Miss Fury sketch by Megalobo

While we wait for Dynamite's Black Bat #1 and the second issue of Miss Fury to come out, let's have a look at a sketch of our leading lady from someone named "Megalobo" on Deviantart.

Black Bat sketch by Jun Bob Kim

Here's a recent sketch for sale by Jun Bob Kim.  Great take on the original version of the character.

Custom Action Figures

Man, how great would this thing look on my computer desk?  There is an ebay store address displayed at the bottom of the image, which is still active, but a Black Bat search in that store revealed no results.

The action figure was built by someone who goes by the name "Xysma the Warhorse" on the figurerealm.com website.  Here's his description of the process:

I've been getting into the pulp heroes lately, reading some of The Spider books and just recently got the Black Bat Omnibus for my Kindle. I decided to make three heads for this figure, an unmasked version, the original complete face mask, and the cowl, which became his more famous look. I used the Owl for the base, Bronze Tiger lower legs, and Starman forearms, Yellow Lantern Batman cape.

Click the image for more pictures and maybe view Xysma's profile to check out more of his work.  Wonder if he's ever done a Miss Fury...

Edit: Oh, damn, there is a Miss Fury out there!  "Emmett" fielded this one (in 2009 no less):

Here's his description:

One of the earliest female characters in comics. From 1941 to 1952. Created, written and drawn by June Tarpe Mills, one of the few women in the business. Miss Fury is the inspiration for Marvel's Hellcat. (from Comic Vine site) For this character I took a Cat-Woman figure and switched out the feet with a Marvel Select Elektra. I removed the "cat" goggles and painted a mask on her. Gave the whole figure a once over with Black acrylic paint. Finally I gave it a light coat of Testors Dullcote.

Awesome.  Again, click on the image to view the original page.

Mars Attacks Miss Fury!

I just stumbled into this image on Tumblr.  I had totally forgotten about it.

IDW Publishing released its January solicitations this past October.  Their theme for that month was that "Mars Attacks everyone".  Oddly enough, that cover is for a book in which Mars Attacks...Popeye.

Mars Attacks Popeye
Martin Powell (w) • Terry Beatty (a) • Ray Dillon (c)
The weekly event of the year starts on the second day of the year! Mars Attacks Martians invade five different IDW timelines and universes this month, starting with their assault on Sweethaven. How can Popeye, Alice the Goon, the Sea Hag the rest of the one-eyed sailor’s friends and foes possibly contend with this threat from beyond the stars?

I don't pretend to understand the reasoning behind using Miss Fury on the cover, but I don't have to pretend that I think it's quite cool. The cover was drawn by J. Bone, who includes additional sketches on his blog.

The reviews are in! Mask #5, Miss Fury #1

Just a sampling of comments made about these books.  For the full version, click on the link provided at the beginning of each paragraph.

Masks 5, Unleasethefanboy: This might just be the biggest issue of MASKS since #1...Chris Roberson juggles all these characters well, which is quite impressive considering the large number which appear....Black Bat is a neat inclusion. Granted, he doesn’t have a truly important role other than to give the story another character, but that of course could change in coming issues...

Dennis Calero’s art is strong throughout. A minor complaint is that the faces sometimes look a little strange, but otherwise it’s solid. The action comes alive in a bright and dynamic way. Covers are once again fantastic. The main one by the always amazing Alex Ross showcases Zorro and Black Bat, pretty accurate since both get their major debuts...Overall, a great installment of MASKS. The plots moves with some very interesting development...These pulp heroes are quickly rising up to becoming all star comic characters, you should be reading this event.

Miss Fury 1, Unleashthefanboy: (Rob) Williams smoothly explains what could be an easily convoluted plot....The art of this comic is done by Jack Herbert and is phenomenal...Each panel transitions seamlessly to the next and, let’s face it, the pages are just sexy...

I heartily look forward to the second issue and give this one a five out of five. I have no complaints and I feel like it has started with a great platform to launch from.

Miss Fury 1, Geeks of Doom:  I have to say, I REALLY enjoyed this book...I was shocked at how Miss Fury #1 was written: cliffhangers, mysteries, good old fashioned super heroics, fun, it’s really got it all. Not only do you get a fantastic adventure that finishing with a great cliffhanger ending, (Rob) Williams also manages to sneak in a FULL and COMPLETE origin story into the issue about halfway through...

Good God, I hope Jack Herbert stays with this book. Forever. His art is, simply put, GORGEOUS! There is a ton of different things that have to be drawn here. Everything from rooftop fight scenes to jungle adventures to high society functions, and Herbert renders them all perfectly...There’s also some great close up human expressions done here. Just fantastic...BUY THIS!!!….but, only if you’re over 17 years of age. This series is definitely NOT for the younger readers. That being said, it’s awesome. A proud addition to Dynamite’s excellent stable of pulp heroes.

Miss Fury 1, bloody-disgusting:  ...an impressive first issue with a protagonist that we’ve all seen before. Yet, an imaginative and original plot and some rather impressive art let this book stand out among the other number one’s out there. If the frenzied pace keeps up, and the setup from this issue has proper payoff, we’re looking at one helluva great new series.

Dynamite's Miss Fury #1 (Finally!)

I've been looking forward to this book, but admittedly with some concerns.  The solicitation made mention of a time-travel aspect which seemed out of place for this character.  Also, some of the preview art made the book seem as though it would feature "splashy" violence so I worried that a significant portion would be little more than scenes intended to generate cheap shock value (like the first issue of Jennifer Blood, which convinced me to drop that title immediately).

But here, we're off to a good start.  Violence, sexuality and profanity?  Yep, all are included, thank you.  And frankly, they should be, to some degree.  Like the the cat woman character that Fury will forever be compared to, at least the first two categories are arguably inevitable.

But there's substance to the book too, which doesn't allow for those aspects to dominate.  The basics of her origin story are laid out and they explain not only her abilities, but also her present mindset. The time travel portion of the story is introduced, but clearly there are a lot of details yet to be revealed on that front.

For an introductory issue, writer Rob Williams delivers a great balance.  You become interested in Miss Fury because of what you know of her, and you are made curious about what you know you have yet to discover about her.

As for Jack Herbert's art, a few pages of the opening fight scene are on display on popular sites such as Comic Book Resources.  It's gorgeous, but I think I would rather share a partial page from further on in the story to also help make my point that the book is more than page after page of graphic violence.

Very pleased with this book, and also much more optimistic.  The sex/violence/profanity "triple crown" can actually complement a character without becoming what that character is all about.  Williams displays this very well in Miss Fury.

Dynamite's Masks #5 out today!

I had previously posted that the 5th issue of Dynamite Entertainment's very fine Masks limited series would be out on March 20th.  This was based on the original solicitation and turned out to be innacurate.  Sorry to say that with Dynamite, that happens.

The book hits shelves, both the physical and "cyber" types, today.  And at last, The Black Bat is revealed.

Tony Quinn has been in earlier issues as we worked our way through his origin, but this is the first time he is seen in uniform in-story.

As expected, his abilities differ somewhat from that of the original character.  This Black Bat can only see in the dark and it doesn't appear as though he will rely on firearms to the extent that the pulp era Bat did.  Mind you, if gunplay's your thing, the modern day Bat (seen at right), clearly intends to do so that might be more your speed.

Frankly, I think I will prefer the 40's era version and I hope that, at the very least, he appears in a second volume of Masks. Dynamite does publish two versions of The Green Hornet but to this point there's nothing to indicate that they will do the same with The Black Bat.

The first issue of Miss Fury is available today as well (more on that later).  Assuming that Masks remains on its current schedule, that would mean that all three books would normally be released on the same day every month (until Masks's conclusion in July, of course).  That would be a lot of pulpy goodness to take in those days!