BatManga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan

Patrick Kastner - The Columbus Dispatch

Attention Bat-fans: Your equivalent of the Dead Sea Scrolls will arrive in bookstores in the form of BatManga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan.

Edited by celebrated book designer and comic-book geek Chip Kidd, the book collects rare Japanese manga comics by Jiro Kuwata published at the height of Batman's 1960s popularity.

Never before translated or collected, the stories have languished for decades with few American fans knowing of their existence.

Kidd writes in the introduction that even DC Comics publisher and noted comics historian Paul Levitz was unaware of the material until Kidd pitched the idea of the book. Kidd says it was like "presenting the pope with the skull of John the Baptist."

The stories filter the Caped Crusader through a Japanese atomic-age lens. Instead of crazed criminals, Batman battles aliens, mutants and the occasional super-genius gorilla. Based on the American TV series, the comics highlight Batman and Robin's roles as civic servants and detectives. Their light tone is a far cry from the grim and gritty comics and film adaptations of today.

Still, the stories unfold with a logic and narrative flow not seen in many American comics of the time. Kuwata, now 73, notes in an interview in the book: "The stories had to be more mature and real for the Japanese readers."

"Real" is a relative term here. This is hardly the stuff of a Christopher Nolan movie: One story centers around a man who evolves into a mutant bent on enslaving humanity. Another involves a criminal who falls into a pool of magic water that allows him to transform into any shape he desires.

Kuwata proves a fine visual storyteller, with fluid, economical line work typical of manga of the time. The stories move at a fast clip, thanks to dynamic action scenes propelling from one panel to the next.

Kidd scoured the Japanese islands to find the few existing copies of these stories. Despite his efforts, many are incomplete, although Kidd provides summaries in place of missing chapters.

He presents the comics mostly as he found them -- yellowed and worn by time. The end result creates a tangible feeling of paging through long-lost artifacts.

The villains of 'BatManga!'

There's no Joker, Two-Face or Catwoman in this collection. Among the crazy sci-fi Japanese creations who face down the Caped Crusader:

--Lord Death Man: a skull-visaged thief with the ability to mimic death using yoga-breathing techniques

--Go-Go the Magician: a theatrical crook who can manipulate weather to pursue criminal ends

--Professor Gorilla: a malicious simian who gains the intelligence of a scientist, then goes on a rampage against mankind

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