There have been a few attempts to meld the worlds of disparate worlds of manga and American comics. One of the more successful attempts is Kia Asamiya's manga Batman: Child Of Dreams. First published in Japan in 2000 and making its way to the U.S. three years later, Child Of Dreams is not your typical take on the caped crusader. With its slightly surreal storyline and gorgeous artwork, Child Of Dreams proves that maybe the worlds of manga and American comics aren't so different.

The manga begins as a TV news crew from Japan comes to Gotham City to do a story on Batman. The crew is led by reporter Yuko Yagi, an ambitious young woman who is a fan of the dark knight. Upon their arrival in Gotham City, Two-Face takes an office full of civilians hostage. The crew sneaks onto the scene and get caught. Batman makes his appearance and stops Two-Face, although something about him isn't quite right. He is supposedly locked up safely in Arkham Asylum but appears to pull a seemingly random crime. After being thwarted by Batman, he cries. Things get even stranger when only hours after fighting Batman, this Two-Face dies, his body mummified.

The man who dies is later revealed to be a Two-Face impostor and more of Batman's rogues gallery suddenly make unusual, somewhat out-of-character appearances. A designer drug called fanatic is somehow related to these strange encounters. Who made this drug? What's their purpose? And why is Batman the target of these attacks?

This manga was created in part to introduce/reintroduce Batman to Japanese readers. In that respect it does a good job. Asamiya keeps this Batman story pretty serious and grounded in reality. Not once does Batman (or anyone else) become “chibi” or anything like that. It is also devoid of such manga elements as the “sweatdrop” and the angry mark. The reporter Yuko Yagi is a welcome addition to the Batman universe. She's not a bitch but also not a pushover either. There's something appealingly normal about her, similar to the heroines of many a shojo manga.