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OK, anyone who's been reading the Bat-Blog for the last year or so knows how excited I have been about the gossip of a brand-new Batman book titled BAT-MANGA: THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN. It was being done by Chip Kidd who, a few years ago, came out with another great Batman book titled BATMAN COLLECTED. That book was amazing, so I knew this one was gonna be great too! Well, it has finally come out & it's even better than I dreamed about! It was released on October 28th, 2008. All I can say about BAT-MANGA is that it is extremely well-designed & a total delight to read! But, I can't just say that because that would be a totally lazy book review, ha ha! So, here's why the book is so awesome. First, for people totally unfamiliar with this title, in the 1960's there was a magazine in Japan for kids called Shonen King . During the crazy hype of the 1966 Batman TV Show ( Adam West & Burt Ward ) this company reserved the rights to do Batman stories. They did them for about a year & then they were gone. For years these wonderfully written & beautifully drawn stories were lost...until now! To do this book Chip Kidd teamed up with the photographer Geoff Spear & Super-Collector Saul Ferris ( Japanese translation by Anne Ishii ). Both Chip & Saul had a few issues of this super-rare magazine & while doing research found out that the artwork was done by Jiro Kuwata, the artist responsible for creating "8 MAN", a very popular Japanese character. Anyway, Kidd hired a Japanese translator & actually found the guy! To his regret he found out that all the original artwork had been lost to time. But, a neat thing about getting in touch with him was that they got to do an exclusive interview about his "Batman experience". So, working with Geoff & Saul, they photographed every issue they had their hands on. This actually turned out to be a "wonderful accident" because looking at the original magazines is pretty cool. Geoff did an amazing job photographing all the pages. The neat thing is that the photography is so extremely sharp that you can actually see the texture of the newsprint & it sort of gives you the experience of reading the actual magazine that children got to view in the 1960's. One other thing that's kinda neat too is that, back then, Jiro Kuwata was given total license to write anything he wanted. So, the stories are very unique & have a nice Japanese sensibility to them. Now, please keep in mind that this is manga so ya gotta "read it backwards". But, don't worry about that because after about 5 minutes you totally get used to it & the stories are really enjoyable. Jiro Kuwata was given permission to do anything he wanted so many of the villains ( except Clayface ) were created by him. They are really well thought out & have great names like Lord Death Man, Go-Go The Magician, Dr. Faceless, Professor Gorilla, & The Man Who Quit Being Human! Now, another great thing about the book is that it features some very sharp color photography of many Vintage 1960's Batman Toys...a total bonus! This is kinda where Saul Ferris came in. He has an amazing collection of super-rare Japanese Batman Toys. The photos are sort of sprinkled every few pages so while you're reading the stories you get a small break. Plus, You get to enjoy these lost pieces of Bat-History. It gives the book a nice rhythm & each time they popped up it was a very pleasant surprise! The book is created in 2 formats, hardback & paperback. The hardback has about 32 extra pages. It mainly has a few more toy photos & a section in the back that covers some stories written in Chinese! But, don't worry because everything has been translated into English so you can enjoy the whole experience. The retail price for the hardback is $60.00 while the paperback is $29.95. Right now Amazon is offering them as new releases at a cheaper price & I seriously recommend the hardback, just for the extras. Well, I hope this has been a decent review & it's a book I can highly recommend for ANY Batman Fan!
OK, Regular readers of the Bat-Blog all know how totally excited I am about this new book by Chip Kidd titled BAT-MANGA! THE SECRET HISTORY OF BATMAN IN JAPAN. The basic premise of the book is that in Japan, during the 1966 Batman TV Show craze in the US, a weekly Japanese Manga magazine called SHONEN KING licensed the rights to do its own Batman and Robin stories. Both the artwork & stories were totally original. They were never collected in Japan, and never translated into English. Now, in this awesome new 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. The Batman Memorabilia from Japan in the 1960's will include a ton of Batmobile Tin Toys, Tin Toy Robots, Dolls, Vinyl Figures, etc...way too much to list here! OK, now, you're probably wondering, what are the 4 comic pages up above?? Well, Chip Kidd is a big fan of the Bat-Blog & was kind enough to send a few pages of his book to be featured here! I'm not sure if this is an EXCLUSIVE but it's still pretty cool to get an e-mail from such a well-respected Batman Collector & Author! Anyways, these pages represent a part of one of the stories in the book titled "The Man Who Quit Being Human". Now, if you click on the above graphics then they will enlarge to a readable size. Another thing to remember is that they are formatted for Japanese audiences & you will have to "read them backwards". Another way to explain it is you read them top to bottom & right to left ( not "left to right" like we Americans read ). I know it's kinda disorienting but once you get the hang of it you'll really enjoy reading this story...it's wonderful! I seriously love the old vintage-style artwork. Another neat thing they did with these stories is they photographed the actual Japanese magazines to get the artwork because all of the original art is incomplete or totally gone forever. Another thing they did was make the photos so extremely sharp & super-high resolution that it's like you are reading the original magazines & getting the same exact experience that Japanese kids enjoyed way back then. It's a very cool concept from a "graphic art" point of view. The book comes out October 28th, 2008 & I can't wait! I wanna thank Chip Kidd for sending these pages to share with my readers, that's awesome!!
International manga comic legend Yoshinori Natsume turns his talented pen to the Dark Knight, and the result is a chilling story about a new serial killer stalking Gotham’s streets...one who bears more than a passing resemblance to Batman himself! Check out the first issue of BATMAN: DEATH MASK, in stores April 9th! For an Exclusive Sneak Peek be sure to visit the MySpace Comic Books website by clicking the link button down below.
