Chip Kidd at Cartoon Art Museum

As many of you know (or as many of you would know if I had a large following), I am a volunteer at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco. Last night, we were fortunate enough to host a presentation by Chip Kidd, author of Mythology: the DC Comics Art of Alex Ross, Batman Collected, and most importantly, Bat-Manga: the Secret History of Batman.

As someone who considers myself fairly knowledgeable about the Caped Crusaider--i.e. not, "he's cool cuz he's dark and doesn't have powers," and Robin-bashers--this was an eye-opener.

In 1966, as the Batman TV series with Adam West hit around the world, the comic book material was very much in-demand. In every other country, this meant repackaging original American DC Comics material. In Japan, however, Manga was already on its way to being considered a "true art form," and a Batman manga was produced in Japan by artist Jiro Kuwata, best known for a series called 8th Man (of whom Robocop is something of a ripoff, according to Kidd).

The series, according to Kidd, didn't seem to take place in either Japan or America, but some amalgam thereof (at-least when it came to the tropes). Batman and Robin were depicted as using guns, at-least in promotional material, and no origin was ever given; and while his designs for Batman and Robin stayed faithful, the villains they battled were largely original. They arguably bear more of a resemblance to villains who might be introduced today. One such villain was Lord Death Man, whose power was to die and resurrect himself at will.

The series died in about a year, and was largely forgotten. So obscure was it that while it was licensed by National Periodical Publications--which is now DC Comics--Kidd's discovery of the Manga was news to Paul Levitz--President of DC Comics as of 2002 and superhero enthusiast--who authorized the book chronicling the Bat-Manga, but wouldn't lend any company assistance with the research.

Kidd's book is available in stores (he did a signing after his speech) and while not complete, should give readers a sense of what the series was like.

Kidd topped his speech off with an announcement that should be of interest to fans of the Bat-Manga. Buuut, I think I'll keep my mouth shut.