A comic book published in September 1948 and kept at a library in the United Sates was recently confirmed as the debut work of famed science fiction novelist Sakyo Komatsu, who died three years ago.
A digital copy of the cartoon, titled "Kaijin Sukereton Hakase" ("The Secret of Skeleton"), published in Osaka under the author's real name, Minoru Komatsu, when he was a high school student, was discovered this spring in the digital collection of the National Diet Library.
Ken Ogawa, 49, a Tokyo-based collector of Komatsu's work, discovered the book, which is owned by the University of Maryland, in the Diet library database and the novelist's official rights-managing body, Komatsu Sakyo Library, recently confirmed its authenticity.