Acetylene Lamp is a reoccurring character from the Osamu Tezuka Star System. He is a tough, imposing man usually associated with big business or the law. Lamp appears in Tezuka's works mostly as a villain, especially in Astro Boy canon, where he has appeared in almost every series to date.
Origin[]
Lamp's initial concept came about from one of Osamu Tezuka's childhood friends. This friend had a noticeable dent in the back of his skull, which was said to be flat enough to support a candle; Tezuka would later model the shape of Lamp's head after this. Sometimes a lit candle will appear behind Lamp's head, usually when Lamp is feeling an extreme emotion. Lamp's full name further references this: an acetylene lamp is a fire-powered gas lamp often used in lighthouses or caves.
Tezuka originally designed Lamp with the idea to have him play an American spy. Lamp would later debut in the 1948 manga Lost World, as a criminal who joins a space expedition in hopes of finding treasure. Later on, Tezuka was inspired to model Lamp after Franco-Italian actor Lino Ventura.[1] Tezuka caught notice of Ventura when two of his films, Touchez pas au Grisbi (1954) and Un témoin dans la ville (1959) had become popular in Japan.[2]
Usually, Acetylene Lamp appears in Tezuka's works as intimidating and shady individuals. He most often plays villains, but has appeared in Black Jack as a dedicated but slightly loose cannon police inspector. He has a reoccurring role in the 1993 Black Jack OVA series; he appears as Lieutenant Takasugi, a gruff no-nonsense police inspector who becomes an ally to Black Jack. A heavily modified version of Lamp appears in the NOW! Comics series as Lance Lumiere.
Anime[]
1980 Series[]
In the 1980 anime, Lamp appears as an anti-robot rights terrorist in the episode Uran Falls In Love. Lamp utilizes the robot Zeus to assassinate robots with wealth or power. He only sees Zeus as a means to an end and treats him with the minimum of respect, even though Zeus at one point saves Lamp's life when Astro shoots down their helicopter.
During an attempt to kill a robot politician, he attempts to hold Uran hostage unless Astro will fight Zeus. This plan backfires and Lamp is arrested. In the English dub, he is renamed as Torch.
2003 Series[]
In the 2003 anime, Lamp is the secondary antagonist after Dr. Tenma, as a politician pushing for a ban on kokoro robots. He is the heir to a robot manufacturing empire, but shut down production of AI robots after the death of Buddy. Lamp is renamed in the dub as Mr. Drake.
In the episode Escape from Volcano Island, Lamp's stigma against robots is explored in detail. He begins to have flashbacks about a robot named Buddy that he befriended when he crashed on an island. When his search team arrived, they rescued Lamp but left Buddy on an erupting volcano. In coping with the loss, Lamp ended production of Buddy's robot model, and forced himself to believe that robots are just tools. Lamp at one point tried to interfere with the Robot of the Year award ceremony because of this point of view.
During The Robotonia Incident, Lamp was one of Chairman Lyon's henchmen. Finally, after an attempt to destroy Robotonia and with Astro damaged and out-of-service, Lamp found this as an opportunity to destroy the remaining AI robots. However, his shadowy associates gave up on him, pointing out that humans and robots were now closer than ever and it would be a pointless endeavor.
Lamp, now desperate and hysterical, went on to steal a colossal pilotable mecha and drove it to Dr. Tenma's mansion. Lamp attempted to finally destroy Astro and Tenma's lab, but was overtaken, crashing his mecha and being taken in by police.
Jetter Mars[]
Lamp also appears in an episode of Astro Boy sister series, Jetter Mars. Lamp plays a space trader and smuggler who impersonates a detective. Lamp convinces Mars that he will help Mars find his father, Dr. Yamanoue (who had actually died in a space accident); in exchange, Mars must work for Lamp by doing his space trader duties for him. By the end of the episode, Mars's stepfather Doctor Kawashimo and sister Miri come to Mars's rescue and help bring Lamp to the authorities.
Astro Boy: Omega Factor[]
In the Astro Boy: Omega Factor video game, Lamp is a major antagonist and is once again renamed Drake.
He first appears at the beginning of Rebirth where Astro witnesses him getting ready to destroy all robots. Using the Magnemite's rampage as an example for his campaign, he replaces Duke Red as the international councilor. He passes a law where any robot that disobeys an rules would be destroyed. President Rock of Antarctica invited him to his inauguration ceremony so he can borrow his power, Drake was fine with that. All these acts caused Blue Knight to start a furious rebellion. Within three months, Drake had many robots destroyed, Blue Knight had the survivors sent to Antarctica. Unfortunately, Drake will reach there in twenty-four hours and attack with full force.
Hoping to fix this (again), Astro Boy travelled through time. He learned that one robot apparently killed his daughter, Prime Rose, and Drake hated robots ever since. She had Dolmehka syndrome and only Dr. Black Jack could cure her, but no one knew where he was and even so, Ham Egg had Skunk kidnap Pinoko to prevent him from operating. This was because Sharaku bribed Ham Egg, if Prime Rose had operated sooner, Drake wouldn't have hated robots so much and Blue Knight would've never been born. During this time, a robot appeared in the hospital and apparently kidnapped Prime Rose, both of them disappeared and Drake became international councilor to get revenge. By the time Astro brought her back, Drake had learned from Sharaku about Death Mask, who could destroy all robots. To force her to do it, he held Duke Red hostage and threatened to kill him with an antiproton bomb in three hours. But the time that was over, Black Jack successfully saved Prime Rose, she even proved herself by revealing that running gag about him and the candle as a secret. It turns out the "robot kidnapper" was her friend Daichi, he disguised himself to take her to the moon since she always wanted to see it. Drake admitted that Prime Rose really loved Daichi, so he told him to take care of her. Drake was last seen looking at the sun to see if Astro survived after using Death Mask to stop it from exploding due to Garon, he does.
References[]
- ↑ アセチレン・ランプの夜 / Night of Acetylene Lamp. Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 2002. 978-4309406657
- ↑ Nikkan Digital Creators article by film critic Sougou Susumu