In the mid-1960s one TV show took the world by storm: Batman! But did you know how popular he was in Japan?
Let's look back at a fascinating slice of comic book history - BatManga!
The 1966 Batman TV show created a wave of Batmania in Japan. Batman toys, records and games flew off the shelves. The popular weekly magazine Shōnen King were determined to capitalise on it.
So they approached DC Comics for the rights to write and draw their own Batman stories for the Japanese market. DC agreed, and these were published in Shōnen King between 1966 and 1967.
Jiro Kuwata was given the job of illustrating the Japanese Batman stories, having created a number of other manga heroes such as 8 Man and Maboroshi Tantae. He gave his Batman a similar manga style.
Many years later American graphic artist Chip Kidd found out about these Japanese Batman strips from avid collector Saul Ferris. With DC's agreement he bagan to collate and republish the stories, giving them the name BatManga!
BatManga stories don't feature the usual Batman villains like The Joker or The Penguin instead Jiro My data created a new range of enemies: from the sinister Doctor Faceless...
... to the epic immortal foe Lord Death Man.
The BatManga anthology was published in 2009 and contains a wealth of photos, stories and strips about Batman in Japan. Do check it out if you can
More superheroes another time..
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What are the pulp archetypes? Pulp novels are usually written quickly and rely on a formula, but do they use different archetypal characters to other fiction?
Let's take a look at a few...
The Outlaw is a classic pulp archetype: from Dick Turpin onwards lawbreakers have been a staple of the genre. Crime never pays, but it's exciting and trangressive!
Some pulp outlaws however are principled...
As Bob Dylan sang "to live outside the law you must be honest." Michel Gourdon's 1915 hero Dr Christopher Syn is a good example. A clergyman turned pirate and smuggler, he starts as a revenger but becomes the moral magistrate of the smuggling gangs of Romney Marsh.
Given the current heatwave, I feel obliged to ask my favourite question: is it time to bring back the leisure suit?
Let's find out...
Now we all know what a man's lounge suit is, but if we're honest it can be a bit... stuffy. Formal. Businesslike. Not what you'd wear 'in da club' as the young folks say.
So for many years tailors have been experimenting with less formal, but still upmarket gents attire. The sort of garb you could wear for both a high level business meeting AND for listening to the Moody Blues in an espresso bar. Something versatile.
Today in pulp I look back at the publishing phenomenon of gamebooks: novels in which YOU are the hero!
A pencil and dice may be required for this thread...
Gamebooks are a simple but addictive concept: you control the narrative. At the end of each section of the story you are offered a choice of outcomes, and based on that you turn to the page indicated to see what happens next.
Gamebook plots are in fact complicated decision tree maps: one or more branches end in success, but many more end in failure! It's down to you to decide which path to tread.