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  • Bat-Manga! (Limited Hardcover Edition): The Secret History of Batman in Japan (Pantheon Graphic Library)

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Chip Kidd
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Bat-Manga! (Limited Hardcover Edition): The Secret History of Batman in Japan (Pantheon Graphic Library)

by Chip Kidd (Author), Jiro Kuwata (Illustrator) Format: Hardcover
4.4 out of 5 stars (66)
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.
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  1. Print length
    384 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Pantheon
  4. Publication date
    October 28, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    8.85 x 1.25 x 11.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0375425454
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0375425455
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Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

The campy, Pop-art-infused Batman television series that d�buted in 1966 was not just a hit in the U.S.; it also set off an international wave of Batmania. A Tokyo publisher licensed the comic-book rights and new weekly Batman adventures appeared for more than a year, drawn by Jiro Kuwata, a manga prodigy who co-created the popular cyborg superhero 8-Man. His work, never reprinted and previously untranslated, was so little known here that, until its rediscovery by Kidd and Ferris, even DC Comics, �Batman� �s publisher, was unaware of its existence. Kuwata, an action virtuoso, employed hypnotic geometrical motifs within his panels, incorporating realistic Batman and Robin figures into an exaggeratedly cartoonish style. His Batman fights villains like the shape-shifting Clayface and Go-Go the Magician, as well as typically Japanese oversized robots, insects, and dinosaurs.
Copyright ©2008 Click here to subscribe to The New Yorker

About the Author

Chip Kidd is a graphic designer and writer in New York City. His two previous books about comics for Pantheon were Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz and Mythology: The DC Comics Art of Alex Ross. Both won the Eisner Award and were national bestsellers.

Geoff Spear is a photographer, living and working in lower Manhattan. For over two decades he has shot hundreds of images for a wide range of book covers, by such authors as Haruki Murakami, John Burdett, Augusten Burroughs, Oliver Sacks and Daniel Gilbert, among many others.

Saul Ferris is a founding partner in the law office of Ferris, Thompson and Zweig, in Gurnee, Illinois. During the last twenty years, he has amassed the most comprehensive collection of vintage Japanese Batman toys and memorabilia in the world.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pantheon
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 28, 2008
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0375425454
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375425455
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.05 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.85 x 1.25 x 11.25 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #1,606,052 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars (66)

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Chip Kidd

Chip Kidd

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Charles (Chip) Kidd (born September 12, 1964) is an American graphic designer, best known for his innovative book covers. Based in New York city, Kidd has become one of the most famous book cover designers to date.

Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Luigi Novi [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0) or CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
66 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find this Batman manga book enjoyable to read and look through, with one noting it contains all the stories in one volume. The book receives positive feedback for its content, with one customer highlighting the wholly original stories by Jiro Kuwata, while another describes it as a must-have for Batman fans.
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9 customers mention coffee table book, 9 positive, 0 negative
Customers find the book awesome, with one mentioning it features great wacky Batman & Robin adventures from Japan, and another noting it's a must-have for Batman fans.
...Very good as a coffee table book, just not what i was looking for.Read more
...While I wish it was longer, its still a great read and a wonderful coffee table book....Read more
This book is awesome! I love how it reads in reverse. Incredible artwork and a must have for any fan of Batman....Read more
Love this book!...Read more
7 customers mention content, 6 positive, 1 negative
Customers appreciate the content of the book, with one customer noting it contains all the stories in one volume, while another describes it as a must-have collection.
...Some of the stories are complete. Other stories start in the middle or have know ending. I really enjoyed how the japanese saw batman and robin....Read more
...For completists, it is a must have since it contains all of the stories in one book. I highly recommend it for the serious Batman collector.Read more
...collection of material was clearly painstaking; this is comics research at its finest, and it's clearly the proverbial "labor of love"....Read more
...His clean-cut drawing style and great story-presentation skills capture generation of fans in Japan....Read more
5 customers mention enjoyable, 5 positive, 0 negative
Customers find the book enjoyable to read and look through, with one mentioning it's fun for all ages.
...While I wish it was longer, its still a great read and a wonderful coffee table book....Read more
...style of reading the pages, but once you're over that it becomes an interesting an enjoyable romp.Read more
...The stories are really creative and fun to read for any ages....Read more
...Very enjoyable to read and look through.Read more
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