At Last! The Black Bat Archives, Volume 7

I had completely given up on this. I'd written to Steeger Books a couple of times to ask if there would a seventh volume to their archive series and while they responded in the affirmative at the time, it was so long in coming that I just assumed that the project had been canned.

I believe volume six was released in 2016. Hell, Steeger Books was still named Altus Press at the time. 

In The Black Bat Archives, Volume 7, Anthony Quinn, the blind former District Attorney turned masked crime fighter, faces off against chilling new enemies. In “The Faceless Satan,” Quinn must battle a shadowy criminal mastermind, while “The Murder Prophet” sees the Black Bat racing against time to stop a mysterious figure whose death predictions come true. Finally, in “The Nazi Spy Murders,” Quinn is drawn into an international conspiracy threatening America’s war effort. Packed with intrigue, suspense, and action, this volume brings to life three unforgettable pulp adventures featuring one of the most iconic heroes of the golden age!

Laurence Donovan penned The Murder Prophet in this compilation, while the other two stories are by Bat creator Norman Daniels. All were published in 1942. Of note, Daniels also wrote a story called The Murder Prophet, but that one was only released in 1947.

Coincidentally, Murder Prophet was one of the books included in the digital package I purchased (see November 22nd post) and the one I'd chosen to read next. The style is undeniably different than Daniels' material, but unlike some other "non-Daniels" stories, it has at least avoided errors with the characters' names and major inconsistencies with their personalities. It may turn out to be one of the better Bat tales from someone other than Daniels. 

I'm very eager to get this one on the bookshelf and hope that we don't have another eight year wait for volume eight to become available! Click on the cover to be taken to Steeger's page. 

Digital BBD

Want to read the original Black Bat stories on the cheap? An account named My Books And Magazines on Etsy offers an easy method by which to do so.

17 BBD books, each scanned as a pdf file. The entire issue is scanned, not just the Black Bat material, so you get the various other stories that were included in the original magazine, the art, the advertisements, letters to the editor, the whole deal.

Of course, you also get the occasional page tear, smudge, etc. I haven't come across any such flaw that affects the ability to enjoy the story, however. 

The first book in the collection is The Black Bat Strikes Again, the third in the original series. Sadly, the bundle does not include Brand of The Black Bat, the character's first appearance, but that one should be easy enough to track down in some format or other separately.

The last offering (chronologically) is technically the final Black Bat story as well, entitled Hot, Willing, and Deadly, however I believe that is strictly a Tony Quinn mystery and that he never appears as the Black Bat as such.

Applying that criteria, the final Black Bat story would be The Killer Who Wasn't, and it is included in the collection. 

It should be noted that not counting HW&D, three of the remaining stories were not written by Black Bat creator Norman Daniels. Those tend to be inconsistent with Daniels' work and, in my opinion, of lesser quality. 

All told, this is an excellent, inexpensive way to sample the character's adventures throughout his original publishing period. Have a look around, a great many other pulp novels are offered in the format as well. Click on the image above to be taken to the page in question. 

Pulptober

Canadian artist Scott Chantler issued a fun challenge on his Instagram account at the end of last month, to run throughout October.

Each day, fellow artist were tasked with presenting their takes on the following classis pulp characters. Yay to Scott for including The Black Bat at #15.

I have yet to find my way through all the results, but among those I've seen, the work of Scott Brian Woods below was a personal favourite. 

And below we have Mr. Chantler's own contribution for that day. 

I'm about to go on a little Black Bat art hunt then! If you're inclined to do the same, or to see the various interpretations of the other characters on the list, simply search the pulptober hashtag on Instagram.

Die Schwarze Fledermaus: Power-E-Book #1

Blitz Verlag continues to be a great friend to fans of The Black Bat who can read German. They have over 60 of the character's stories published currently, mixing of the Black Book Detective classics with some newer material, and eight more on the way next April.

While checking out their website for news, I also came upon the cover below. 

As the top banner explains, this is a compilation of four Black Bat stories, but available in e-book format only. It collects the first four that Blitz-Verlag published as a series. Those include BBD originals Brand of The Black Bat, Murder Calls The Black Bat, and The Black Bat Strikes Again, as well as a recent tale by Angelika Schroder called "Ein Harmloser Fall". I believe Schroder's story was first published in 2014.

The art is by Mario Heyer, a frequent contributor to Blitz's cover art, and the book can be purchased from Amazon.

The Black Bat: God Complex, from Leviathan Labs

Any discovery of a Black Bat project is cause for excitement, but there are always questions about how faithful it is to the original source material and will be in the future.

The comic book below was found by chance while looking for cover art to German publisher Blitz-Verlag's reprints of the original Black Bat stories. It appears to have been released this past spring, by Italian publisher Leviathan Labs, with the second issue scheduled for early next month.

The solicitation text under the cover image went through the Google Translate grinder, so do not blame writer Niccolo Testi if it's a little clunky. 

Like pitch black, evil and corruption roam the filthy streets and the most oppressive alleys. It is in these places that Black Bat finds (his) origin, between madness and gunpowder, among hardened and corrupt criminals of all sorts. The city, like a sleeping Leviathan, lies beneath him, under the buildings and neon lights that accompany the disturbances and violence that will follow the black bat.

From what I've been able to piece together, the character's stories are set in a modern-day superhero universe. He is a former criminal turned vigilante following the death of his wife. I see no indication of heightened senses as a result of a period of blindness or any such, at least not from my limited exposure to the first issue so far.

Then very little remains of the original character, even though there's no question that this Black Bat was based on the 1940s version by Norman Daniels. That is made quite clear on Leviathan's social media accounts and mentioned in the book. Nevertheless, the book does look quite good so I'll support it and see where it goes.

While I prepare to do some translating, here's a look at the cover for the second issue, as well as some interior art by Gabriele Schiavoni. 

Don't Be Fooled!

Maybe you're fortunate enough to have never watched Rise of The Black Bat. I can assure you that the recently-found image below makes it look like a far, far better film than it is. 

My hopes that a new version of the film (or a new one altogether) was in production were dashed against the rocks rather quickly. Further inspection revealed that this is actually the background image used for the original 2012 movie's Amazon Prime Video presentation.

Rise of The Black Bat is currently sitting at a rating of 1.3 out of 10 on IMDB, and that is assisted by the occasional reviewer grading it a 10 as a cinematic masterpiece or some such. It's difficult to determine if those reviewers are supportive friends/family of the cast/crew, being sarcastic, or suffered a number of concussions in the past.

Whatever the cause, do not let the "repackaging" of this film con you into watching it and directing you towards a downward spiral of self-loathing by emphasizing your inability to make sound decisions. Just...Don't.

Black Bat GN Cover

 A recent Instagram post by artist Mike Belcher confirms that AMK Comics' Black Bat graphic Novel is still...well...it hasn't been completely set aside. 

I didn't include the image here upon first seeing it on IG last week because I thought I'd done so in the past. After inspection, it appears I was remembering a different one and this was indeed a new reveal by Mr. Belcher. Very good, we'll keep an eye out for more. 

The Bat, Volume 1

Well, ain't that something? Only a few days after stating that a Lucky Comics compilation of its three 8-page The Bat books didn't appear to be on the horizon, there it is on Amazon.

The Bat Volume I

The Golden Age Black Bat's legend continues with the Adventures of Michael Quinn --The Bat!

A string of murders in Hill Top City leaves only one credible suspect: The Bat! Can Detective Kelly and Cyber Jane uncover the truth behind the crime spree or will the mysterious caped vigilante rule the streets? 

Collects The Bat 1-3 (24 pages)

Words John Michael Helmer and Dan Solano

Art by Dan Solano

Edited by Michael Waggoner

I tracked it down by searching for Lucky Comics on Amazon, then selecting John Michael Helmer as an author from the write-up for one of the anthology books. Trimming down the search results this way helped a great deal.

It would be easy to take a wrong turn here, however. There's a separate author named Michael Helmer as well and Amazon seems to be confusing the two, so make sure you select the "John Michael" version.

The book is also available on drive-thru, as usual. You can take advantage of that option at this link. 

It's been a while since I've had the opportunity to enjoy a (Black) Bat comic book! Looking forward to its arrival!

The Lucky Comics Anthology Books

Let's see...

• Four issues of Black Bat Tales
• Two guest-starring roles in Beetle Girl 
• One Free Comic Book Day feature
• One appearance in Dixie Squad
• One spotlight in Pulp Legends
• One story in Unknown Tales
• Three books of his own "The Bat" series

By my math, that's 13 times the Black Bat has shown up in a Lucky Comics series, whether we refer to a version of the character set in the present, or to a more traditional one set in the 1920s or 1930s.

This past fall, Lucky Comics made a number of their stories available on Amazon in an anthology format and the Black Bat has found his way into a couple of the more recent issues. The first of these is issue #9. 

He is displayed on the cover but the material in which he's included is actually one of his guest appearances rather than from one of his own titles. Issues #8 and #9 of Beetle Girl are reprinted in this book. The Bat features prominently in the latter.

Art by Saulo Silva

He's a much bigger deal in issue #11 of the anthology book.
 

This one also collects a guest-appearance, from Beetle Girl #11, but the first issue of The Bat is included as well. The character appears in two of the three books featured in this anthology.

Art by Geanes Holland

That's the most recent issue to be released, so unless I missed something along the way, there are still ten "Bat books" that can (and should) be reprinted.

I'd love to see a compilation of all the Black Bat material in one paperback edition similar to what was done for Beetle Girl. There's no indication that's on the horizon but if it does materialize, I shall make it mine. For now, here's the link for issue #11 of Lucky Comics.

O Morcego Negro

The image below was among the results of a search for "Black Bat" on flickr.com, of all places. Hoping to perhaps come upon someone sharing pulp-related art, I was instead rewarded with an early 1950s cover to a Brazilian publication spotlighting the Black Bat. Clicking on the image will take you to the page on which it was found.

The poster, going only by Komic-Kazi, has an album specific to that publication. All images appear to have been added during the second half of 2022.

I've tracked down the following information from Komic-Kazi's Facebook page.

Komic Kazi International has been involved in archiving and researching international comics and art on a scale not seen before.

Founded by Mr. Ott and assisted by his sons, Skye, Stefan, and Shawn this family owned and run operation has been collecting vintage comic books and comic art for over 50 years.

Their total collection includes over 125,000+ rare international issues and thousands of pieces of original published comic book art from across the globe. Both the rarity and high state of condition of their holdings cannot be overstated.

I know nothing about X-9 Magazine specifically but Komic-Kazi's displays helps a great deal.

At a glance, the ones featuring the Black Bat seem to range in publication date from 1942 to 1958. Many of the covers are near-replicas of the Black Book Detective ones and the titles, translated from the Portuguese, would also suggest that most stories are reprints of the original material.

Neither of those two criteria apply to the cover displayed above, however, unless "Simpson's Curse" is an original story under a different name. Either one of the great many German stories was translated into Portuguese instead or, much like the German novels, publisher O Globo also put out a few original tales of their own. 

The most recent update to the album was Christmas day. Hopefully Komic-Kazi has more to share. This has been a fun find.