Domino Lady: Blondes in Chains

Well here's a lucky break. Amazon offers one of the short stories from Moonstone's "Domino Lady: Sex as a Weapon" prose anthology (in Kindle format) and it just so happens to be the one guest-starring The Black Bat.

Illustration by Ver Curtiss

Decades before Wonder Woman and Charlie's Angels, pulp fiction's sultry Domino Lady intrigued and enchanted and then disabled and destroyed evildoers in her vengeful quest for justice as she dismantled political machines and exposed corruption in the courts and in the Capitol.

"Blondes in Chains" (7,300 words)

Domino Lady partners with another hero—New York’s former D.A. Anthony Quinn, who secretly operates as the Black Bat. Together they thwart members of the criminal underworld of NYC as well as some apparent pillars of the community and also solve the case of the enslaved missing blondes.

Once again, the story was written by CJ Henderson. Henderson also wrote the recently-mentioned "To Battle Beyond" and "Battle for L.A.", both of which include The Black Bat.

Perhaps it's a matter of having just read To Battle Beyond, but it actually feels like this story takes place a short time after that book. Domino Lady and The Bat seem familiar with one another but I'm only a few pages into it so I may find that's not actually the case.

Either way, for about a buck, you can purchase that one story if you're more of a Black Bat fan than a Domino Lady one.

To Battle Beyond by C.J. Henderson

Ordered today:

In the opening days of WWII, the free world sat in dread anticipation as the Axis turned its deadly attentions on one country after another. With an ocean to protect her on either side, the United States hoped to be spared participation in the apocalyptic confrontation to come. Knowing their only chance was a sneak attack, the Japanese hight command settles on a dark and terrible plan, one involving damnable sorceries and horrors from beyond to cripple the American colossus.

Join us as three of the Pulp Era's greatest heroes--primary Batman inspiration, The Black Bat; The Domino Lady, greatest of the girl detectives; and H.P. Lovecraft's immortal creation, Inspector Legrasse--band together to battle nightmare and ninjas in one of the wildest, most exciting adventure novels of all time!

C.J. Henderson created new adventures for the likes of Kolchak, The Night Stalker; The Phantom, Mr. Moto, Batman, The Punisher, The Spider, Lin Carter's Anton Zarnak; the Avenger and a score of others. Known around the world for his ability to infuse characters with a startling and electric dynamism, New Mystery Magazine said: "If as some argue, the hardboiled private eye mystery story is a literary form on a par with the Japanese haiku or Irish ballad, then Mr. Henderson deserves the mantle of literary master."

Also: A special introduction by Ron Fortier, "Who the Hell Are These Guys?", and "Only an Hour," a new Black Bat solo adventure by C.J. Henderson!

I believe the book is actually from 2008. I was able to locate it on Amazon and that site refers to it as a January 2008 release from Marietta Pub. I found out about it on the very fine Pulp Coming Attraction Facebook Page and their post in regards to it states that "To Battle Beyond returns...".  Their link led to the Bold Adventure Press website which in turn directed to createspace to print on demand.

Assuming that's The Black Bat on the rather abstract cover, that looks to be one rather unusual version.

C.J. Henderson does have some additional history with alternate Black Bats; he penned the Return of the Originals book for Moonstone (which also included Domino Lady). Admitedly, while the story itself is quite good, that is my least favourite version of the character.

Mind you, I don't know that Henderson was responsible for the redesign so I don't want to lay it at his feet. I go into To Battle Beyond with an open mind about The Black Bat, eager for a team-up with Domino Lady and curious to be introduced to Inspector Legrasse.  In light of my post from last night in which I mention my surprise at how often the character is used in team-ups, the timing for stumbling into this book couldn't be more appropriate.

Unfortunately, as you may have heard or been able to deduce from the wording of the solicitation, Mr. Henderson passed away recently.  He died of cancer in early July of this year.