Chip Kidd likes Batman – a lot. He’s the ultimate fan, because he’s an artists and he gets to make a living off the Caped Crusader (Yes, I capitalized “Caped Crusader”). It turns out that Batman was really campy in the 60s, with Adam West going POW! in America. In Japan, Batman was serialized into manga where he fought with a bazooka and karate chopped praying mantis. Serious.

Well, Kidd tracked down copies of the now legendary comics and compiled them into a collection for us Americans who don’t know better. Bat-Manga: The Secret History of Batman In Japan shows us how far the Dark Knight has come and how lucky we are that the Japanese artist Jiro Kuwata didn’t include the bat nipples.

 

Smashed Chair: OK, lets get this out of the way. Batman had nipples in a movie. How'd that happen?

Chip Kidd: Um, the director was gay.

SC: In Bat-Magna, Jiro Kuwata drew Batman with the old Bob Kane style gloves andheadgear, but did I see a gun in a few images? Doesn't that go against the whole idea of Batman and his parents being killed by a gun?

CK: Yes, but the guns Batman and Robin use in these stories are either stun-guns
or lasers. There is also an instance of intended use of a bazooka, but the target is a robot. Still there is an undeniable tendency on the part of the Japanese to feature a gun-like object at the slightest provocation.

SC: How has the comic genre in Japan evolved from the 1960s and how would the more popular artists draw Batman now?

CK: At this point it would take an entire doctoral dissertation in order to answer this question properly. But there have been several contemporary manga artists who've done Batman stories recently, most notably Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira) in the first volume of Batman Black & White.

SC: You mentioned, in the preface, three separate occasions where the Bat-Magna found its way into your life. Do you believe that it was a greater force or just your love for comics?

CK: My love for comics IS a greater force.

SC: Kuwata kept more in line with Kane's idea of a younger Robin, do you think BobKane ever saw an issue of the Japanese version?

CK: I have no reason to think so. From what I know of Mr. Kane, I can't imagine he would have cared one way or the other. Especially if the artist was better than him (snap!)

SC: What were some of the more odd places that you had to go and find copies of the magna? Did you have to deal with any sweaty, comic guys?

CK: Only vicariously. I bought two issues of the comic on ebay, and my colleague Saul Ferris got the rest of it through his extensive network of Japanese manga-dealer contacts.

SC: If Bruce Wayne lived in the real world, would he be able to keep sidekick Dick Grayson out all night in green underwear? I mean, in those earlier Adam West shows, him and Burt Ward got into all sorts of dance-fights.

CK: You've obviously either just started or just stopped your medication. Please
see your doctor.

SC: I have a friend who wants to be Batman. Got any advice for him?

CK: Nipples on your costume will NOT strike fear in the hearts of criminals.

SC: Halloween just passed and a lot of people dressed up as Heath Ledger's Joker. Too soon?

CK: Apparently not.

SC: The Animated Batman series introduced Batman to a whole generation, well to me anyways. When did you first meet Batman?

CK: In Gotham City.

By Nathan Solis