10/1 Post-class

“The presence of the original is the prerequisite to the concept of authenticity”

Of the many plotlines happening in Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki’s Billy Bat, one of the major ones is main character Kevin Yamagata’s concern that he may have stolen the main character in his comic, the eponymous Billy Bat, from an image he saw while he served for America in Japan. Due to this fear, he returns to Japan to get permission to use the character from its original creator, only to learn that the original creator doesn’t particularly care. In this scene, the old comic artist explains to Kevin why he isn’t concerned:

“Where did we learn to draw this cup?” he asks Kevin.

“Well… we copied someone else…” Kevin replies.

Later on, we learn that the design for Billy Bat didn’t even originate from that, but rather, an old cave painting of a bat that the comic artist saw. The one Kevin thought was the original was also merely a copy, and the cave painting that inspired it was merely a copy of what that artist saw in real life as well. Kevin’s concern with artistic integrity battling with his fear of financial repercussions is representative of the plight of the artist in modern society. The political imperative of art comes from many axes: Kevin needs to make a living, which already is changing his artistic output from what it would be if that imperative was not there. In addition to the financial aspect, he butts heads with his editors over where the plotline should go, with the editors insisting the Soviets be the true masterminds while Kevin finds the explanation unsatisfying. The political agenda of the ruling class further alienates the artist from something that should be so personal to them. Art does not belong to the creator, but to the reasons they have to make the art. Co-author Urasawa feels this pressure in real-life too:

I believe that if there are any signs that people would like to read [my comics], I’m sure they could be translated into English. But I do have a slight concern with Billy Bat… I’m not naming names, but major animation or film studios could take offence, or maybe draw some non-existent similarities between my work and their work, so that’s a slight concern…

Urasawa is all too familiar with the very Western concern of copyright and originality, knowing that his works are unable to reach a wider audience because of it. Rather than taking the risk of big companies such as Disney or Warner Bros. filing a lawsuit against his work, he would rather keep it untranslated. Even for a legendary comic artist such as himself, comics are not the most lucrative medium, and certainly not lucrative enough to battle those companies’ lawyers. Art is something that should not have these political and financial borders, but increasing corporate influence in art puts these borders in place.