The Black Bat Archives, Volume 8

The release of the latest collection of Black Bat stories was announced on November 29th. Steeger Books announced nearly 50 books in and around the week of American Thanksgiving, so this one would have been easy to miss in the crowd.

Blinded by a criminal’s acid, D.A. Tony Quinn was reborn as a relentless avenger. An operation not only returned his sight but granted him night vision—a gift he uses to strike from the dark. Assisted by Carol Baldwin, Butch O’Leary, and Silk Kirby, The Black Bat prowls the underworld with ruthless efficiency.

This Volume 8 presents three brutal thrillers by Laurence Donovan and Norman Daniels: “The Seventh Column,” “Millions for a Murderer,” and “Captains of Death”—restored and uncut.

The book can be ordered directly from Steeger Books on this page. 

The Bat #0

This was a pleasant Christmas morning surprise. It was added to Drive-Thru Comics on December 22nd, but I only happened to see it yesterday. 

The Golden Age Black Bat's legend continues with the Adventures of Michael Quinn --The Bat!

This issue: The Origin of the Bat is revealed. Michael Quinn must don the mantle of the dark avenger to save his one true love.

Story by John Michael Helmer

Art by Kent Clark

Lucky packs a lot into this book's 8 pages. The main story accounts for four of them, but we are also treated to a character fact sheet and some details about his crime-fighting equipment. It's an encouraging sign that at least the modern-day version of the character has not been forgotten.

John, if you happen to read this, I hope you're doing well and I wish you and your family all the best.  

At Last! The Black Bat Archives, Volume 7

I had completely given up on this. I'd written to Steeger Books a couple of times to ask if there would a seventh volume to their archive series and while they responded in the affirmative at the time, it was so long in coming that I just assumed that the project had been canned.

I believe volume six was released in 2016. Hell, Steeger Books was still named Altus Press at the time. 

In The Black Bat Archives, Volume 7, Anthony Quinn, the blind former District Attorney turned masked crime fighter, faces off against chilling new enemies. In “The Faceless Satan,” Quinn must battle a shadowy criminal mastermind, while “The Murder Prophet” sees the Black Bat racing against time to stop a mysterious figure whose death predictions come true. Finally, in “The Nazi Spy Murders,” Quinn is drawn into an international conspiracy threatening America’s war effort. Packed with intrigue, suspense, and action, this volume brings to life three unforgettable pulp adventures featuring one of the most iconic heroes of the golden age!

Laurence Donovan penned The Murder Prophet in this compilation, while the other two stories are by Bat creator Norman Daniels. All were published in 1942. Of note, Daniels also wrote a story called The Murder Prophet, but that one was only released in 1947.

Coincidentally, Murder Prophet was one of the books included in the digital package I purchased (see November 22nd post) and the one I'd chosen to read next. The style is undeniably different than Daniels' material, but unlike some other "non-Daniels" stories, it has at least avoided errors with the characters' names and major inconsistencies with their personalities. It may turn out to be one of the better Bat tales from someone other than Daniels. 

I'm very eager to get this one on the bookshelf and hope that we don't have another eight year wait for volume eight to become available! Click on the cover to be taken to Steeger's page. 

Digital BBD

Want to read the original Black Bat stories on the cheap? An account named My Books And Magazines on Etsy offers an easy method by which to do so.

17 BBD books, each scanned as a pdf file. The entire issue is scanned, not just the Black Bat material, so you get the various other stories that were included in the original magazine, the art, the advertisements, letters to the editor, the whole deal.

Of course, you also get the occasional page tear, smudge, etc. I haven't come across any such flaw that affects the ability to enjoy the story, however. 

The first book in the collection is The Black Bat Strikes Again, the third in the original series. Sadly, the bundle does not include Brand of The Black Bat, the character's first appearance, but that one should be easy enough to track down in some format or other separately.

The last offering (chronologically) is technically the final Black Bat story as well, entitled Hot, Willing, and Deadly, however I believe that is strictly a Tony Quinn mystery and that he never appears as the Black Bat as such.

Applying that criteria, the final Black Bat story would be The Killer Who Wasn't, and it is included in the collection. 

It should be noted that not counting HW&D, three of the remaining stories were not written by Black Bat creator Norman Daniels. Those tend to be inconsistent with Daniels' work and, in my opinion, of lesser quality. 

All told, this is an excellent, inexpensive way to sample the character's adventures throughout his original publishing period. Have a look around, a great many other pulp novels are offered in the format as well. Click on the image above to be taken to the page in question. 

Pulptober

Canadian artist Scott Chantler issued a fun challenge on his Instagram account at the end of last month, to run throughout October.

Each day, fellow artist were tasked with presenting their takes on the following classis pulp characters. Yay to Scott for including The Black Bat at #15.

I have yet to find my way through all the results, but among those I've seen, the work of Scott Brian Woods below was a personal favourite. 

And below we have Mr. Chantler's own contribution for that day. 

I'm about to go on a little Black Bat art hunt then! If you're inclined to do the same, or to see the various interpretations of the other characters on the list, simply search the pulptober hashtag on Instagram.

Die Schwarze Fledermaus: Power-E-Book #1

Blitz Verlag continues to be a great friend to fans of The Black Bat who can read German. They have over 60 of the character's stories published currently, mixing of the Black Book Detective classics with some newer material, and eight more on the way next April.

While checking out their website for news, I also came upon the cover below. 

As the top banner explains, this is a compilation of four Black Bat stories, but available in e-book format only. It collects the first four that Blitz-Verlag published as a series. Those include BBD originals Brand of The Black Bat, Murder Calls The Black Bat, and The Black Bat Strikes Again, as well as a recent tale by Angelika Schroder called "Ein Harmloser Fall". I believe Schroder's story was first published in 2014.

The art is by Mario Heyer, a frequent contributor to Blitz's cover art, and the book can be purchased from Amazon.

The Black Bat: God Complex, from Leviathan Labs

Any discovery of a Black Bat project is cause for excitement, but there are always questions about how faithful it is to the original source material and will be in the future.

The comic book below was found by chance while looking for cover art to German publisher Blitz-Verlag's reprints of the original Black Bat stories. It appears to have been released this past spring, by Italian publisher Leviathan Labs, with the second issue scheduled for early next month.

The solicitation text under the cover image went through the Google Translate grinder, so do not blame writer Niccolo Testi if it's a little clunky. 

Like pitch black, evil and corruption roam the filthy streets and the most oppressive alleys. It is in these places that Black Bat finds (his) origin, between madness and gunpowder, among hardened and corrupt criminals of all sorts. The city, like a sleeping Leviathan, lies beneath him, under the buildings and neon lights that accompany the disturbances and violence that will follow the black bat.

From what I've been able to piece together, the character's stories are set in a modern-day superhero universe. He is a former criminal turned vigilante following the death of his wife. I see no indication of heightened senses as a result of a period of blindness or any such, at least not from my limited exposure to the first issue so far.

Then very little remains of the original character, even though there's no question that this Black Bat was based on the 1940s version by Norman Daniels. That is made quite clear on Leviathan's social media accounts and mentioned in the book. Nevertheless, the book does look quite good so I'll support it and see where it goes.

While I prepare to do some translating, here's a look at the cover for the second issue, as well as some interior art by Gabriele Schiavoni. 

Don't Be Fooled!

Maybe you're fortunate enough to have never watched Rise of The Black Bat. I can assure you that the recently-found image below makes it look like a far, far better film than it is. 

My hopes that a new version of the film (or a new one altogether) was in production were dashed against the rocks rather quickly. Further inspection revealed that this is actually the background image used for the original 2012 movie's Amazon Prime Video presentation.

Rise of The Black Bat is currently sitting at a rating of 1.3 out of 10 on IMDB, and that is assisted by the occasional reviewer grading it a 10 as a cinematic masterpiece or some such. It's difficult to determine if those reviewers are supportive friends/family of the cast/crew, being sarcastic, or suffered a number of concussions in the past.

Whatever the cause, do not let the "repackaging" of this film con you into watching it and directing you towards a downward spiral of self-loathing by emphasizing your inability to make sound decisions. Just...Don't.

Black Bat GN Cover

 A recent Instagram post by artist Mike Belcher confirms that AMK Comics' Black Bat graphic Novel is still...well...it hasn't been completely set aside. 

I didn't include the image here upon first seeing it on IG last week because I thought I'd done so in the past. After inspection, it appears I was remembering a different one and this was indeed a new reveal by Mr. Belcher. Very good, we'll keep an eye out for more. 

The Bat, Volume 1

Well, ain't that something? Only a few days after stating that a Lucky Comics compilation of its three 8-page The Bat books didn't appear to be on the horizon, there it is on Amazon.

The Bat Volume I

The Golden Age Black Bat's legend continues with the Adventures of Michael Quinn --The Bat!

A string of murders in Hill Top City leaves only one credible suspect: The Bat! Can Detective Kelly and Cyber Jane uncover the truth behind the crime spree or will the mysterious caped vigilante rule the streets? 

Collects The Bat 1-3 (24 pages)

Words John Michael Helmer and Dan Solano

Art by Dan Solano

Edited by Michael Waggoner

I tracked it down by searching for Lucky Comics on Amazon, then selecting John Michael Helmer as an author from the write-up for one of the anthology books. Trimming down the search results this way helped a great deal.

It would be easy to take a wrong turn here, however. There's a separate author named Michael Helmer as well and Amazon seems to be confusing the two, so make sure you select the "John Michael" version.

The book is also available on drive-thru, as usual. You can take advantage of that option at this link. 

It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to enjoy a (Black) Bat comic book! Looking forward to its arrival!