The Black Bat Omnibus, Vol. 3, coming "soon" from Altus

The term "soon" has yet to be defined, but it's soon enough that Altus Press was comfortable enough to mention it on their Facebook page this past weekend.

I'm actually most curious about the first story, The Black Bat's Flame Trail. It is the seventh Black Bat story overall but the first to not be written by Norman A. Daniels.

Rather, the story is credited to Whitney Ellsworth and what makes that interesting is that Ellsworth worked on Batman for DC Comics at around the same time as he was involved with The Black Bat. The Black Bat Companion includes a quote from Bill Finger in which he states that "through Ellsworth's intervention, a lawsuit was avoided" between DC Comics and Black Book Detective publisher Better Publications.

My understanding it that there are glaring differences and errors in Flame Trail, particularly involving the supporting cast, that make it glaring that Daniels did not write the story.

But even if Ellsworth has contributed only one Black Bat story out of the 60+ that appeared in Black Book Detective, and that story feels awkward in the collection, he may have had a major impact on the character "behind the scenes". So I'm eager to see his "in print" contribution first-hand.

Also, Altus has been slow to release these Omnibus volumes in the past. Let's hope that this signals the start of a little run. Volume two was released in April 2013, three years after the first volume. Maybe the gap between releases is narrowing, finally.

Masks 2, Issue 6 solicitation

Writer: Cullen Bunn
Art: Eman Casallos 

Cast though the time stream, the masked heroes of three different eras find themselves face to face with the sinister forces that spawned the Red Death… the menace who has laid waste to the world! 

But wild adventures through time have brought about amazing… and sometimes horrific… changes in the Shadow, Green Hornet, Black Sparrow, and the others. In order to set things right, the league of heroes–(as) you’ve NEVER seen them before–must band together in hopes of saving all of reality.

Quick Look at the Legenderry Black Bat

Bah. Dynamite so often displays potential only to bungle it.

I will forever defend the modern day Black Bat series that Dynamite released last year. I have no problem with publishers attempting to modernize certain properties. There were certain aspects I didn't care for, mostly surrounded the handling of The Black Bat's usual supporting cast, but the story itself was good and well-delivered, in my opinion.

The mention of a Black Bat in the steampunk-styled Legenderry:Vampirella book was intriguing. Dynamite seemed to have done a nice job with Red Sonja, Green Hornet, The Phantom and a few others, so what would they do with The Black Bat?

This (as displayed on bleedingcool):

Meh. Instead of getting a character often incorrectly accused of being a Batman ripoff, Dynamite delivers what appears to be a Man-Bat ripoff.

I'll get the book (digitally) at some point, but where some characters seem to have potential right from their first appearance on the page, this one is the exact opposite. I don't want to judge the character on one image alone, but it doesn't really excite the imagination. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised.

Black Bat gets in on the action in Masks 2

The third issue of Masks 2 was released today, and The Black Bat makes his grand appearance in the series.

I don't think this falls under the spoiler category. We knew we were getting the modern day version of The Black Bat. We knew that Masks 2 would span three eras. We knew the first two issues of the series focused on the 40's and the 70's. Therefore it stood to reason that Bat would show up in this issue.

Long story short: Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt is fighting a huge bastard on a ship. After Cannon's best shot doesn't seem to be particularly effective, The Black Bat enters the fray:

As has been the case for a while with Dynamite books, this appearance seems to disregard the character's previous material in his own book. They handle(d) The Green Hornet this way. GH's presence in some other Dynamite books (such as Dark Nights with The Shadow, or these Masks books) all seem independent of one another.

Same with The Black Bat in Masks 2. The basics are there: The costume, the guns...But while the ending of the final issue in his series would have prevented him from participating in this story, his presence is not at all explained. And he leaves the scene above in some sort of "Bat Boat". *ahem*.

Ah well. It's early. Let's see where this goes.

The Black Bat fronts The Gangbusters!

The Black Bat Mego style action figure released earlier this year by Nemo Publishing was, I thought, cause for excitement. Yes, it committed the (unforgivable to some) crime of including ears on the cowl, much like a similarly-themed DC comics character, but let's face it: ANY Black Bat action figure is progress. I know not everyone agrees with that assessment (I have a similar opinion about The Green Hornet movie) but here's the thing: you're wrong and I'm right. ;-)

Writer / artist Jay Piscopo's appreciation of, and fondness for, pulp and/or public domain characters is quite evident to anyone who follows his art page on Facebook. He has his own versions of several of those characters and a tendency to group them in teams around a theme, sometimes including his own creations. The Black Bat, in this case, is included in a group called The Gangbusters.

Nemo Publishing has a couple of books available for purchase already including a Captain Midnight special drawn by Piscopo and written by Bryan Augustyn, also carried by Moonstone.

I have no idea whether Mr. Piscopo plans on publishing comics involving The Black Bat to some degree, but I would certainly be interested if he did. Even if his Black Bat has ears.

Faces of Fear update in the Airship 27 Podcast

The Airship 27 podcast is presented by pulp veterans Ron Fortier and Rob Davis. Being that both men are working on the Black Bat / Purple Scar book from Moonstone, they don't mind discussing a project from a "competitor".

The Podcast is an hour long and the two discuss upcoming Airship 27 projects (which involve Secret Agent X and Ravenwood, if you happen to be a fan of one or both of those characters) prior to moving on to Faces of Fear at the 27-minute mark or so.

Click on the Airship logo below to listen in. Davis' plans for the interior illustrations sound interesting.

Masks 2, Issue 5 solicitation

Writer: Cullen Bunn
Art: Eman Casallos 

The Red Death has sprung a dangerous trap, scattering our masked heroes through time. From the prehistoric era to the post-apocalyptic future, the Shadow, Green Hornet, Peter Cannon, Miss Fury, and others face dinosaurs, murderous masqueraders, and mutants! Along the way, they uncover the terrible truth about the Red Death.

Sanctum Books to reprint The Black Bat starting in July

Looks like we'll have another option for Black Bat reprints before long. The information below was first found on the Pulp Coming Attractions Facebook group.

Sanctum Books presents the 1939 novels that introduced the caped crimebuster whose adventures paralleled Batman's and inspired Two-Face's origin, written by Norman A. Daniels.

Read the classic pulp thrillers that introduced the costumed hero recently featured in Dynamite's Masks series.

First, doomed to darkness by a murderous acid attack, D.A. Tony Quinn makes darkness his weapon with "The Brand of the Black Bat."

Then, "Murder Calls the Black Bat" into a deadly war against corruption as Tony Quinn battles to prevent the biggest jewel haul of the century!

Plus, the debut of The Mask from Nedor's Exciting Comics #1.

Altus has been working on a multi-volume omnibus, but it's slow going. They release three stories at a time but only have two volumes available to this point, as well as the Companion book (all linked at right). A few weeks back I asked them, through Facebook, when they expected the third volume to be released and the answer was simply "this year".

I have no experience with Sanctum but if I have the correct website, they certainly seem prolific. Get a load of this list of releases. If they get the material out faster, I'm switching teams.

Masks 2, Issue 4 solicitation

Writer: Cullen Bunn
Art: Eman Casallos 

Heroes from across time meet, the bizarre origins of the Red Death are revealed, and an insidious trap springs shut. A dangerous adventure unlike anything you might expect awaits as the masked vigilantes of three different eras! The epic team-up of The Shadow, Black Terror, Miss Fury, Peter Cannon, Green Hornet, The Spider, and more continues, courtesy of Deadpool writer Cullen Bunn.

April 10th Bullet Points

Just a few small points that don't quite inspire a full post.

1. Now we know which Black Bat will participate in Dynamite Entertainment's Masks 2.

There he is in a group shot in the first issue (by The Shadow's right elbow). The image is a vision of sorts; the character doesn't actually appear in-story.

Frankly, when the series was announced I thought the 1940's version from the first volume of Masks was more likely to appear, or a new version based in the present. Judging from the distinctive "bat teeth" chest emblem, it seems to be the same one that had a 12-issue series recently.

Without giving anything away (even though the Black Bat's book has been out for months now), that's actually a little disappointing because the series had a fairly unique, definitive conclusion. I'm concerned that his inclusion will clash with it and trivialize it. We'll see.

2. For all that the various Black Bat projects planned by Moonstone Books, such as Guns of The Black Bat, Danger Coast to Coast and Faces of Fear, were said to be coming out "later this year", the publisher revealed its August solicitations earlier this week and there is still no Black Bat to be seen. So it'll be at least September until any of these are made available. Kind of a drag, but in the meantime...

3. Day of the Destroyers is out!

You may have noticed that Gary Phillips drew our attention to the book's release in a comment to an earlier post (see April 4th). This is appreciated because these things aren't always extremely clear (yet they seem so simple from the outside looking in...).

I knew the book was being released "soon" but that's often a relative term. Amazon (both the ".ca" version for we Canadians and the .com one) displayed different release dates later in the month, no less, complicating matters somewhat. But the Moonstone website's store now includes it in both softcover and limited edition hardcover versions, available for order immediately. If you've been waiting for this book, have at 'er.

I don't know how much of a presence The Black Bat has in Day Of The Destroyers, but its presence enough that he's named in the solicitation as a "guest-star" (along with The Phantom Detective and The Green Lama). The book contains 12 stories told over 276 pages.