Manga readers have been waiting a long time for an official English release of Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki’s Billy Bat manga, and now there’s one on the horizon. Kana, the manga imprint of Abrams ComicArts, announced plans to release the first volume on June 2, 2026. Beyond that, Kana aims to bring out all 20 volumes of the series with four volumes launching each year. Billy Bat by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki June 2026 Synopsis: It’s 1949 Los Angeles, and Kevin Yamagata, a Japanese American comic book author, is drawing his bestselling character, Billy Bat: a quick-witted detective who is, unsurprisingly, a cartoon bat. Everything is going well for Kevin until he discovers an unfortunate truth: He may have unintentionally plagiarized his beloved character from a drawing he once saw in Japan. Devastated by the news, Kevin returns to war-torn Japan to find the drawing’s original artist . . . but the character’s origins turn out to be far older and more perplexing than he had ever imagined. RELATED: Delicious in Dungeon and Ryoko Kui Exhibition Heads to New York This October Billy Bat originally ran in Kodansha’s Morning magazine from 2008 to 2016. Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki have been frequent collaborators over the years, including on titles like Master Keaton , Pluto and more. Source: The Beat
