Golden Bat Turns 90

Ahoy Captain Cats here and today we are going to look at a very important hero that turns 90 and that hero is Golden Bat.

Golden Bat or Ogon Bat in Japan was created by Suzuki Ichiro and Takeo Nagamatsu back in 1931 and was introduced to Japan via Kamishibai or paper theater and to many people was the very first superhero in the world. If you are wondering if this is true here are some dates that will say otherwise:

1931 – Golden Bat debut
1938 – Superman debut
1939 – Batman debut
1939 – Human Torch debut
1939 – Sub-Mariner debut
1939 – Angel debut
1941 – Wonder Woman

So as you can see he predates both Marvel and DC Comics by almost seven years! The name came from a cigarette brand that was popular back in 1931 and was so popular that the character survive the decline of paper theater after WWII and was later Golden Bat paper theater stories were adapted into a manga and even the great Osamu Tezuka created a Golden Bat manga and later a live-action film and anime series.

Golden Bat look is simple yet oddly classy at the same time, he is a golden skeleton who wears a Dracula cape and has a walking cane as a weapon. When he fights the monsters that Dr. Erich Nazo sends out he laughs at them and fights them with easy. He has almost all the powers that Superman has and more.

In 1966 Toei released a Golden Bat film with Sonny Chiba starring in it and later in 1967 Daichi Doga release the Golden Bat anime series that ran from April of 1967 till March of 1968 with a total of 52 episodes. Golden Bat was so famous in Asia that South Korea made a knockoff of Golden Bat and that was so popular that it got a knockoff series as well.

Sadly Golden Bat hasn’t been seen in any new form of media since 1968, but his stories are still being told to this day in Japan via paper theater and I hope in Japan they do some kind of announcement for his 90th anniversary.