So today being Halloween, I took the plunge and bought the digital version of Return of the Monsters: Black Bat & Death Angel vs. Dracula.
A Return of the Originals event! For the first time in history three eras collide in one place as Pulp Fiction's newest heroine, Death Angel joins forces with Pulp's enduring vigilante The Black Bat to battle the eternal face of horror, Dracula. Mike Bullock (The Phantom) and rising star Eric Johns bring this spine-tingling tale of darkness, lust and fear to you, wrapped in a visceral cover crafted by horror comic legend Dan Brereton.All right. While I can enjoy a different interpretation of the character, I hated the version by Moonstone from the Return Of The Original "event" which basically fizzled. He was little more than a schizophrenic psychopath, at least in his own oversized book. And I have no love for Death Angel, a character who was unnecessarily shoe-horned into said book.
But this single issue had a few good things going for it, admittedly. Aside from a couple of panels I found confusing, Eric Johns' art is easy on the eyes. And while little attention was paid to The Black Bat's team of assistants in Moonstone's material at the time, McGrath makes a brief appearance in this one.One the downside, for a book which uses the Black Bat as a selling feature, the character first appears on page 22 out of 30. Death Angel, mind you, is on every single page. Hell, she gets more face time than Dracula! In fact, she basically defeats him!
Setting that aside, this book left open the possibility of these characters meeting again. But being that it was published in 2011 and it appears that Moonstone now prefers to publish a more traditional version of The Black Bat, it's unlikely to happen.
Still, I may very well include it when I order the print version of Moonstone's Guns Of The Black Bat series. It's not a classic but it would nicely complete the collection of Moonstone's initial attempt at publishing the character. Demonstrating interest can't possibly be a bad thing.
