Monster Creator Returns With an Exciting New Release This Year

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Naoki Urasawa is a highly acclaimed manga artist celebrated for his beautiful artwork and compelling stories. Though he’s created over a dozen titles, he’s most famous for Monster, a manga from 1994. He continues to be a popular creator, captivating readers with each new story. Following the success of Monster, Urasawa surprised fans again with 20th Century Boys, a particularly intricate and suspenseful mystery. However, some of his work hasn’t received as much recognition, often because it isn’t widely available internationally or hasn’t been adapted into an anime. Billy Bat, a 2008 manga by Urasawa, is a good example of a title that hasn’t reached the same level of fame as Monster and 20th Century Boys.

Takashi Nagasaki, who produced the anime series Pluto based on Naoki Urasawa’s work, also helped create the story for Billy Bat. This incredible manga series was largely unknown to international fans for nearly 20 years because it wasn’t available in English. Fortunately, Abrams ComicArts has announced that the first volume will be released in English on June 2nd, 2026. The publisher intends to release four volumes each year, meaning fans will be able to read the complete series relatively quickly. Anime News Network shared this news and also provided a sneak peek at the English translation.

What Is Billy Bat About?

This manga ran in Kodansha’s Morning magazine from 2008 to 2016 and was collected into 20 volumes. With the tenth anniversary of the series ending this year, this new development is particularly exciting. Although it will take five years for all the English translations to come out, Billy Bat now has a real opportunity to reach a wider international audience instead of remaining popular with just a small group of fans.

In 1949, Japanese-American comic artist Kevin Yamagata finds himself in trouble after realizing a key character in his popular ‘Billy Bat’ series was unintentionally based on an existing design from Japan. He travels back to Japan hoping to get permission from the original creator, but quickly becomes caught up in a dangerous mystery involving murder and hidden secrets – all connected to the image of a bat that inspired his work.

I’ve been following this incredible comic, and it’s fascinating how what started as a lighthearted story about a bat-themed character has unexpectedly begun to feel like a prediction of things to come – though the creator himself seems completely unaware! The main character, Kevin, is starting to piece things together, uncovering a mystery that stretches back thousands of years. What’s really striking is how well it blends suspense and mystery across different time periods. It’s no surprise the series has gotten recognition; it actually won the Lucca Comics Award for Best Series in 2012, and then the Max & Moritz Prize for Best International Comic in 2014.

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2026-06-13 04:10