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Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan
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$ 23.36
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| Retail Value |
$ 29.95 |
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$ 6.59 (22%) |
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| Item Number |
2429206 |
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Item Description...
Overview
Presents a collection of Batman-manga stories about Batman and Robin, originally produced in Japan in the late 1960s, following Batman and Robin as they battle aliens, mutated dinosaurs, and other villains in a distinctively Japanese style, in a volume that includes photographs of the world's largest collection of vintage Japanese Batman toys. Simultaneous. 40,000 first printing.
Publishers Description
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.
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.
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. |
Item Specifications...
Pages 352
Dimensions: Length: 1" Width: 9" Height: 11.5"
Weight: 3.3 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Oct 28, 2008
Publisher Pantheon
ISBN 0375714847
EAN 9780375714849
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Availability 8 units.
Availability accurate as of May 23, 2012 04:51.
Usually ships within one to two business days from La Vergne, TN.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | The Lure of Batman Isn't Lost in Translation Nov 24, 2009 |
Few things get comic book fans--not to mention hardcore Batman-lovers--more irate than the thought of the campy 1960s "Holy haberdashery!"-era Batman TV show. It took 20 years and the vision of director Tim Burton for the Batman mythos to live the campy TV show down. Surprisingly, it lived on in Japan even longer in the form of manga.
Perhaps it's the ability to look back on this time with nostalgia from the relative comfort of a time when a Batman movie is seriously discussed as an Oscar contender. Whatever it is, the massive volume Bat-Manga! is a delightful look back at a time long gone but whose presence is still felt, in comics and in the real world.
Bat-Manga! seems to be a labor of love for legendary graphic designer Chip Kidd. He's packed it full of content, given it an amazing cover, and kept it in the original, right-to-left manga format. All the material reprinted within was originally published in Japanese in a weekly anthology called Shonen King and has now been translated into English for the first time. Perhaps even more enticing are the numerous images of Batman-related toys and memorabilia from the '60s.
Considering that, these days, Batman seems to fight the Joker over and over again in his current comics, it's almost refreshingly original to see him and his boy wonder pal Robin fight robots and aliens and mad scientists. It's pure '60s zeitgeist all the way through, but it's also fun and adventurous in a way that a lot of comics have forgotten how to be.
Another favorite from this collection: The quotes, trivia, and tidbits that run along the margins of some of the pages. They helpfully explain such things as "Bruce's butler, Alfred: The one who knows Batman's true identity. He's behind the scenes but provides all kinds of assistance." Or random gems like this: "Fruit trivia: At the turn of the Meiji Era, all kinds of watermelons were brought in from America, and their prices dropped because they became so abundant."
Longtime comics fans will chuckle to see an old villain known in the States as the Weather Wizard remade in these pages as Go-Go the Magician. And silly comic-book staples like the Bat-copter make an appearance here as well. It's all in good fun.
Perhaps most impressive of all is the solid detail of the art, which is decidedly set in the '60s era but also mixes elements of the '40s and '50s in, while also using deep inks and shadings to create stark contrasts on each page. The traditional manga style of artwork that most Americans are familiar with doesn't come into play here either. Instead, these strips walk a fine line--they're certainly for kids, but they're not as corny as one might expect.
It turns out the lure of Batman isn't lost in translation. True fans of the hero should enjoy this opportunity to see the Dark Knight cast in a different light.
-- John Hogan | | |  | Fun book to pick up again & again Jul 4, 2009 |
| Just a very cool looking book that you'll want to pickup over and over. The incomplete stories can be annoying, but with the predictability of the plots it's not exactly like they're cliffhangers! The artwork is great, but the photos interspersed of Batman toys that were sold in Japan in the 60's is the greatest feature! | | | | This edition is a real complement to your Batman collection May 12, 2009 |
wow, I thought I will never see this Batman manga again. This re-publication of the Japanese Batman manga is really a dream comes true. I can remember in my childhood days, this is a very popular manga, and re-reading this English copy brings back all the good memories. The manga artist Mr. Kuwata is famous for his sci-fi series: 8-man, Ultraseven, The Yellow Glove, Super-dog, etc., His clean-cut drawing style and great story-presentation skills capture generation of fans in Japan. We're all grateful to Mr. Kidd for bringing this project to live to the English speaking world. My only compliant is volume two is not out yet (there are missing episodes in volume one). If the book can be printed in the Japanese manga paper, that will be perfect.
| | | | Great Buy Apr 9, 2009 |
| If you like comics books, or obscure bits of culture, this is perfect. In addition to the actual Batman manga the book also shows all the different Japanese Batman Merchandise. The hardcover version is entirely worth it, and makes the book feel incredibly special. I recommend this without any shadow of a doubt. | | | | Any Batman Fan Will Love it! Feb 26, 2009 |
| In 1966, the Japanese manga anthology, Shonen King, licensed the Batman character for original stories. Those stories ran for about a year and were never collected in either Japanese or English. Until now. Graphic artist and book cover designer, Chip Kidd has collected the stories, translated them into English, and included many photos of Japanese Batman toys from the collection of Saul Ferris. The stories are often erratic, the reprints from the original newsprint two-tone; neither distracts from the wonderfulness of the book. The Japanese take on Batman is eerily prescient of the current look on several of the recent Batman animated series, and the manga influence on many of today's current comic artists. There is also an interview with Jiro Kuwata, the manga writer and illustrator who wrote the stories in the collection. Sure, it's dated and campy, but it is a spectacular book and any Batman fan will love it. | | | Write your own review about Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan
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