Batman: Child of Dreams is a manga series written and illustrated by Kia Asamiya, published in Kodansha‘s Magazine Z. The series follows Batman as he travels to Tokyo on the trail of a lethal drug that allows the person who ingests it to shapeshift into anyone they desire.

Child of Dreams was collected in two volumes, released in November 2000 and November 2001 by Kodansha. The English-language version was released in hardcover and softcover editions in 2003 by DC Comics. Because of the way that manga is published in Japan, reading from right to left, which is now commonplace in modern translated manga releases, Child of Dreams was “flipped”, which might have gone unnoticed had it not made Two-Face scarred on the right side of his body.

Plot

The story features Batman in Gotham City and Tokyo, locating the source of a deadly drug. This drug provides the users with the thrill of literally living the life of their dreams for a day, by forcing the user to shapeshift into the person they desire to be. After the day expires, the drug kills the user by draining him or her of his or her lifeforce. Most of the users in Gotham turned into literal copies of several Batman villains. Batman suspected they were not the real thing after they seemed to sport twisted forms of their regular traits. Realizing a larger force is at work, Batman, with the help of Japanese journalist Yuuko Yagi, follows the trail of the chemical to Tokyo, where he finds the deranged criminal mastermind behind the creation of the infamous drug is none other than a heavily mutated fan.

Batman: Child of Dreams
North American cover
Manga
Written by	Kia Asamiya
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	NA DC Comics
Magazine	Magazine Z
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	November 22, 2000 – November 22, 2001
Volumes	2