ビリーバット 14 [Birii Batto 14]

Billy Bat #14

by Naoki Urasawa, 浦沢直樹, Takashi Nagasaki

Kevin Goodman et le vrai Chuck Culkin, avec l'aide d'Audrey, ont décidé de renverser l'imposteur à la tête de Chuck Culkin Entreprise et de remettre l'authentique “Billy Bat” sur le devant de la scène. La parution d'une première aventure enthousiasme aussitôt le public, mais Kevin est en lutte avec son scénario : il ne parvient pas à empêcher un sinistre personnage de se rendre sur la Lune… et si par malheur ce funeste bonhomme va jusqu'au bout de son voyage, la Terre est perdue !

Genres: Manga, Mystery, Seinen, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Historical Fiction

198 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2014

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.]

A Brief and Timeless Peek at the End of Times

This time, we learn more about the personal history of the pseudo Chuck Culkin, who seems to have been commissionned to spread the bat throughout the world by a certain leader of Nazi Germany. There is a positively haunting image I can't find anywhere on the web, so I'll do my best describing it there. Imagine dead bodies lying by the score on the scorched earth of a desert. Standing in the middle of these human mounds, the oddly familiar figure of Billy Bat, eyes half-closed, a puzzling expression on his face. Is it melancholy? Silent glee? Is Billy Bat looking down on fallen humanity with contempt? In any case, I find it nothing short of bewildering and I had to take a good, long look at it before I could consider turning the page. This is also a masterful piece of foreshadowing, mirrored by the actual ending of the manga series, and yet revealing nothing positive thanks to its profound ambiguity.

Otherwise, Kevin Goodman and the genuine Chuck Culkin team up to issue their own, Kevin Yamagata-style Billy Bat, against the will of Chuck Culkin Enterprises, the pseudo Chuck. At the same time, Kurusu takes off from Baikonur, in order to reach the moon and tell his deepest wish to the original bat geoglyph... Will he carry off his initial plan?

Again, the fundamental question of mankind's essential freedom in put, with great vigour: is the bat in charge?

Concluding Soundtrack


See also:
2001: A Space Odyssey
I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft, Volume 1
I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft, Volume 2

[Vittorio Rainone]

Urasawa ha tessuto talmente bene le fila della storia fin qui, che il racconto pare continuare da solo, senza sussulti, ma con costanti e piccole variazioni sul tema. Se in questo numero si pensava a un climax, nulla di tutto questo, nonostante di fatto si tratti (a meno di successivi colpi di scena) del compimento del percorso di Kurusu, mai graziato con il dono della creatività, ma deciso ugualmente a farsi parlare dal pipistrello. L'uomo finisce sulla Luna, dopo un addestramento durissimo, e si ritrova a fronteggiare il pipistrello, ma Kevin Goodman riesce, solo disegnando, a cambiare il suo incontro con l'entità e a evitare la fine del mondo. Rimane la sensazione, comunque, che il momento apicale si sia troppo sgonfiato.

[Ibbo]

La terra è bellissima da quassù.

[Aalyaa]

The story of this man was good. I think when this disappointing manga mentioned to me, I'll always remember his story

I just wanted to tell my father that earth looks magnificent from here

[Keziahhh]

The truth of the beginning! Great start (as always). But the ending was very underwhelming. Why didn’t Billy bat told any of the cartoonist before that Kurusu could end the world by going to the moon. I mean the bat is vile but it’s clear that it doesn’t want the world to end.
Also one thing I couldn’t understand is that, can the mangaka alter the events by drawing differently?! If so why wasn’t it done before? Maybe I’ll get my answers in the next volume.

[Jacek]

Hmm. Billy Bat's first anticlimax. I'm sure the awful fan translation helped me register the disappointment more strongly, but the blame does seem to lie with Urasawa and Nagasaki. A great idea, set up long ago... delivered flat.

The idea of being an old, sick man wishing the whole world will die when you die is unfortunately relevant in March 2022.

[stanley snyder]

this made me realize that Kurusu in the end wasn't that evil at all, man he just wanted to go to the moon and see the bat, and when he saw he, he realized that the shitty life he had was the bat's fault. All this time he was protecting Kevin Yamagata to not go to the moon?? That was a good revelation. I'm loving this series soo much, bro. The end was so sweet it made my heart mealt

[Ignacio]

¡Ey! ¡Explicaciones! Descubrir el tema de la luna y el origen de los dos Billy Bat, unido a la pequeña recapitulación de misterios medio entrevistoresueltos, le dan una estrella extra. Urasawa, tener un guionista a tu lado te está viniendo bien.

[Solim]

I think everyone has a reason to travel back in time for. Some people more than others but all people have a reason to not do it that counter all their reasons for wanting to. Great volume as always!

[John Lemonsmith]

Only in a rare case can a writer make the readers sympathise with the antagonist/villain.
And this is one.
Kurusu (Curse), one of the antagonist of this series, got his beautiful conclusion in this chapter.

[Chris]

Good. But what happens now?

[Kay]

Lo mucho que mejoraría si no tuviera este enfoque pro-capitalism tan random e incoherente.

[Dr. Tosetto]

Numero magnifico. Pieno di suspence e commozione

[Riley Hoover]

*4.5

[Nitin Kishore Sai]

Absolutely phenomenal 👏🏻🦇

[Íñigo Carrasco]

🤯🤯🤯

[OriginalTTT]

Das kann man ja gar nicht aus der Hand legen. So ein krasser Lesefluss. Und eigentlich muss direkt der nächste Band her!

[Eliasxch]

je suis toujours en deuil de Kevin depuis 4 tomes

[Alenna Rucoba]

me encanta que el equivalente a Mickey mouse torture psicologicamente al equivalente a Walt Disney por 20 tomos.

[Nadine K]

I liked this one :)

[Milenrrama]

No me esperaba para nada este girito con Kusuru. Ha estado omnipresente durante 13 tomos y hasta ahora no hemos sabido cuáles eran sus motivaciones ni objetivos. Creo que le han dado un cierre muy ¿bonito?