Billy Bat 18

Billy Bat #18

by Naoki Urasawa, Takashi Nagasaki

Le ombre del passato o la luce della speranza... Cosa dona spessore alle tavole disegnate da Timmy Sanada? E, cosa ancora più importante, il nuovo autore di Billy Bat riesce davvero a vedere il “Pipistrello”? Di certo, il misterioso nippo-americano ha raccolto nelle sue mani l’eredità di Chuck Culkin. Intanto, Kevin Goodman è partito alla ricerca del suo maestro...

Genres: Manga, Seinen, Mystery, Comics, Graphic Novels, Drama, Comics Manga

Kindle Edition

First published December 22, 2015

About the author

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

Reviews

[P.E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Power Struggle


"In our times, it is no longer the nations that have the power, but the firms."

There is no doubting Timmy's ambitions for Culkin Enterprises now, passed down to him by the pseudo Chuck Culkin on his deathbed.

Audrey's days in Culkin Enterprises are over. Under Timmy's chairmanship, Culkin Enterprises expands rapidly, opening new amusement parks in China and Russia in 2015. Meanwhile, Kevin Goodman travels throughout the world, looking for his mentor Kevin Yamagata. After researches in Basque Country, finding clues left by agent Smith and and He discovers the barbarity at work in certain regions of the middle east, forbidding the mere use of Billy Bat's image under penalty of maiming and dismemberment. Old Kevin Yamagata is subjected to this treatment after defending a young boy. Can he survive at such a venerable age?

As we are nearing the end of this 20-tome series, time turns absolutely wild and dozens of years pass in the blink of an eye. That's why this sountrack comes to mind, naturally.


See also:
Immortality Game

[Berna Labourdette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Urasawa Naoki es un genio. Y Billy Bat es una genialidad que siempre me sorprende. Una discusión sobre el poder del arte en anticipar el futuro, sobre el rol de las historietas, el consumo y el poder en una historia donde todos los personajes son títeres de un murciélago en su esfuerzo por salvar a la humanidad de sí misma. Así de raro como suena, es una maravilla de historieta. Denle una oportunidad (igualmente a Monster Tom 1 y 20th Century Boys, Band 1 y Master Keaton, Vol. 1 y PLUTO: Naoki Urasawa x Ozamu Tezuka, Band 001 y ...)

[Alessandro Cucchi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sempre più curioso di leggere gli ultimi due volumi

[Ignacio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una pieza más del puzzle, esta vez entre el País Vasco y Navarra, mientras continúa la batalla de los diferentes Billies por modelar el presente. Vuelve al primerísimo plano la fuerza de la ficción como motor de cambio de la realidad, esta vez contrapuesta a un poder económico como palanca del poder político. Ganas de ver cómo se cierra todo en las próximas 400 páginas.

[Ibbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kevin è morto, lunga vita a Kevin

[stanley snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was really perfect.
in the beginning we see Timmy Sanada meeting his dad Chuck Culkin and he asks the little Timmy if he can see the bat, honestly we don't know yet, since in the previous volumes Jackie told Kevin Goodman that he's a liar, since he can't see the bat. The story goes on, Timmy Sanada became the president of the Culkin Entreprises, so Audrie isn't anymore. Even her she says that his drawings don't shine, like Henry charles devivie did while seeing for the first time his drawings; while we have Kevin Goodman traveling around the world to meet Kevin Yamagata, to find him. Suddenly the story goes back to 2002 when Kevin, Jackie, Yamashita and Maggie go to Spain, to find out the truth about the bat and there are too Morenhouse and his coworkers too. The Kevin's group stays in that house in front of the beach were Smith stayed. The second one goes to the cave to find out as well the truth about the bat, only finding out walls covered in old prehistoric designs about Billy Bat. The story goes back in 2015 after 13 years where Timmy met Morenhouse in hospital. Zofu made his comeback, it was sick. We see Audrie, wanting to publish not in a digital way but in paper Billy Bat's works but no one does, so she finds out the last Yamagata work "Fuji Pontaro" and proposes to the Fujiyama publishing house to publish only Yamagata and Goodman works the "true bat"
The real Chuck Culkin wanting to meet Kevin Yamagata again before he dies was so heartbreaking 😭

[Vicenç Sanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Qué poquito queda para terminar éste manga y qué poco lo parece. El autor disfruta muchísimo jugando con las líneas temporales (desde siempre), y nos da un nuevo salto hacia delante, en ésta ocasión el que recibe es el año 2015, nueva línea temporal.

Poquito a poquito la trama va derivando. Sí, sigue estando el misterio del murciélago y la búsqueda de Kevin Yamagata (al que veremos ya bastante anciano); pero se añade la presencia de Timmy como alguien taimado y capacitado para dominar el mundo con su gran compañía.

La trama de la hija de Culkin también me gusta, harta de fracasar en todo lo que se propone y dispuesta a reeditar las obras antiguas de Billy.

Me gusta, disfruto mucho cada capítulo, la búsqueda, la intriga… pero no hay que pensar nunca en hacia dónde va porque es imposible adivinarlo. Y menos cómo encajan todas las piezas que nos ha ido dando el comic hasta aquí.

Misterio, emoción, búsqueda, aparición de viejos personajes, cambios en otros… y todo en unos capítulos que por sí mismos funcionan estupendamente. Veremos cómo funciona la obra completa, que es el gran miedo que tengo con Billy Bat.

[Gavi Figueroa · Rating 4 out of 5]

De las obras de Urasawa la que menos me gusta y aún así, una obra interesante y sentimental.
Mentiría si no dijera que lloré con muchas escenas y personajes.

La leí por primera vez hace seis años, esta segunda vuelta me ha sabido igual. Algo que no me pasa con sus demás obras.

Reseña completa para más tarde

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. Color me shocked that Zofu is still alive, I suppose he always has been very robust but he’s gotta be at least in his mid 90s by now (assuming he’s not dead from hand loss). I really like Chuck ( real Chuck) still feeling the need to apologize to Kevin as well. Only 2 volumes left and yet I’m still interested in where it’s going and how it’s going to wrap up.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am I going to learn my future soon from this series?

[Solim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is the master dead? Is it reincarnation? How will this end?

[eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[John Lemonsmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only two volumes left.
Everything seems like "Castles Built of Sands" in this volume.
I don't know what's going to happen in less than 14 chapters before the story concludes.

[Íñigo Carrasco · Rating 4 out of 5]

sorpresa?

[Emi gosto ruim · Rating 5 out of 5]

KEVINNNNNNNNNN

[Princess Keziah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kevin Yamagata was dead, then alive, now dead again. Just please bring back Kevin!!!

[Alenna Rucoba · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have no clue wtf is going on

[Untitled · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comme d'habitude je l'ai dévoré d'un coup et ça m'a plu. Enfin, peut-être que ça m'a plus moins qu'avant mais c'est normal, ça faisait longtemps que je n'avais pas lu de Billy Bat même si je me souvenais bien de l'histoire. J'ai aussi moins aimé ce qui se passais dans ce livre mais c'est normal, plus on avance dans une série et souvent moins elle me plaît. C'est bien que les personnages changent mais pour les révélations sur Timmy et la déchéance d'Audrey c'était bizarre car d'un côté c'était surprenant et de l'autre ça ne m'a rien fait, même si je l'ai dévoré d'une traite, je n'ai pas été accrochée au livre comme cela avait pu m'arriver précédemment.
Donc un bilan en demi-teinte pour ce tome. En même temps c'est peut-être juste moi. Peut-être que je n'accroche plus autant à ce type de manga.

[Alena Sedlakova · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustration on this a book is very poetic. I like illustrations for childrens. I am writing about many pictures with The White Snov, Today. I have no got this a book, but I see very interested composition every motives. Light, colours, and every figure - very styled and very independent a picture. Thank you, and I wish more imagines! alena

[Viedefun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toujours aussi bien ! J'adore ce manga !

[Milenrrama · Rating 5 out of 5]

Necesito que el autor deje de hacerme creer que ya va a cerrar tramas y deje de abrir nuevos melones xD