For those wishing to educate themselves on the classics of manga, here's some great news for you: Vertical Inc. has announced that they will be licensing Osamu Tezuka's series Black Jack. The series had a short run here in the U.S., but as Publishers Weekly mentions:

According to Ada Palmer, founder of the Web site Tezuka in English, which is devoted to introducing Tezuka to an English speaking audience, Viz Media published the first two volumes before licensing conflicts with Tezuka Productions forced Viz to cancel the series.

The series is extremely popular -- according to the article, Black Jack is the second most popular character in Japan (most likely Doraemon or Astro Boy is in the lead). Black Jack is an unlicensed doctor who saves peoples' lives with his incredible skills, going against the grain. The series ran from 1973-1978 and spanned 12 volumes and two anime series (one that just recently ended).

Check out the Publishers Weekly article for an interesting talk about the impact that Black Jack has had on the Japanese peoples' lives (including episode 5 of Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei).