The first superhero?

[Goshdarn Batman]

I'm not sure if this has been posted before, but:

The First Superhero – The Golden Bat?

By Zack Davisson

Translated literally as Golden Bat but just as often rendered in English as Phantaman or Phantoma, Ōgon Bat was the creation of twenty-five year old Suzuki Ichiro and his artist friend sixteen-year old Nagamatsu Takeo. The two were regular visitors to the Ueno Royal Art Museum in Tokyo, where they saw the mythological characters that grace the folded screens and old monochromes of by-gone eras. They had the idea of bringing heroes that existed in the past, and recreating them for the future. Instead of mythology and gods, they would be powered by the new magic of space and science.

Ōgon Bat has only the briefest of origin stories. He came to the present era from 10,000 years in the past, a super-being from a ancient Atlantis sent foward in time to do battle with evil forces threatening the era. He had no alter-ego, but lived in the snow-covered peaks of the Japanese Alps, flying in to save the day when needed.

As superheroes go, Ōgon Bat is pretty creepy looking. Aside from the red cape and superpowers, Ōgon Bat bears very little resemblance to Superman. For one thing, he has a giant skull for a head. Not a mask. An actual skull-head. And the rest of his costume consists of a swashbuckler outfit complete with rapier. But appearances aside, there is no doubt that Ōgon Bat is a true superhero.

Visually, it only takes a glance to see Ōgon Bat’s inspiration lying with Gaston Leroux titular character in the 1909 Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, known in English as The Phantom of the Opera. The skull-face and rapier combined with the opera cloak confirms this. One can only assume that is where the Phantoma translation comes from.

The non-literal translation makes a different sense as well. Name aside, there is nothing “Golden” or “Bat” about Golden Bat. The two creators actually named him after a popular brand of cigarettes. Made of cheap, third-class tobacco and emblazoned with a logo of a gold-colored bat, Golden Bat cigarettes have a romantic, literati nostalgia about them and were the smoke of choice for luminaries like Akutagawa Ryūnosuke and Dazai Osamu. No one knows why Nagamatsu and Suzuki thought this was a good name for a superhero, but it worked.

Every good hero needs a rogues gallery, and chief amongst Ōgon Bat’s enemies was Nazo, Emperor of the Universe (predating Galactic despot Flash Gordon’s Ming the Merciless by three years.). For being Emperor of the Universe, Nazo was a fairly Earth-bound sovereign. With a solid black costumed topped by pointed bat ears, and no face other than a mixed-set of one red eye and one blue eye, Nazo was mainly interested in capturing innocent young girls and tying them to train-tracks in classic cliffhanger style.

Ōgon Bat also started what would become a popular trend in later comics: the opposite-enemy. Where Superman has Bizarro, and the Flash has Reverse Flash, Ōgon Bat fought against Kurayami Bat, the Dark Bat.

Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.comicsbulletin.com/grind/129281130860195.htm

More info about The Golden Bat:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogon_Batto

http://www.animevice.com/golden-bat/18-23454/

Animated Golden Bat:

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbK1mWSCJc4[/YT]

Live Action Golden Bat movie:

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRX_aIXw0dA[/YT]

New Golden Bat:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x54kym_fantomas-new-golden-bat-ogon-batto_videogames