A highly requested title from Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki, the in-demand manga Billy Bat is a historical conspiracy-thriller meta-manga spanning multiple millennia following a Japanese American comic artist’s search for the truth regarding the origins of his character “Billy Bat.” This is the first thrilling volume in the sci-fi mystery by Naoki Urusawa and Takashi Nagasaki, beautifully packaged and available for the first time in English. It’s 1949 Los Angeles, and Kevin Yamagata, a Japanese American comic book author, is drawing his bestselling character, Billy a quick-witted detective who is, unsurprisingly, a cartoon bat. Everything is going well for Kevin until he discovers an unfortunate He may have unintentionally plagiarized his beloved character from a drawing he once saw in Japan. Devastated by the news, Kevin returns to war-torn Japan to find the drawing’s original artist . . . but the character’s origins turn out to be far older and more perplexing than he had ever imagined.
Authors
Urasawa Naoki (浦沢直樹) is a Japanese mangaka. He is perhaps best known for Monster (which drew praise from Junot Díaz, the 2008 Pulitzer Prize winner) and 20th Century Boys. Urasawa's work often concentrates on intricate plotting, interweaving narratives, a deep focus on character development and psychological complexity. Urasawa has won the Shogakukan Manga Award, the Japan Media Arts Festival excellence award, the Kodansha Manga Award and the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In 2008 Urasawa accepted a guest teaching post at Nagoya Zokei University. Series list (not including short stories collections): - Pineapple ARMY (パイナップルARMY) 1985-1988, written by Kazuya Kudo; - YAWARA! 1986-1993; - Master Keaton (MASTERキートン) 1988-1994, written by Hokusei Katsushika; - Happy! 1993-1999 - MONSTER 1994-2001 - 20th Century Boys (20世紀少年) 1999-2006 - 21st Century Boys (21世紀少年) 2007 - PLUTO 2003-2009, based on Tezuka Osamu's Tetsuwan Atom - BILLY BAT 2008-2016 - Master Keaton Remaster (MASTERキートン Reマスター) 2012-2014 - Mujirushi (夢印-MUJIRUSHI-) 2017-2018, collaboration with Musée du Louvre - Asadora! (連続漫画小説 あさドラ!) 2018-ongoing
長崎 尚志 A manga author, editor and producer. He's best known for his collaborations with Naoki Urasawa. Writes under pen name Richard Woo Alternate names: リチャード・ウー, Richard Woo, 空論, Kuuron, プランダ村, Prandamura, 江戸川 啓視, Keishi Edogawa, 東周斎 雅楽, Garaku Toushuusai, ビッグ・オー, Big Woo
