Inquiry: Chip Kidd: BAT MANGA: The Secret History of Batman in Japan

On tonight’s Inquiry, our guest is award winning writer, designer and novelist CHIP KIDD. In the 1960s, renown Japanese manga artist Jiro Kuwata turned out an amazing series of Batman comic stories, that until very recently were only known in Japan. Kidd has lovingly reproduced a set of these comics in a state of the art volume titled BAT MANGA that also includes some photographs of the distinctly Japanese merchandise that was sold at the time. Tune in and find out what the Japanese thought of this American superhero and what kind of unique villains the Japanese Batman fought. On-line, we also talk about Kidd’s latest novel THE LEARNERS, which begins, with the quote: “An idea ahead of its time, no matter what it is, is not a good idea.”