Recommended Reading

Like many pages on this blog, this is still a work in progress.

There will only be a few stories included on this page. The selections are based on personal opinion and should not be taken as suggestion that other stories are not of quality, just that the tales below stand out (to me) for one reason or another.

They are listed in order of original release.

Brand Of The Black Bat
(1939)

This kind of goes without saying. Not only is "Brand" the Black Bat's first appearance, it also an origin story, which was quite rare at the time.

Every major character makes his (or her) first appearance; Norton "Silk" Kirby, Carol Baldwin, Butch O'Leary, police commissioner Jerome Warner and the unshakable McGrath. Oh, and Oliver Snate's only appearance as one of the villains in the story.

The various staples are introduced as well; the secret lab, the bat wing cloak, the ability to see in the dark, the black bat sticker...It's all here.

This story has been reprinted a couple of times, most notably by Steeger Books in their first volume of the Black Bat Omnibus and by Sanctum Books.

The Black Bat's Spy Trail
(March 1940)

In my opinion, this is the first story in which each member of the Black Bat's entourage is given his/her moment to shine. Silk had applied his disguise skills in previous books, and Butch had knocked plenty of heads together by this point, but their contributions were expanded beyond their respective "gimmick" in this story.

Most interestingly, Carol Baldwin was more physical and resourceful than she'd been in previous issues of Black Book Detective (this was the Black Bat's fifth published adventure). When she first appears in a story, the attention is usually directed towards her physical appearance. A chapter or two in which she displays intelligence, quick thinking and toughness were quite welcomed.

Not that the Black Bat takes a backseat to any of them. There's just a more even balance. Combine that balance with quality involvement by McGrath's and a solid murder mystery and you have a story that anyone, including those reading a Black Bat tale for the first time, can enjoy.

Spy Trail is included the second volume of Altus Press' Omnibu reprints as well as the third volume of Sanctum Books' reprints.

The Black Bat's Justice
(March 1941)

"Captain McGrath felt compelled to do something that rankled deep in his proud heart. He intended to confess his bewilderment and ask help of the man he thought was the Black Bat."

And that's why this story makes the list.

The usual gang of Bat assistants (Silk, Carol, Butch) is present but McGrath gets a spotlight. In fact, the first two chapters "star" McGrath.

While they have always technically been on the same side but at odds over methodology, in this story McGrath offers a temporary truce and the two work together to solve a baffling case. The policeman's character gets fleshed out at as a result and the union makes for a nice change from the usual formula of the Bat stories to this point.

A very fun read, this is the 11th story of the original Black Bat.  It is available in the fourth volume of the Altus Press Reprints.

The Eyes Of The Blind
(January 1942)

There aren't many original Black Bat stories that I would say I haven't enjoyed, at least as far as the ones written by Norman Daniels are concerned. Eyes Of The Blind is the character's 16th published story, the 13th submitted by Daniels, and it might be my personal favourite thus far.

Like the other Daniels stories listed above, this one is notable for breaking the mold. In The Eyes Of The Blind, the villains are in possession of a machine which shines a bright light that causes blindness. Of course, such a weapon very much complements a story with a primary protagonist who was blind for months and now only pretends to be so in his civilian identity.

At some point, the Bat becomes incapacitated (guess how?). So Anthony Quinn is forced to step aside while his companions continue the fight. The added exposure to Silk, Carol and Butch is a nice treat.

There is one odd aspect to this story; The Black Bat teaches himself to use a whip as a weapon. It seems a little...random...and doesn't fit the bat theme particularly well. It takes nothing away from the story, mind you. It just feels random and forced and, that I know of, was never revisited.

At the moment, only Steeger Books has reprinted the story in the sixth volume of its Black Bat Omnibus series.

Markets of Treason
(Winter 1944)

This story is most noteworthy for being the one in which the Black Bat rids himself of a key part of his attire; the ribbed cape resembling bat wings.

I would love to know for certain whose decision this was and the reasoning behind it. Did someone have to convince writer and character-creator Norm Daniels to do it, or was it his own idea? Was the goal to reduce the number of similarities with another bat-themed character? Was it thought that a more realistic appearance would increase the character's appeal? Was finding ways to conceal the cape when Tony Quinn was in his secret identity becoming burdensome? I've often read about the change but very little about its cause.

Generally, in-story, credit for the permanent removal of the cape is given of Captain McGrath, who gifts Anthony Quinn a dog trained to attack it on sight. However, Quinn makes the decision earlier in the story to forego the cape because it was ill-suited for his mission. He chose to wear a black coat instead. McGrath's shenanigans just reinforce Quinn's perception that the cape is more trouble than it's worth, and he (Quinn) has his entire stock destroyed.

The dog, Gwendolyn, adds a great deal more humour than Black Bat stories usually featured. That may not be to everyone's tastes. She's also directly involved in the crime-fighting aspect of the story in a "sidekick" kind of way. It makes you wonder if the plan was for her to continue to appear in future adventures.

Market of Treason was written in 1943 and is, not surprisingly, strongly influenced by World War Two. Tony Quinn is part of the Rationing Board and seeks to prevent former bootlegger types from benefitting from a black market for rationed goods. A story about a certain segment of the population refusing to do their part for the greater good is still very relatable as I write this in May of 2022.

The attention given to Gwendolyn might annoy some, come a point, but I didn't find that it came at the expense of the other features that make Black Bat stories entertaining.  It can be found in the fifth issue of Sanctum Books' Black Back reprint series.

Murder Town
(Winter 1950)

Most of the entries above are included because of a key moment, a first-time occurrence or a change in the standard story-telling pattern. Murder Town is included simply because I enjoyed it a great deal and therefore I recommend it.

I wrote up a longer review in August 2019 but the bottom line is that the book is entertaining in several ways. Being a Winter 1950 release, Anthony Quinn and his team were no longer fighting Nazis trying to ruin the country insidiously or some such. To the extent that I've read the stories from later in the series, fans were being treated to crime mysteries on a regular basis by that point, usually with a peculiar angle or twist.

Such is the case here. A man attempts suicide by gunshot, fails, the gun he used in the attempt is stolen, he confesses to a murder then appears to be murdered himself while in jail. How do all those dots connect?

I can't promise that the mystery is particularly difficult to unravel but getting there is a lot of fun. Team Bat is routinely put in danger while helping our hero do his thing. When one antagonist in particular threatens one of the members of the team, the Black Bat emphatically shows him the error of his ways.

Between the intensity of that segment, the investigation of the suicide/murder, and the comic relief provided by McGrath as the policeman helps out while unable to resist giving Quinn a hard time over his dual identity, we have a story that I found hit all the right notes.

Black Bat Mystery, Volume 1
(Airship 27 - 2010)

This was one of the first "current" books I bought featuring this character and I recall finding that the four stories included therein complemented the original material from the pulp era quite nicely.

I don't want to single out a specific story because they work well as a group.  We get some very flashy and dramatic antagonist, including Nazis and Russian spies. The Black Bat's entourage is included and one tale provides some additional back story for police officer McGrath. Combined, these stories include all of the elements that make the early Black Bat adventures appealing.

As an added bonus, the individual writers explain the inspiration for their respective contribution to the anthology and Airship 27 "Captain" Ron Fortier closes the book with a little historical background on the Black Bat, a nice touch for readers just discovering the character. Rob Davis' interior illustrations complete the package.

Subsequent volumes have been quite entertaining as well, but this one gets included for setting the foundation.

Pulpsploitation: Black Bat
(Metahuman Press, 2015)

To be entirely honest, not all of the more recent Black Bat material is high quality stuff. There are a few duds out there and when this project was announced, I was fairly convinced that it would join that dubious list.

Quite the opposite. Frank Byrns' Black Bat contribution to Pulpsploitation makes the list because it was done in a style that is far different than that of many stories based in the 70s and 80s. Stories based in that era are often more preoccupied with poking fun at big hair, goofy fashions, outdated expressions and other trends than creating a good adventure or compelling, multi-faceted characters.

Byrns took the road less traveled and the one far more appropriate for this character. Instead of lame comedy, he called upon the tense, heavy mood of classic crime movies from the era such as The French Connection, Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon (by his own admission during an interview).

We are reunited with an aged Anthony Quinn, but as he is no longer able to patrol the night as the Black Bat, someone has to step up to the plate. Without giving anything away, it's an interesting approach, one that throws the door wide open for additional material but sadly, at this point, I don't believe any is forthcoming.

Speaking of stepping up to the plates, Byrns also wrote The Ty Cobb File story in Airship 27's second volume of Black Bat Mystery. It is, in my opinion, the best of that bunch and deserving of the cover treatment it received.

Guns Of The Black Bat
(Moonstone Books, late 2016)

Frankly, this is in reference to issues two and three of this mini-series.

I wrote what I thought was a fairly complete review of the three-book mini series here, then came over to include it to this list.

Most of The Black Bat's comic book material is quite...short. With the exception of the 12-issue Dynamite series, most often the character is included in short stories in anthologies, usually ranging somewhere between six and 10 pages in length. It's difficult to think of such brief material as being essential.

In these two issues, while the Black Bat technically shares the spotlight, he also runs the show. And he looks damn cool doing it, thanks to the incredible talent of artist Silvestre Szilagyi. For that matter, I would buy the books for the awesome Michael Stribling covers alone.

The fact that the Black Bat shares the book is hardly a deterrent. He matches up well with Domino Lady in a "beauty and the beast" kind of way anyway, and it's cool to get more exposure to characters like I.V. Frost and The Phantom Detective. There are quite a few references to other pulp characters, new and old, throughout the two issues as well. Overall, an excellent addition to a collection.

In 2020, Guns of the Black Bat was included in a compilation along with a four-issue limited series entitled Danger: Coast To Coast. While I can't knock the quality of that series, the Black Bat appears most prominently in the first two issue but far less in the third and fourth. I certainly wouldn't recommend avoiding it altogether but I would share a mild warning that there are spells in which the character appears very little and concedes the stage to Domino Lady and IV Frost.