The name of Ōgon Batto, or Golden Bat may be unknown to the vast majority of Batman fans, Superman and the wide gallery of characters from DC Comicsthe publishing house that supposedly gave rise to the modern superhero as we now know it.
But the reality is that these beings with extraordinary abilities would have been born several years earlier in a country very different from the United States.
However, the passage of history has buried an endearing oriental tradition that could well be considered the authentic origin of the superheroes of the modern era.
The curious thing here is that this phenomenon, somehow, has close parallels with what happened in Marvel Comics and DC, making it clear that the human imagination often runs along the same path when it comes to imagining.
This is the story of the Kamishibai tradition in Japan and how that gave rise to the first character with extraordinary powers.
How the Kamishibai gave rise to the first superhero
Friends of IGN Spain They have published an extensive and enriching article in which they recount with admirable depth the context of origin of the disguised characters with superpowers in the printed illustrated narrative.
Proving that Superman and all those creations of Action Comics and Detective Comics (or DC Comics, as we know it today), would actually have been born many years after the first superhero published in another nation far away from this continent.
Everything has its origin with the Japanese tradition of Kamishibai or Paper Theatre. A form of Japanese street show, where traveling storytellers acted out different illustrated stories for a children’s audience on public roads in Japan, representing the characters and sound effects, similar to how a storyteller does today.
It was within this trend that a character emerged that ended up becoming popular among that community: Ōgon Batto, or Golden Bat. This character didn’t actually have anything reminiscent of a bat.
His costume included a cape and a golden skull, but both his name and design were derived from an illustration of a cheap cigar brand from the days of the Great Depression economy.
The Kamishibai storytellers made the Golden Bat their most recurring character and cut out paper figures to tell their stories.
Its proven origins date back to 1931, while Superman was not published until 1938. So it could be considered the first illustrated superhero.
