Billy Bat

Billy Bat (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki and illustrated by Urasawa. It was serialized in the weekly magazine Morning from October 2008 to August 2016, with its chapters collected into 20 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha. The story follows the comic book artist Kevin Yamagata as he draws the popular detective series "Billy Bat". When he learns he may have unconsciously copied the character from an image he saw while serving in occupied Japan, he returns to Japan to get permission to use it from its original creator. Upon arriving there, however, he becomes embroiled in a web of murder, cover-ups, and prophecy that all leads back to Billy Bat.