Good Problem To Have

While becoming more familiar with The Black Bat, I was surprised to find out that much like a pulp version of David Hasselhoff, he became hugely popular in Germany after his popularity fizzled in North America. So after I was done with building the pages that would display covers and art from Dynamite Comics and Black Book Detective, I thought I would try to find as many cover images from Pabel Kriminalroman Fledermaus as I could.

And that has gone far better than I could have hoped.

I found about a dozen of them at first, from various sources, but later landed a bunch more while searching ebay listing from Austria and Germany.

Then earlier tonight, I came across a website which enabled me to search ended ebay listings. With that site's help, I scored about 40 more. Not taking into account the covers which do not display The Black Bat (and therefore are of no interst to me), my collection is becoming quite complete.

The collection has become so large, in fact, that it was becoming cumbersome to have all the covers on only one page. I have therefore broken it down over three pages. And as I continue to add images, then perhaps I'll expand from three to four to five pages, whatever. For now, that's where we're at.

I also came across something a little unexpected. Back in January, I bought one of these German mini-novels because it was cheap and had Canadian involvement. I'm Canadian and that the Black Bat would have anything to do with this country struck me as unusual, so I thought it would be a good issue to sample.

That was issue 498. Well, it turns out that issue 513 also involves Canada and it was also relatively inexpensive, especially for being shipped from Europe. So I bought earlier tonight and apparently I can expect to receive in about two weeks. Merry Christmas to me.

(Chase To Canada)

So while I wait for that to arrive, I'll embellish the cover images I found earlier tonight and start adding them to their respective pages.

Reluctant Review: Guns Of The Black Bat

I was stoked when this series was announced, bummed (but not surprised) when it turned out to be late, then excited when I saw all three issues available for order from Moonstone's website. I ordered them that morning and they hit my mailbox two weeks later.  Pretty good turn around time, Moonstone, so thank you for that.

So was it worth the wait?

I don't like to review books, frankly.  I've never had a damn thing published and my art skills are at toddler levels. Who the hell am I to judge someone else's work when they're clearly better than I am?

I'll share impressions, knowledge of content and personal opinion but with a reminder that whether or not *I* happen to like something (or not) doesn't make it good or bad. Different strokes and all that.

First things first; I've long had the impression that this project encountered a lot of challenges. Both writing and art credits changed since the covers for the first issue (at right) were revealed. Fortier's name remains, but with co-writer Eric Esquivel taking Shaps' place and art by Paul Delacroix. Also, some pages of art are more detailed than others which makes me wonder if there wasn't a bit of a rush to get the book finished. Entirely speculative on my part, mind you.

As to the cast, I very much enjoyed the variety among the Guns. Staying with the first issue, let's refer back to the solicitation text for a moment.

Dateline 1938.
Hitler and the Nazis have begun their plans to conquer the world. In the states, the crimefighter known as the Black Bat encounters German spies exhibiting strange, unworldly powers. Have aliens infiltrated the Third Reich and is the threat to mankind greater than imagined? Hurriedly the Bat assembles a team of specialists to help him confront this unknown foe: Airboy, Domino Lady, Moon Man, Golden Amazon, and more! They will become known as The Guns of the Black Bat.

More signs of changes in original plans. The book actually takes place in December 1940, not 1938. Domino Lady does not appear in this book, however another character does and a few more are referred to. There are a number of Easter eggs for long-time pulp fans, which is always fun.

The book assumes you have some basic knowledge of the characters. Golden Amazon, for example, has some sort of evil voice-in-head deal going on, but it is never explained.

This doesn't take anything away from the book. If anything, it adds an element of mystery. But it does feel as though the first issue might have better served as the third issue out of four or more (and makes one question whether that wasn't the original plan). Several aspects of the book make it feel as though the story of the Guns was meant to continue but as we move to issues two and three, none of the material from number one is acknowledged.

Numbers two and three take place in 1937. Again, being that they are earlier chronologically, they probably should have been released first. In fact, Sylvestre Szilagyi's art is so gorgeous that I feel that releasing issue two as issue one (and three as two, obviously) instead would probably have made a stronger first impression.

Different cast in this two-part story called The Final Phase, but many similarities among the characters. Instead of Air Boy flying overhead, we have Ron Fortier's original creation, Nighthawk. Instead of The Golden Amazon providing a strong female presence, we get the Domino Lady.

These issues do a great job of building the suspense and desparation of a very dire situation, explained in issue two's solicitation text:

Someone has poisoned Manhattan’s water supply and is turning both humans and animals in to de-evolved monsters and beasts. Only the Black Bat and his assembled team, Phantom Detective, Domino Lady, I.V. Frost and Nighthawk can hope to stem the nightmare tide and save their city before it is too late.

I can tell you one thing, there is none of that "decompressed writing" crap. There is a lot of character interaction, dialogue and narration because so much happens so quickly. All three books have a very quick pace. No panel is wasted.

And while there are many "Guns" featured in these three issues, the Black Bat is undeniably the star of the show. A fine balance has been struck.

So yeah, very enjoyable ride and fun concept. I would love this idea to become a Moonstone regular.

It would probably work best as one-shots or two-parters. I can imagine a "core" group of guns (I.V. Frost as the resident scientist type, Nighthawk as the regular provider of air support, etc.) with an otherwise rotating cast. Something like Marvel's Defenders; a "non-team" which nonetheless featured some characters while others came and went.

We'll keep our fingers crossed while we wait for the Black Bat / Domino Lady mini to be solicited and released.  But to those of you who have read and enjoyed these books, take the time to provide feedback to Moonstone if you would like to see more. It may have more of an impact than you realize.

Excelsior's Other Black Bat Project

It's been about two years since Excelsior updated its Black Bat webcomic. I still check in from time to time to see if any progress has been made but it's been clear for some time that this project is basically dead in mid-fight after 18 pages of story plus one cover page.

If that's the case, we might have lost more than it appears. Going back over the images posted in the Excelsior Webcomics Facebook group back in 2012, it seems as though two separate projects were underway at the time.

The webcomic was written by Nick Ahlhelm and drawn by Marc Santiago. Some of the first pictures added to the Facebook group were design sketches by Santiago. Makes sense.

But a few weeks later, artist Edgar Bercasio got into the game with, among other things, this beauty:

There was some discussion within the group about how Bercasio's initial attempt looked too much like that other Bat-themed character (due to pointy ears on the cowl, the bottom half of the face being visible, etc.). This led to the more finished product you see above.

What it didn't lead to was a completed product. The webcomic plodded along slowly, releasing a page every three months or so. But Bercasio, obviously very enthusiastic about the project he was involved with, at one point posted the first page of a story written by Gordon Dymoski.

So apparently there were plans for both a webcomic and a print one. That I know of, nothing ever came of the latter and the former has now dried out. Too bad, because that's some quality work up there.

Here's a look at another image by Bercasio. I assume it was intended to be the cover prior to the redesign of the character's appearance. Still cool.

The Beetle and The Bat

November should bring us the second issue of Lucky Comics' Black Bat Tales but I recently found out that The Masked Nemesis of Crime will also make a guest-appearance in one of the publisher's other books.

Lucky Comics has several irons in the fire but Beetle Girl is arguably its flagship book and character with five issues available as I write this. The above image is the cover to a compilation of issues one through ten and is expected to be available in March. Furthermore, she will be one of the main character in an all-female team book coming soon (December?) which will include this blog's former co-star, Miss Fury.

While promoting the book on Facebook, publisher John Helmer mentioned that issue number seven will feature "BG vs Black Bat".  So we have that to look forward to.

And who is this Beetle Girl? The following bio is provided inside the front cover.

There you have it. Her current issues, and number seven once it is available, can be downloaded from drivethrucomics. Print versions coming soon.

For Halloween, Return Of The Monsters

This is a bit of a frustrating time to be a Bat fan.  There are all kinds of projects on the way, whether comic, novel or reprint, but they are all taking forever to arrive.

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.

The Shootout Takes Place in FAC2 from Will Lill Comics!

I misunderstood an announcement from Will Lill Comics this past spring.

They revealed a preview of their Fun Adventure Comics anthology by listing some of the stories to be included (including a Black Bat story called Shootout At The Dry Martini) in the book and naming the creators involved.

When they stated that issue #1 would be available in July of this year I assumed, in error, that the Black Bat story was going to be included therein. That was not the case. It was, rather, included in the second issue which was uploaded to Drivethru Comics a week ago.

Issue 2 of Fun Adventure Comics! includes 3 great stories: Part 2 of The Midnight Stranger in "Between the Wish and the Thing..." by Lloyd Smith, Joe Koziarski & Warren Montgomery. Todd Jones, Lee Oaks & James Gaubatz brings us "The Paranormal Consultant" and The Black Bat in "Shootout at the Dry Martini". Cover by Bruce Cashman.

I'm a big fan of Drivethru but if print is your thing, the book was also added to IndyPlanet.

Coming this fall from Altus Press: The Black Bat Omnibus Volume 6

Altus continues to keep its promise of a quicker release schedule for the Black Bat Omnibus.

Pulp hero the Black Bat returns! This collection contains the next three adventures of the Black Bat: “The Eyes of the Blind,” “The Blackout Murders,” and “Shadow of evil,” uncut and restored with the original illustrations. It’s the next volume of the complete reprinting of the series.

So the 16th through 18th stories of the series, all written by Norman A. Daniels this time. I'll provide an exact date when one is made available.

Coming Up Next From Lucky Comics...

Lucky Comics took us by surprise last month when they announced their Black Bat Tales series. The first issue, an 8-page comic book, was released a few days later and they then announced plan for the second issue on their blog.

Lucky Comics marches on with their new take on the old Bat! A prose story 2,300 words by legend Lou Mougin.

Who are you calling old? ;-)

Lucky gave us a look at a work-in-progress version of the cover as well, by Eric Douthitt.

Mougin has worked for Marvel (Avengers Spotlight, Inhumans) and Eclipse Comics (Icicle, Sparkplug, Champions) in the past and is currently writing the Flare book for Heroic Publishing.

In prose format, Mougin recently contributed a story called The Big Download for the Legends Of New Pulp Fiction anthology.

Beyond "Faces Of Fear"

I almost gave up. Almost. I normally listen to the Airship 27 podcasts right to the delightful closing tune but when it seemed like there would be no Black Bat discussion during episode 18, I came this close to shutting her down at the 53:48 mark. But they were moving on to fan questions, there were only about six minutes left in the show, so I said "what the hell" and finished the show.

Quite glad I did. At the last minute (very nearly literally), Ron Fortier brought us up to date on Faces Of Fear, the team up book with The Purple Scar to be published by Moonstone.  A choppy partial transcript of Fortier's conversation with Rob Davis follows (Fortier is speaking throughout):

You and I have done a book for Joe (Gentile, Moonstone Books) called Faces Of Fear in which The Black Bat teams up with The Purple Scar. 

Well Joe was so happy with that particular novella, which should be out (in) maybe another month...Well, at Windy City this year, Joe and I got to talking and Joe said "Would you and Rob (Davis) consider doing another one of those?"

And I said "'m pretty sure we can fit it in our schedule later, for the start of next year". So I said "Are we talking novella and, you know, Rob's illustrations, and all that stuff?" and he said "Definitely". 

And he turned around and told me this: "I'd love for it to feature The Black Bat and Domino Lady". And I went "Okay... " and he goes "Remember that character that you like so much on radio, Ron?...Could we incorporate that character in the story as well?".

So it's basically going to be two classic pulp heroes and the premiere of this classic radio character in print, in prose, for the first time ever.

So what do we know about this character? Prior to relating the details of that conversation, Fortier explained that the character was an inspiration to Stan Lee for the creation of a specific Marvel character.  The obvious answer would be The Spider but he doesn't meet the criteria of being a prose first-timer.

So I'm a little stumped, but it makes for a fun mystery. And it's encouraging to know that the flow of Black Bat material is not on the verge of stopping for a while.

Guns Of The Black #2 Bat Preview Art

Courtesy of Ron Fortier. I've been away from the internet for a few days.  The message below is from Mr. Fortier, originally posted on August 4th on his Facebook page  .

I want to personally thank all of you who picked up Moonstone Comics' GUNS OF THE BLACK BAT # 1 yesterday upon its release to comic shops. Writer Erick Esquivel and artist Paul Delacroix were the stars of that issue, I being brought on board at the 11th hour to do a little script doctoring. With issue # 2, my participation grew a bit more with artist Sylvestre Szilagyi joining the team. Here's a peek at page #1 of issue #2 as my way of saying thanks for your wonderful support.

It seems like publishing this book has been quite a battle. If my memory is sound, the first issue was scheduled for April but only finally reached stores this past week. And at the moment, Previews World display a release date of December 28th for issue #2. Yikes.

Looks gorgeous though.