Ougon Bat (黄金 バット, Ougon Batto "Golden Bat"), also known as Phantoma in English, Fantasmagórico in Spanish and Fantaman in Italian, is a seminal Japanese superhero created by writer Ichiro Suzuki and illustrator Takeo Nagamatsu in 1930.
Ougon Bat is considered to be the first true Japanese superhero franchise and preceded those of Superman, Batman and many other western superheros by several years.
The titular character made his debut in Kamishibai, a traveling show in which a sequence of pictures is narrated by a storyteller. He was popular enough to survive the decline of Kamishibai after World War II, and was eventually translated into movie and anime form.
A live action movie, Ougon Bat: Matenro No Kaijin, was released in 1950, followed by another in 1966, simply titled Ougon Bat, and starring Sonny Chiba. This was followed by another film, Ougon Bat Ga Yattekuru in 1972.
A 52 episode anime series was produced and released in 1967.
A remake of the first anime series called Ougon Bat: Millennium Version was announced in the late 90s but was never released. However, a trailer with modern animation was made to promote the new series.
