Billy Bat

""Do you want to be this country's hero?""

A manga series by Naoki Urasawa, the man behind Monster, Twentieth Century Boys, and Pluto.

Kevin Yamagata was born to Japanese immigrants in California in the 1920s, and during World War II he worked with allied forces in Japan as an interpreter. After the war he became a comic book writer, and by 1949 his series Billy Bat, about a private detective in a world populated by animals, is a huge hit whose popularity rivals the biggest titles of DC Comics. His comfortable life comes crashing down when the police use his apartment for a stakeout, and one of them notes that his work is very similar to a Japanese manga. Kevin is horrified that he may have subconsciously plagiarized a work he saw while in Japan, and promptly stops work on the comic to go back and investigate.

Post-war Japan isn't the easiest place to conduct his search, with soldiers everywhere and many locals forced into poverty. To get anywhere he has to sign back up with the American forces and wear a uniform, which naturally makes people less likely to talk to him. However, these are the least of his problems when he tracks down the source of the Billy Bat image, and learns that it's the calling card of an Ancient Conspiracy who aren't very happy that he's been poking around about them.

After that, the story really takes off as it careens around time to show how the Billy Bat image has influenced events throughout history. There's clearly far more going on here than just the conspiracy, but in Urasawa's typical style whatever it all may mean remains incredibly murky.

Tropes used in Billy Bat:
": Mission accomplished."
 * Adaptation Decay: In-universe. Some of the people in the conspiracy express that Chuck Culkin's Billy Bat is nowhere near quality-wise to Kevin's.
 * The Aloner:
 * Alternate Universe: As if time manipulation by a cartoon bat wasn't enough!
 * Ancient Conspiracy
 * Anti-Hero -
 * Art Shift - from Kevin's Funny Animal comic to the "real" manga.
 * Ascended Extra - Diane and Tony Goodman, the black bride and the white groom, get not only fleshed out later on, but become important characters later in the series,
 * Badass Decay
 * Billy Bat goes from a tough noir detective to an expy of Mickey Mouse within 10 years, and to top it off no one remembers the original artist.
 * No one remembers the original art work either. When someone starts publishing new BB comics in the original style the boss at Billy Bat World hates how sinister Billy looks.
 * Badass Grandpa - Yajirou
 * Beethoven Was an Alien Spy - Those confirmed to have been influenced and guided by the Bat are:.
 * Biblical Motifs - An entire arc's worth.
 * Big Bad - So far, Agent Finney and Kurusu from EAI seem to fill the role, also it is implied that General Walker, are part of the same circle. Should be noted, due to his ambivalent nature, that there are times when the same could be said of the Bat himself.
 * Big Damn Hero -
 * Big Fancy House: The Goodmans seem to be doing all right.
 * Brick Joke - The Momochi clan seems to be intrinsically tied to the Bat
 * But Not Too Foreign - Kevin is a Nisei (second-generation) Japanese-American.
 * Captain Ersatz:
 * Billy Bat is one to Mickey Mouse.
 * Chuck Culkin is one to Walt Disney.
 * is one to Ub Iwerks.
 * Zofuu-sensei could be one, with beret and all, to Osamu Tezuka, who however is mentioned in-story as being a huge influence in manga.
 * Mitsuru Yamazaki for Minoru Yamasaki, the guy responsible for designing the WTC Towers.
 * Henry Charles Devivie might be one to Esmond Cardon Walker, the man behind Tokyo Disneyland.
 * CIA Evil, FBI Good - Inverted, Captain Finney works for GHQ (The Military) and Agent Smith works for the CIA.
 * Companion Cube - The taxi driver (Mr. Momochi) 's Billy Bat toy, who's his "navigator".
 * The Conspiracy - Everywhere. With a heavy dose of Mind Screws and Historical In Jokes.
 * Could Have Avoided This Plot -
 * Cowardly Lion - Kanbei.
 * Dark Is Not Evil/Light Is Not Good - It's vaguely implied that the white (unfilled) drawing of The Bat is evil while the black (filled-in) one is good. or is it the other way around?.
 * Decoy Protagonist - Where is Kevin, anyway?
 * Dirty Communists - The series starts at the beginning of the Red Scare, and several conspirators are supposedly commies in Japan.
 * Dodge the Bullet:
 * Doomed By Canon -
 * Drowning My Sorrows - Kevin, who has become an Alcoholic to stop seeing the Bat.
 * Expy:
 * Zofuu-sensei looks like the assassin from Twentieth Century Boys.
 * The dog-wife from Chapter 1 has similar eyes and facial expressions to Eva Heinemann. So does Diane, the black bride.
 * Billy himself becomes one of Mickey Mouse.
 * Kevin is a dead-ringer for Sahad, Agent Smith for Gesicht, and for Professor Hoffman, all from Pluto.
 * Jackie Momochi is a less ditzy Kyoko Koizumi. They even end up having to do their class reports through similar misunderstandings.
 * Chuck Culkin's relationship with.
 * The two detectives from the first chapter look a bit like Laurel and Hardy.
 * Akechi, the Japanese effects director hired by  seems to be a combination of Akira Kurosawa and Stanley Kubrick -- all three are obsessive over the tiniest details including  . He also directed a "Gazura" movie.
 * Faux Affably Evil -.
 * Facial Profiling - Invoked when two American agents walk around in Tokyo and wonder where all the yellow-skinned, buck-toothed, geta-wearing, bespectacled people have gone.
 * Flash Forward - And back again.
 * Frame-Up -
 * Friend On the Force - Agent Smith for Kevin.
 * General Ripper - It is implied Retired General Walker is this.
 * Go Out with a Smile -
 * Flash Forward - And back again.
 * Frame-Up -
 * Friend On the Force - Agent Smith for Kevin.
 * General Ripper - It is implied Retired General Walker is this.
 * Go Out with a Smile -

" : I'm not a communist! I'm just a Marxist!"
 * Gotta Catch Em All:
 * Government Conspiracy:
 * Grandfather Paradox:
 * Green Lantern Ring -
 * Harsher in Hindsight - Intentional within the Billy Bat comics, since they're predicting the future: The boss at Billy Bat World and his friend wonder if "a sexy, Marilyn Monroe-ish-thing" in a comic that's clearly about John F Kennedy is going to be killed by a Government Conspiracy.
 * Heel Face Turn -
 * Heroic BSOD -
 * He Knows Too Much - The reason why
 * Historical Fiction - Sort of.
 * Historical Hero Upgrade -
 * Historical In-Joke - This may as well be called Historical In Joke - The Series. So far, the Bat has either had influence on, or predicted, and . At one point, it predicted
 * Don't forget when talking to Kanbei the Bat starts talking about . The Bat sure gets around.
 * Kevin.
 * And Zofuu-sensei basically describing what a Meme basically is (In Universe) and how it pertains Human Evolution, many years before Richard Dawkins even coined the phrase.
 * Homage - Chapter 32 is based on Bad Day At Black Rock.
 * Hooker With a Heart of Gold -
 * Identical Grandson - Momochi Sandayu looks exactly like his descendant, Randy Momochi.
 * I Just Want to Be Special -.
 * Insistent Terminology


 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja
 * It Will Never Catch On - "Who's gonna read a comic that isn't for kids?"
 * I Will Definitely Protect You -.
 * Jedi Truth - The Bat will employ this at times.
 * Jesus Taboo - Averted.
 * Jigsaw Puzzle Plot - After spending some time with Kevin, the story suddenly starts wildly moving through many different time periods to show all the people the bat image has influenced.
 * Lawyer-Friendly Cameo - Kevin works for Marble Comics and by The Fifties Billy has his own theme park in Florida.
 * MacGuffin - The Ninja Scroll (no, not that one). -
 * Man Behind the Man -
 * Manipulative Bastard - the Bat and whoever is/trying to control it.
 * Mind Screw - It's Urasawa, what do you expect? Examples include:
 * Mr. Alt Disney - Chuck Culkin who took over Billy Bat when Kevin left.
 * Mushroom Samba - Kevin is sent on one thanks to some drugged sake, where he imagines Billy Bat and some of his other characters talking to him. Now, he doesn't need to drugs to have the bat talk to him.
 * Named After Somebody Famous - In-universe. Tony Goodman explains he named his kid Kevin after Kevin Yamagata.
 * Never Found the Body -
 * Non-Indicative First Chapter
 * Non Linear Story - It jumps back and forth between different eras and locations, including the US in the 40's, 50's and 60's, Feudal Japan, Modern Day Japan, and Judea in biblical times.
 * Passing the Torch -.
 * Pet the Dog -
 * Powers That Be - refers to itself as "The Administrator of the Human Race".
 * Private Detective - Billy Bat is one of these
 * Private Eye Monologue - in the first chapter
 * Reality Warper - The bat allows people to either predict the future or change it, (apparently).
 * Red Herring:
 * Anyone would think
 * Reused Character Design - Several characters in Billy Bat have an uncanny resemblance to characters in other Naoki Urasawa's works.
 * Room Full of Crazy -
 * Sacrificial Lamb -
 * Sacrificial Lion -.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses - Kurusu
 * Sealed Evil in A Can -
 * Shout-Out - Everywhere, what did you expect in a Urasawa manga?
 * Billy Bat(son) is the alter-ego of DC's Captain Marvel
 * In the original comics, Billy Bat is a private eye, clearly evoking Sam Spade of the Maltese Falcon who eventually becomes an inspiration for Dick Tracy. The 'real' segments with Kevin start off with every indication that this is Urasawa's Cavalier and Clay, then the mind screw happens.
 * Sometimes Billy's manifestations look a lot like Batman's classic symbol.
 * "The rabbit's name is Oswald." (although he looks more like Bugs Bunny) He's being groomed to be JFK's assassin.
 * Chapter 52 features a shout-out to "The Freewheeling Bob Dylan" album.
 * Chapter 60 has Seven Days in May, not to mention that the current mini-arc is the JFK assassination!
 * Show Within a Show - The Billy Bat comic book inside the manga. When someone reads it you can see that it reads from left to right, like a comic book should.
 * Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace - The black bride's white groom's family can't keep quiet.
 * Species Surname - Billy Bat is, well, a bat.
 * Spirit Advisor - The Bat, as those who would be "carriers" see him while others do not.
 * Taking the Bullet -
 * The Tape Knew You Would Say That - While Kevin is reading a letter from Agent Smith by the window, the last line is "PS. Don't stand so close to the window."
 * There Are Two Kinds Of People In This Town - Billy's opening monologue in the very first page of the (real and in-story) manga.
 * Time Machine -
 * Time Skip - From the late forties to the early fifties to Biblical times to the Warring States Era to the sixties, to JFK's assassination to 10 months later.
 * Timey-Wimey Ball -
 * Town With a Dark Secret - See Homage.
 * Trickster - The Bat, probably. Wasn't there two of them?
 * Now there's at least three of 'em.
 * True Companions - Ken-chan and pals.
 * Unwitting Pawn -
 * Villain Protagonist -
 * Visual Effects of Awesome: The "Gazura" movie is so amazing even  is impressed.
 * We Can Rule Together -
 * Yank the Dog's Chain -
 * Your Days Are Numbered -
 * You Shall Not Pass --
 * Unwitting Pawn -
 * Villain Protagonist -
 * Visual Effects of Awesome: The "Gazura" movie is so amazing even  is impressed.
 * We Can Rule Together -
 * Yank the Dog's Chain -
 * Your Days Are Numbered -
 * You Shall Not Pass --
 * You Shall Not Pass --