Chip Kidd's gorgeously designed, oversized collection of Jiro Kuwata's Bat Manga! is a delight. Spawned in Japan during the success of the 1966 U.S. Batman television show, Kuwata's Batman series - which he wrote and drew - takes place in an alternate reality than either the U.S. Batman comics or the Batman show. Thankfully, his work is better, more arresting and idiosyncratic than any American Batman material being created at the time.
Once given the assignment, Kuwata, who had previously co-created the popular 8 Man, wished to draw his Batman series for Shonen King in the style of then-current DC artists, but had no time to attempt to emulate the American Batman look. That's lucky for us, because one of the wonderful aspects of Kuwata's Batman is that it looks like mid-'60s manga. With only infrequent appearances of butler Alfred and Commissioner Gorden, Kuwata's Batman takes place in its own, hermetically sealed universe: it's only Batman and Robin against an array of mostly original villains. These include Lord Death Man, who continually arises from death, Go-Go the Magician, the shape-shifting Clayface, Professor Gorilla and, best of all, the science fiction-steeped The Man Who Quit Being Human, a burgeoning mutant who poses a critical threat to not only Batman but humankind.
Kuwata's Batman uses time-honored manga storytelling techniques to present narrative in a more highly sophisticated way than U.S. comics at the time, slowing down to present snapshots of places and time passing. The usually B&W art is reproduced in all its various textures and states of decay. The book is supplanted with many examples of Japanese Batman merchandise (which Kidd collects), historical background and an interview with Kuwata (who died in 2020). The serialized stories are often incomplete, but the regular rhythms of the narratives are so repetitive (in a good way) that the reader won't regret the missing links as they otherwise might. Bat Manga! is highly recommended.
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