Synopsis
The two hottest genres in comics gleefully collide head-on, as the most beloved American superhero gets the coolest Japanese manga makeover ever.
In 1966, during the height of the first Batman craze, a weekly Japanese manga anthology for boys, Shonen King, licensed the rights to commission its own Batman and Robin stories. A year later, the stories stopped. They were never collected in Japan, and never translated into English. Now, in this gorgeously produced book, hundreds of pages of Batman-manga comics more than four decades old are translated for the first time, appearing alongside stunning photographs of the world’s most comprehensive collection of vintage Japanese Batman toys.
This is The Dynamic Duo as you’ve never seen them: with a distinctly Japanese, atomic-age twist as they battle aliens, mutated dinosaurs, and villains who won’t stay dead. And as a bonus: Jiro Kuwata, the manga master who originally wrote and drew this material, has given an exclusive interview for our book.
The deluxe, expanded, and limited hardcover edition has a distinctly different cover, full-color printed endpapers, and an amazing extra adventure written by Jiro Kuwata (not included in the paperback), about a band of rogue alien robot art thieves at large in Gotham City. Guess who gets called in to save the day....
More than just a dazzling novelty, Bat-Manga! is an invaluable, long-lost chapter in the history of one of the most beloved and timeless figures in comics.
About Chip Kidd
Photo © John Madere
CHIP KIDD is the four-time Eisner Award–winning designer and author of
Batman: Animated, Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz, and
Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross. As an editor of graphic novels for Pantheon Books, he has worked with some of the very best talents in the medium, including Chris Ware, Dan Clowes, Art Spiegelman, Charles Burns, and David Mazzucchelli. Kidd is also the recipient of the National Design Award for Communications, the design industry’s highest honor. His first graphic novel as author is
Batman: Death by Design, published by DC Comics and featuring art by Dave Taylor.
Chip Kidd is represented by Random House Speakers Bureau (www.rhspeakers.com).