Bat-Manga! Part 1 Clayface

“Batman’s rich history allows him to be interpreted in a multitude of ways.”

So says the words of Batmite in Batman: Brave and the Bold. Indeed, Batman is a very universal character able to fit into any genre. Victorian Era London? Gotham by Gaslight. King Arthur’s Court? Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table. A good old fashioned ghost story? Dark Knight Dark City.

But what about on a global scale? Batman is a purely American creation, as American as Superman. The British share the same view of him as us Yanks do for the most part, but what about a vastly different culture?

Well, back in 2008, the rest of the world finally got to see what was happening in Japan. We all know Japan as that crazy place where you can grope women on the train, buy panties in vending machines, and watch porn in the prime time hours before going to your favorite bathroom themed restaurant.

So how did this vastly different culture take to Batman when he came on the television in 1966? The same way they react to everything else American made:

THEY WENT COMPLETELY FUCKING NUTS!

But not only that, they commissioned renowned manga artist Jiro Kuwata – who many manga and anime fans might know from his work on 8-Man – to do officially licensed manga comics for their monthly magazine. What resulted, was a bizarre hybrid of Adam West camp and 1960s Japanese atomic scare sci-fi.

Ya know, the same sci-fi that created Godzilla and Gigantor.

The fragments that survived were gathered, translated, and collected by Chip Kidd; and introduced to the rest of the world after over 40 years of obscurity. Much like Japan fell in love with Batman, Bat-Fans fell in love with their off-the-wall adaptation. So much so, even Grant Morrison decided to use the real star of the show in his Batman Inc. run (who I’ll cover in the final part of this series).

Sadly, time had not been kind to these masterpieces, leaving us to wonder and speculate about other adventures and who else we would recognize appearing. Perhaps someday, more will be found. But for now, all we have is what’s here.

Like this lost adventure: Batman vs. The Black Skeleton Gang and HOLY SHIT THIS IS AWESOME!

 So the first villain of this very interesting rouges gallery, got two four part stories. Rather any of the others had any more adventures remains to be seen. I’m sure you’re all as surprised as I am to see a story featuring Clayface of all people, and NOT involve naughty tentacles. But I digress. The fun is only beginning. (Especially since one colorized cover makes him look more like Shit-face.)

I believe this sums it up nicely.

The Terrible Clayface Encounter: Parts 1 – 4:

We open with escaped convict Ferris on the run from the law. Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson get a call on the Bat Phone telling of his escape (which oddly calls him the Ferris Gang but it’s only one person.) They go on patrol, and Robin suggests they check out the nearby caves to see if he’s hiding in there. Batman agrees and the first cave they check just happens to have Ferris in it.

No naughty tentacles. I’m impressed Mr. Kuwata.

Not wanting to get caught, Ferris dives into a puddle of glittering water. Batman and Robin overlook his hiding spot and leave. Ferris emerges thinking he’s home free, but discovers to his horror he’s melting. He wonders if he’ll ever be human again and takes his normal form, learning that if he thinks of something he can become it. So he becomes a bird and takes off to enact his next crime.

What a world! What a world!

Later, we see a hapless security guard with a note taped to his back from Ferris, threatening to blow up the bank. Batman arrives to save the day and evacuates the bank to look for the bomb. As the people watch in suspense, Batman emerges with the bag containing the bomb and announces he’s going to dispose of it properly.

Some days you just can’t pretend to get rid of a bomb!

Everything seems fine until another Batman shows up! The two face off and we see that the bomb was a lie and it was really the money in the bag. Now, here’s how you show someone’s intelligence properly, not just yanking it out the ass when needed (looking at you Bane).

Ferris turns into a giant preying mantis, which Batman quickly dispatches, forcing him to turn into a pterodactyl and fly away with the money.

Not pictured: Cave Johnson

Later we meet Mrs. Banda, an eccentric millionaire with a taste for fine art. Her butler announces the arrival of an anonymous statue for her Million Dollar Room. At first, she refuses to display an unknown in her room, but then she see’s it. The Messenger of Evil captures her eye so much she decides to display it anyway.

You got to admit this is cool. Almost looks like Devilman, who replaced Batman as a boss in that highly controversial Shinobi game.

Dick sees an announcement about it in the paper, and convinces Bruce to check it out, given the events that happened. Bruce agrees, and they head out just in time. Mrs. Banda goes to check up on her new statue before bed, only to get the fright of her life when it starts moving. With her fainted on the floor, Ferris declares he’ll clean out the room by morning.

Batman and Robin bust in and lock the door. Another fight ensues where Ferris can somehow breathe fire, and Robin manages to rope him long enough for Batman to land a flying kick. Ferris melts from the ropes and takes the form of a giant drill to break out. Robin grabs him but gets tossed off. Ferris sees an open window and becomes a pterodactyl again to escape.

To his dismay, he learns the powers are only temporary. His human form falls from the sky and he quickly flees back towards the caves for more of the ‘bioplasam’. Batman sticks a tracker on him and follow to the cave. Before Ferris can dive in, Batman ropes him once more and they both fall into the pool.

Robin watches in stunned horror as Ferris emerges as a giant dinosaur ready to eat him. But a giant Batarang emerges and slaps some sense into him. Robin is shocked to see said Batarang turn back into Batman.

Turns out spaceships and alien worlds are only part of Batman’s bizarre psyche.

Ferris tries the pterodactyl trick one more time, only for Batman to score a hit with a tranquilizer dart. Unable to concentrate, he reverts to human form. Batman and Robin take him to the prison hospital, where he’s kept under for three days to ensure the bioplasam has wore off entirely. Then they blow up the cave to prevent anymore misuse.

Revenge of Clayface: Parts 2 and 3:

Sadly, this one is incomplete. We learn that Professor Zone had a sample of bioplasam in his lab, which Ferris stole, blowing up the lab and apparently killing the professor. Batman tries to rope him again, like an idiot, only for Clayface to become a giant top trying to toss Batman off. Batman finds an opening and lands in the water to break his fall.

Ferris becomes a pegasus and flies off, forcing Batman to vigilantly search each and every day and never let up. After a week of finding nothing, Batman finally collapses from exhaustion, and Robin volunteers to take over.

Dare I say that Batman’s gotten… 20% COOLER!

Getting some well earned R&R at the Parro Club, Bruce catches up with his friend Phipps and meets the new member Colt. Phipps mentions a new Rembrandt painting in his collection and invites Bruce to be the first to see it. Bruce checks up on Robin, then pays a visit later that night.

Phipps asks for a rain check on the account of a toothache. Bruce smells bullshit, as Phipps wears dentures. Batman hides in the bushes and catches Phipps in the act of stealing the painting. Clayface turns into a Ghost Bat and dodges another tranquilizer dart. Not falling for the same trick twice, he becomes a giant beetle to protect himself and grabs Batman in his pincers to drop him from the sky.

Grant Morrison should’ve used this instead of the Silver Age. Would explain a lot.

Batman uses his cape as a parachute and Robin pulls up saying he was worried about Batman not answering his radio. They rescue Phipps and then retreat to the cave to ponder a means of stopping Clayface for good. A call from Gordon informs them three more victims of art theft have been found, all members of the Parro Club. Batman deduces Colt to be Clayface and pays him a visit.

There they find Colt bound and gagged, and he tells them Clayface just fled. Batman and Robin give chase only for us to learn Colt IS Clayface and he becomes a giant snake to head them off and keep the act going.

“Holy compensating, Batman!”

This adventure ends with him burrowing into the ground and taunting the dynamic duo.

Believe it or not, this is the LEAST bizarre of the villains to come. The stories already show a degree of theatrics not seen in American comics, mainly because being serialized gives them more room to stretch. One can only imagine how some of the other iconic foes would have appeared in this series.