Dynamite Entertainment's May 2014 Bat/Fury solicitations

So obvious even a blind man could see it (see what I did there?), Dynamite ends their Black Bat book at issue #12 in May.

Writer: Brian Buccellato
Art: Ronan Cliquet 

FINAL ISSUE! In the final chapter to this story, the Black Bat is confronted by the unforeseen consequences of his vigilante quest for redemption. He comes face to face with the shadowy villain that has been pulling all of the strings, and must decide how far he is willing to go to save the city.

So who knows if we'll see this version of the character again.  Dynamite CEO/Publisher Nick Barrucci did hint, on the company's message board, at an announcement by the end of February but nothing ever came of that.  In recent months, Dynamite had done a good job of including some of their less-popular characters in limited series with more popular ones, but they seem so focused on the Gold Key and Chaos universes of late that there's little cause to be optimistic about the Bat (or for that matter, Miss Fury) getting that sort of treatment.

Speaking of minis, the Noir trade paperback is also available in May.  I haven't finished the series yet, but I am enjoying it, though the art is a little rough in spots and Miss Fury only shows up at the end of the first book.  Still, interesting story.

On the flip side, I've finished the first volume of Black Bat Mystery from Airship 27 and will definitely be getting the second before long.  More on that later.

Ron Fortier to pen a more traditional Black Bat for Moonstone Books!

This is good news on a couple of different levels. Ron Fortier is the "Air Chief" of Airship 27 and long-time writer of pulp comics and short stories.  He updated his "Flight Log" earlier today with the following (in part):

...for those of you who faithfully follow this Log every week, you'll remember that a few short weeks ago we wrote a particularly mean rant against Licensors and how they are forever screwing over creative people. 

Well, the reasoning behind that entry was we had just learned that the Licensor of the Spider had opted (to) cancel Moonstone Comics permission to use this classic pulp character right smack in the middle of our producing the new black and white SPIDER - DOMINO LADY comic series.  Needless to say all of (those) involved were both surprised and then justifiably angry with this stupid action on their part. Still it left us with the question as to how to proceed. Or should we? 

Happily, in the end, the Air Chief, Moonstone's Managing Editor and artist Michael Dorman all agreed to save the project by swapping out the Spider for another classic pulp hero who is 100% public domain.  Meaning we don't have to kowtow to any idiotic licensors and can do as we please. 

Get ready for THE BLACK BAT - DOMINO LADY comic series!!  Yup, the Air Chief did a little tweaking where necessary and the hooded avenger of the classic pulps is once again on the trail of evil doers. Note, the page above by Michael and you'll see we are doing the original costume as was described in the actual Black Bat stories...and not the Batman-like cowl that was splashed on the covers and has been adopted by other comic companies. Nope, we wanted to give you fans the real-deal here. We are excited by Michael's' art as ever and can't wait to see this project move forward. Stay tuned for progress updates as we move along with it.

I admit that among the various versions of the character that I've read, Moonstone's was my least favourite. Their Black Bat had some kind of "voices-in-the-head" or multiple personality gimmick going on and there was only limited mention of the entourage that we're used to (Silk and Carol, no Butch that I can recall). Perhaps the intention was to include them more in future stories but the book never really got past the first graphic novel.

The image above looks far more like what we'd expect the Black Bat to look like. And whatever affection Moonstone had for The Spider, they certainly shared the love with Domino Lady.  She is among the most frequently used character by that company, if not the title-holder, so the Bat can only benefit from being paired with her.

So as Dynamite's version appears set to circle the drain, let's see if Moonstone can provide us with a quality alternative.  We'll keep an eye on their solicitations and post the Black Bat-relevant ones here.