When Adam West and Burt Ward donned their groovy uniforms to play Batman and Robin in the 1960s TV series, it wasn’t just Americans who were dancing the Batusi. Bat-Manga! (Pantheon, $29.99 paperback) explores how the wave of Batmania caught on in the Land of the Rising Sun. Spearheaded by superstar designer Chip Kidd and presented in traditional Japanese manga style (where the eye reads right to left), the book assembles the serialized escapades cranked out to cash in on the Bat-fad. The sci-fi-inflected tales, written and drawn with the clean, kinetic line work of master artist Jiro Kuwata, don’t bear the campy hallmarks of American depictions, despite new weirdo villains like Lord Death Man and Professor Gorilla. Indeed, Batman comes off as oddly bloodthirsty or headstrong in these straight-ahead adventures. In between the stories, Kidd rolls out a fever-dream assortment of bizarre playthings and off-model ephemera that would make Alfred cringe.

In Bat-Manga!’s stories, the Dynamic Duo and the police cooperate cheerfully to keep the citizenry safe. In Gotham Central (DC Comics, $29.99), the cops of the Major Crimes Unit consider turning on the spotlight that summons Batman a bitter necessity: They’ll do it, but they don’t have to like it. Writers Ed Brubaker and Greg Rucka give a nuanced take on what detective work is like in a burg where costumed freaks run amok, taking or saving lives outside the law. The politics, romance and workaday chatter pay clear homage to police procedural TV shows like Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue and Homicide?, but here the all-too-human cops in Gotham Central are going face-to-face with heavyweight bad guys like Mr. Freeze and Two-Face. Bruce Wayne’s alter ego gets portrayed as an aloof force of nature—one met with grudging respect, sublimated hero worship and outright disgust.

Speaking of forces of nature, the weirdest thing about noir stylist Brian Azzarello’s Joker (DC Comics, $19.99) is how sympathetic the psychotic Batman archenemy seems. After getting out of the stir, Mr. J wants to regain control of Gotham’s underworld. Makes sense, right? Artist Lee Bermejo’s lurid rendition of the title character possess an angular coolness that makes it all the more chilling when that anarchic, unhinged id crashes to the fore. Despite all the sociopathy (Joker having fun in a strip club isn’t about lap dances), the pale-faced madman shows something akin to empathy to his right-hand henchman before the inevitable showdown with You-Know-Who. Azzarello’s off-kilter insights into the Bat/Clown relationship illuminate why we keep coming back for more green-haired crazy.

Chip Kidd talks about Bat-Manga! Nov 17 at Kinokuniya Bookstore.