Last Gasp is proud to host a reading and book signing with Chip Kidd for his newest book BAT-MANGA. See you Thursday, November 13 at 6pm at 111 Minna Gallery!

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 Chip Kidd’s BAT-MANGA! The Secret History of Batman in Japan (Pantheon Books/October 28, 2008/$60.00 Hardcover, $29.95 Paperback) 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, courtesy of Saul Ferris.

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 the book.

More than 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. The signed, limited hardcover edition will have a distinctly different cover, full-color printed endpapers, and an amazing extra adventure written by Jiro Kuwata (not included in the paperback), about a band of rogue alien robot art thieves at large in Gotham City. Who Could possibly stop them?!

About the Author

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.

Author Reading
Thursday, November 13-San Francisco
6pm @ 111 Minna Gallery, 111 Minna St., San Francisco, CA 94105

BAT-MANGA!
The Secret History of Batman In Japan
Compiled, edited and designed by Chip Kidd
Photography by Geoff Spear, From the Collection of Saul Ferris, Translated by Anne Ishii ● Pantheon Books/October 28, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-375-42545-5 Hardcover
ISBN: 978-0-375-71484-9 Paperback
www.goodisdead.com
www.pantheonbooks.com

BATMAN and all related characters and elements are trademarks of DC Comics © 2008. All Rights Reserved.