Author, designer and comic collector Chip Kidd has crafted one of the coolest careers in the world.

As associate art director at publishing house Alfred A. Knopf, Kidd designs book covers for authors both big and indie; as a writer, he worked with Dave Gibbons and Mike Essl to create the amazing Watching the Watchmen art book that documents the creation of the groundbreaking Watchmen comics.

For his own recently released brain-candy compilation, Bat-Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan, the 44-year-old comic-book historian delved into the Dark Knight's long-lost Asian adventures of the '60s at the hands of manga artist Jiro Kuwata. A loving exploration of a little-known cul-de-sac on the edge of the Batman universe, Bat-Manga became one of the coolest comics-related books of 2008.

If that's not enough rock-star comic cred, Kidd's even got his own band, Artbreak, with an in-the-works debut recording called Wonderground that's aptly described by Kidd and his bandmate Mars Trillion as "Bowie crashing The Cars into Joy Division going 300 mph at 4 a.m. on Abbey Road."

Wired.com caught up with Kidd for a quick e-mail chat about Bat-Manga, The Dark Knight, Watchmen and why Kuwata's Japanese-style Dynamic Duo is just too good to be true.

Wired.com: How did Bat-Manga come about? How familiar were you with Jiro Kuwata's work before the project?

Chip Kidd: I was actually exposed to Kuwata's work as a child, because our local Philadelphia cable affiliate used to show all the great Japanese import kids shows, which definitely included the 8 Man cartoons in addition to Astroboy, Marine Boy, Ultraman, Johnny Socko and Goldar. I love all that stuff, and this book is obviously a testament to that. I just couldn't have imagined at the time that Batman could have part of that milieu too. It would have just seemed too good to be true.

Wired.com: Why was Kuwata's Batman shelved in the '60s?

Kidd: I don't know for sure, but I would guess the stories were shut down because they didn't provide a lasting fascination for their audience. The TV show itself didn't either, when you think about it.

Wired.com: Did it have anything to do with Kuwata's history of depression?

Kidd: I've only read bits and pieces about that, and couldn't reputably comment on it. At 72, he seems to be doing alright, although I would imagine that many years of smoking have taken their toll.

Wired.com: Kuwata crafted one of the first cyborg heroes in 8 Man, and now Batman has become a cyborg himself, striking out from a body-armored batsuit that is nearly sentient. Does this book reinsert a missing chapter of Batman's East-West bleed?

Kidd: Most definitely. I think this book actually, finally, shows how that ball got rolling. It's just that this particular ball also disappeared very, very quickly.

Wired.com: Were you surprised by the amount of material you uncovered?

Kidd: I was amazed at how much material there was. I went into this project frankly worried that there wouldn't be enough for a substantial book, and came out of it begging Pantheon for an extra 32 pages, which was over what we had budgeted, just to do it all justice. The fact is that

Bat-Manga is 352 pages and represents less than half of what Kuwata produced, in one year. I don't know how many assistants he had, but regardless, that is an unbelievable output. Even so, in the grand scheme of things, Kuwata's Batman work is considered but a blip in his career, which spanned something like 50-plus years.

Wired.com: Some pages of the comics you spotlight are aged and yellowed. Was there a specific plan to avoid digital retouching, to keep time's passage part of the lore?

Kidd: I wanted, as with my Peanuts book, to replicate the experience of actually paging through these copies of the comics as closely as possible. I replaced the dialogue with English and that was it. Any other approach would have been dishonest.

Wired.com: Speaking of major material, you're a collector. Tell us about your killer apartment. What are some of your prized possessions?

Kidd: God, that's a loaded question! I'd have to say that the things that mean the most to me are the examples of original comic art that I'm able to look at every day, most of them either by notable friends and/or for projects that I've worked on.

Wired.com: Any thoughts on the blockbuster commodification of Batman these days? Has that franchise been turned around, or does it not matter?

Kidd: The Batman film franchise has obviously been turned around, quite capably, and it certainly does matter, at least to Warner Bros.! I do think they've found themselves painted into a corner, both by their own ambition and tragic circumstance. But I join the rest of global geekdom in eagerly awaiting to see how they're going to top The Dark Knight.

Wired.com: Are you similarly geeking over the Watchmen film?

Kidd: I think the Watchmen film will be great. But by all accounts, if you're familiar with the book there won't be many surprises, other than seeing your favorite scenes brought to life.

Wired.com: On to music. What's up with Artbreak? Any future projects planned after Wonderground?

Kidd: Hey, thanks for asking. We are on sort of a hiatus, while we struggle to self-produce, mix and master the first album. It's frustrating, because we're very much stymied by distance and day jobs. But we have enough material for the next album and we don't even have the first one done yet. Stay tuned!

*Photos from *Bat-Manga courtesy Pantheon

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