the Japanese Asuka issue order. Each Asuka volume contains the equivalent of 2 Gilet volumes, so Asuka 1 contains Gilet 1 and 2. Thus Asuka 1-6 contain Gilet 1-12, and Asuka 7+ contain new issues not printed in the Gilet edition.

The order of publication of the Black Jack manga issues in the Viz English, Hazard Italian and Gilet/Asuka French editions are all different, and none of them match the original issue order.

Black Jack makes a cameo in the Astro Boy GBA game.