The Men of Bronze Black Bat, by way of Moonstone Books

You'll have to pardon any inaccuracies on my part. Most of the sites from which I did my research were written in Spanish and I don't have a good grasp of that language.

I located the image below from the Men of Bronze Studios Facebook page.  "Los Hombres De Bronze" describe themselves as...

...a group of new talent artists (pencillers, inkers, colorist...) with the goal of working -mainly- for the american comic book industry. 

I believe that both pencils and inks are by Antonio Rojo and that colours are by Christian Castellanos.

This is basically the Moonstone Books version of the The Black Bat.  I didn't think much of it initially, assuming that the artists simply appreciated that version of the character.  However, looking through the albums on the Facebook page and finding complete pages gave me a bit of a charge.

For a moment I believed that we were finally going to get something solid out of the "Originals" event that Moonstone hyped years ago.  It did lead to a few books, mostly featuring Domino Lady, but by and large the whole thing fizzled, unfortunately.

Closer inspection revealed it to be little more than a page in someone's submission portfolio, but if Men of Bronze ever decide to publish their own books involving The Black Bat, I'll be happy to support it.

Black Bat appearance in Captain Action sequel (revisited)

The Black Bat's guest-appearance in a Captain Action book was mentioned here before, but we now have a cover and some story details.

Oh, and it's available from Amazon!

The following is from the Airship 27 blog:

While on assignment in Japan, Captain Action is haunted by the woman he loved and lost years ago in the underground kingdom beneath Siberia.  When she mysteriously begins reappearing during his clandestine mission to witness a newly discovered power source, agent Miles Drake begins to question his own sanity. 

Forces are at work to steal two naturally formed energy stones whose limitless power in the wrong hands could destroy the world. When he begins to suspect his alien nemesis, Dr. Evil, is behind these attacks, Drake has to utilize his most daring disguises ever to learn the truth and ally himself with an old vigilante hero from the past. 

Now the one and only Captain Action must walk a delicate tightrope between old and new allies while attempting to discover the source of the threat to the Hearts of the Rising Sun.  If he fails, mankind is doomed!

I wondered about the degree to which The Black Bat would be involved, but if the cover is any indication, he'll play a significant part.  I can't claim to be a huge fan of Captain Action, but there's little doubt that this book will find its way into my little Bat pile.

Super-Team Family Presents #713: Batman and Miss Fury

If you read either of my other two blogs, you're aware of a another with which I have nothing to do but that I enjoy a great deal; braveandboldlost.blogspot.ca.

The blog's premise, as explained on its banner, is quite simple. Ross Pearsall creates mock covers of superhero team-ups that are highly unlikely to ever happen (since the characters involved are from different publishers) but that would be extremely cool nonetheless. Miss Fury was featured on one such cover manipulation recently.

Well done, eh?  If you're any kind of comic book fan, take a look through Pearsall's portfolio.  His blog's a blast.

Black Bat Mystery revisited

I mentioned in an earlier post that I recently acquired Airship 27's first volume of Black Bat Mystery. At the time, I was only a few pages in but was optimistic about it based on the few pages I'd read.

And things held up.  I enjoyed the book a great deal.

Before I go on, I do need to confess one thing; my exposure to the original version of the Black Bat character is limited to the first three stories from 1939 (which I was able to read from the first omnibus offered by Altus).  By no means do I consider myself an expert on the character and because I don't have a definitive version in my mind, I am quite open to modernized or "alternative" interpretations.

This is why, while some purists might have found that the Dynamite version of the Black Bat deviated too far from the source material, for example, I wasn't particularly bothered by that.  In this case, there appears to be a conscious effort by the writers/editors to be as faithful as possible to the original version. Fine by me.  Whatever feels right.

Speaking of conscious efforts, I took some time before writing about the book to go back and read the first two Black Bat stories.  Having done this, I would guess that each of the four writers contributing to this book, knowing what they were tackling, deliberately attempted to create stories that could be slotted between some of the original ones.  In other words, they attempted to write so that a reader would not be able to differentiate between the stories from the 40's and their own.  I could be completely wrong about this, but ultimately it was the feeling I was left with.  Between Dynamite and Moonstone, I've had plenty of the modern version over the past year or so, so a more traditional take was admittedly kind of nice.

If my memory is sound, I believe "Team Bat" (Silk, Butch and Carol) is present in its entirety in all four stories.  But the second story, entitled "A Deal With The Devil" was a particularly pleasant surprise in that it touched into Bat-hunting detective McGrath's background.  Perhaps that happened in the 1940's as well, but not to my knowledge, so the "backfill" was an interesting addition.  Writer Aaron Smith did a nice job handling the dynamic between the two characters, and their reluctant partnership, as well.

If forced to criticize, I suppose I would say that with the possible exception of the first story, "Death Rides The Valkyrie" (by Andrew Salmon), there is not much mystery to Black Bat Mystery.  The antagonists, their plans, and their methods are quite clear, for the most part.

For that matter, several of those antagonists are quite...spectacular, pushing the stories a little closer to the superhero genre than maybe some would like.  My exposure to the original Black Bat is limited to fighting "normal" criminals, not Nazi giants.  Did I mind that Black Bat Mystery's villains had more of a super-hero comic book feel?  Absolutely not, but it may not be to everyone liking, I suppose.

Overall, an enjoyable read and a fine addition to the Bat collection.  I'll get the second volume some time this summer and fingers are crossed that work on volume three is underway.

One to watch: Moonstone's Of Monsters and Men

The following solicitation appeared on Major Spoilers today.  It's for a Moonstone book being released in July.  Unfortunately, the solicitation is lacking in the details department.

Of Monsters & Men sc
Stories: Matthew Baugh, Tommy Hancock
Art: Tom Floyd, David Niehaus
Cover: Fernando Ferriero
200pgs, grayscale, 7” x 10”, squarebound, $14.99 

Return of the Originals AND Return of the Monsters! 

Nine brand NEW tales of PULP HEROES vs MONSTERS! 

The Green Lama, Richard Knight, Captain Future, Green Ghost, Moon Man, and more… 

Battle demons and monstrosities from out of this world!

I'd be awful interested in knowing whether The Black Bat appears in this thing.  I do know that he appears in the hardcover version.  Unfortunately, it's the Black Bat story in which I'm least interested.

Of Monsters & Men HC
Stories: Matthew Baugh, Tommy Hancock
Art: Tom Floyd, David Niehaus
Cover: Fernando Ferriero
300pgs, grayscale, 7” x 10”, squarebound, $24.99

Same as the above but with 100 extra pages that reprint the previously published “Domino Lady vs Mummy”, Black Bat vs Dracula”, and “Phantom Detective vs Frankenstein”!

Perhaps when we get closer to the release date, an actual table of contents will be available.  Because Black Bat has already had his monster battle, I doubt he'll be among the new content offered in the softcover, but we'll bear this book in mind and check in later.

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.

Dynamite's Black Bat #11 Solicitation (April 2014)

Writer: Brian Buccellato
Art: Ronan Cliquet 

Black Bat has managed to toe the line throughout his quest for redemption. But when someone close to him dies, will he finally cross that line and become a killer? 

Also, Oliver Snate's mystery guardian angel pulls back the curtain and finally reveals himself... propelling this story towards its gut-wrenching conclusion. 

And Miss Fury is nowhere to be found.

Dynamite is all about their acquisition of the Gold Key characters these days so many of the pulp-style titles that they were publishing are coming to an end.  The Shadow ends at #25 this month as well and Mark Waid's Green Hornet concludes after the thirteenth issue.  In fairness, they've brought back a number of Battlestar Galactica books, so perhaps there's hope for a revival at some point.

In the meantime, I've received the Black Bat Mystery novel in the mail.  It's a collection of four short stories. I've only just started it, but so far so good.  The first story, written by Andrew Salmon, takes place in an unusual setting for the character; inside a blimp called The Valkyrie. The Bat's crew from the original stories are all included and the writing is very similar in style.  I think I'm going to enjoy this.

The back cover illustration below, as well as the ones included throughout the book, is by Rob Davis.

And since I appear to have forgotten to mention it in a past post, Excelsior Comics is up to page 15 with its Bat web comic. I wish they were a little fast with the production, but I'm enjoying their version of the character nonetheless.  Check it out.

Dynamite's Black Bat #10 Solicitation (March 2014)

Writer: Brian Buccellato
Art: Ronan Cliquet

The Black Bat is forced to deal with the idea of betrayal in his own inner circle. Also, the blowback from his prison break-in escalates as he is declared public enemy number one; and the war against him is brought right to his doorstep.

And...that's it!  Noir ends this month (the solicitation for that book's 5th issue was posted earlier) and Miss Fury's last issue was scheduled for February.  So unless a series similar to Mask or Noir is announced soon, The Black Bat book will be the only relevant solicitation from Dynamite for however long the series lasts.  Here's hopin'.

Noir #5 early Solicitation

The solicitation below was among the "first look" at Dynamite's upcoming books for March 2014.  It appeared on comicvine.com.

Writer: Victor Gischler
Artist: Andrea Mutti

FINAL ISSUE! Lost in the labyrinth of the Templars and separated from the others, Miss Fury must outwit the demented Minerva and the Mohawk Akash. Meanwhile, The Black Sparrow has problems of her own. The sadistic Orlando has overdosed on Dr. Ravels super serum and he's out for blood. And just what is the lost treasure of the Templars that the Mohawks guard so jealously? Find out in the exciting conclusion of NOIR!

With the regular Miss Fury series coming to an end in February, it's easy to get the sense that this may be the last we see of this character for a while.  However, writer Victor Gischler made an interesting comment during an interview recently when asked about his dream line-up for Noir.

VG: I don't really know what the plans are beyond this first arc. But the real dream for a book like this is that the line-up could always be changing. Sparrow and Miss Fury this time ... maybe Miss Fury and Green Hornet next time. Or The Back Sparrow and Doc Savage. You could crack open a beer and daydream about the possibilities all day.

Sure could. I don't expect additional volumes of Noir, but there's nothing to suggest that a similar limited series could not appear in the future.  Dynamite has apparently developed a strategy along the lines of late, and Miss Fury's time-hopping aspect may make it easier to include her in any number of books.  So here's hoping.