Updated: January 03, 2023

The work of Japanese manga artist Jiro Kuwata (1935-2020) was influential to the “Batmania” of the late 1960s. After the live action television series ‘Batman’ starring Adam West and Burt Ward as the Dynamic Duo was a smash hit in the U.S., it inevitably became a global phenomenon as well. So much so that in Japan, the shōnen magazine Shōnen King licensed the rights to make their own Batman stories, with full consent of DC. As a result, the late Jiro Kuwata was commissioned to create Batman stories based off of Bill Finger and Bob Kane's work from the past 20+ years in hopes of targeting the new audience who were swept in this Batmania.

Jiro Kuwata discovered, however, it concluded difficult to make these stories interesting to this crowd, not having the same effect such as The Joker and Two-Face. Hence he creates a new Batman that fit perfectly with the mid-sixties manga fan; tales filled with strange lands, even stranger villains and crimes all bounced in a large format magazine together with growing suspense in each right to left panel. Batman and Robin went toe to toe with villains such as Dr. Faceless, Go-Go the Magician and the monster that dwells in a nightmare, Lord Death Man (adapted from Robert Kanigher and Sheldon Moldoff’s “Death Knocks Three Times!” published in 1966’s Batman #180).

Kuwata's brilliant Batman and Robin stories seemed to be lost in time once the television show was cancelled in 1968. It wasn't until the 1990s when "Batman: Year One" artist David Mazzuchelli discovered their existence at a cartoonist comic-con and the rest is truly history. Informing graphic designer and Batman fan Chip Kidd, together along with collector Saul Ferris created a proposal to not only have these mangas translated into English for a new generation, but also illustrate a comprehensive collection of vintage Japanese Batman toys made in this forgotten era. This created Pantheon Books' "Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan" from October 2008, introducing this art form to many and in a unique way sharing new adventures with one of the most favored heroes, the Batman.