Your Annual Reminder that Moonstone is Publishing a Black Bat Compilation Some Day

In February 2014, writer Ron Fortier announced a Black Bat / Domino Lady comic book to be published by Moonstone. It had originally been meant to feature a teaming of The Spider and Domino Lady but the publisher had lost the license to The Spider so the Black Bat was going to take that character's place. Cool beans.

In February of the following year, Mr. Fortier sent out a call for an artist to help put together this book, now knows as "Danger Coast to Coast". Cool title, too!

In May 2017, the project was said to in "its last stages of production" yet in October 2018, we were told that the Black Bat and Domino Lady would return in a huge compilation "this winter". Both claims were made on the Black Bat Facebook group.

And now here's another, from the same source, on Friday night.

...DANGER COAST TO COAST, thanks to letterer Patrick Williams is almost finished...at long last...Our best guess is this giant comic will debut early in 2020 and we couldn't be any happier.

Two preview pages are shared, only one which of features the Black Bat. That one is copied below. If you want to have a look at the other, the post is right here.

No knock on anyone here, I'm sure no one wants to see this book published more than Mr. Fortier and Moonstone books. There have been so many of these messages though that I can't get excited for it anymore. Wake me up when it's available, if that ever comes to pass. With Moonstone, it's usually best to not get your hopes up too high.

"Stay Strong, Black Bat Fans..."

"...he and the Domino Lady will return in a huge Moonstone Comics collection this winter."

These words appeared on the Black Bat facebook page some time yesterday evening.

I assume this refers to a compilation of a Black  Bat / Domino Lady mini-series which has been in the works for years but for a variety of reasons, has yet to see the light of day. In mid-2017, we were told that the book would instead be collected with the three issues of Guns Of The Black Bat from a couple of years ago.

At the time, I'd said "This is Moonstone. Make yourself comfortable, it could be quite some time before this thing sees the light of day."  And here we are almost 18 months later. I would issue the same warning, however that we now have a cover to ogle is certainly cause for optimism.

Black Bat Collection Coming From Moonstone Books

This post from The Black Bat Facebook page, managed by writer/publisher Ron Fortier, catches us up on Moonstone's plans for the character, specifically the mini series with Domino Lady.

Having bought the Guns mini series already, I'm not wild about paying twice for the same material, but so long as the price is reasonable, I'm still getting four issues worth of new stuff. And it's stuff I've waited several years for, so I'm fairly pleased. Maybe the original books will decorate my secret crime fighting lab.

That said...This is Moonstone. Make yourself comfortable, it could be quite some time before this thing sees the light of day. Not trying to be clever, it's just the way it is.

Another Option For a Shootout. Again.

I've been a reader of Will Lill Comics for some time now so seeing The Black Bat named in a preview of an upcoming book was a pleasant surprise.

Here is a preview of our next anthology Fun Adventure Comics! #1 on sale in July.

Stories featured: 

"Alex Miracle" by Lloyd Smith, Ernest Edwards & David Vance
"The Black Bat" by Todd Jones & Lee Oaks
"The Midnight Stranger" by Lloyd Smith & Joe Koziarski
"Captain Jain Marlee" by Ron Fortier & Luis Rivera  

Cover Art: Aileen Oracion, colors by Warren Montgomery

That short story gets around. My first exposure to it was in All-Star Pulp Comics #2 by Redbud Studios / Airship 27. It was then released again digitally by Wicked Wolf Comics in the fourth issue of a book called Wicked Awesome Tales last July. If Will Lill holds true to form, they will offer it in both print and digital format as well.

Here's a sample (unlettered) page.

In other comics news, Ron Fortier mentioned on the Black Bat Facebook page that the third issue of Guns Of The Black Bat by Moonstone Books is the final one.  Unfortunate news but he later added that the plan is to go from that book to the Black Bat / Domino Lady series which is expected to run (at least) four issues.

So that gives us a tentative release date for the first issue of the BB/DL book of October or so. The first issue of "Guns" is late, sadly, but expected to be available this week or next. So it's been a long time coming, but it IS coming.

Some Bat Treats Just Before Easter

Batman fans have a seemingly unlimited supply of merchandise to choose from. Black Bat fans...Not so much.

While looking for content for this blog the other day, I landed on artist Michael Dorman's Dorway Studios site. And I found a couple of items that I very much wanted to add to my hidden crime-fighting laboratory (what most of you call a "basement").

You've likely seen the image at right a few times by now.

I'm not entirely sure where the "Black Bat / Domino Lady: Danger Coast to Coast" comics series project stands. My understanding is that Mr. Dorman has completed the art for the first issue and a different artist will handle the second.

But regardless, the following was posted on the Black Bat Facebook page in October 2014:

Artist Michael Dorman and writer Ron Fortier, the creators behind BLACK BAT - DOMINO LADY : Danger Coast to Coast for Moonstone Comics will both be guest at the Rocky Mountain Con in Denver on Oct 25 - 26. 

To celebrate his first trip to Denver, Mike has done a limited print featuring the these classic pulp heroes in front of the state capital building in 1930. Anthony Lee provided the coloring.

Mr. Dorman sells prints of this image from his website. Now I made a small mistake when I ordered. I believed it was a 7" X 11" image. But it is 11" X 17". So I was quite surprised when I received it.

And damn, it's gorgeous! I love the way the Black Bat's cape hangs over his arms and what I believed was a gun in Domino Lady's right hand is actually a syringe, very true to character. Terrific stuff.

But in actual fact, the primary reason for my order was a 12-page preview of the series' first issue (cover at left).

And it is awesome.  It is full of action, it includes a guest-appearance that pulp fans will appreciate, The Black Bat is completely bad-ass and Domino Lady is her usual seductive self. All this is packed into a half-sized comic, so I can only imagine what the full-length product will be like, assuming it's still on the docket.

Now that my order has arrived, I need to give Mr. Dorman a little praise.

First, because I am ordering from Canada, the online ordering system on his website would not recognize my address (there are no zip codes in Canada). He did the leg work to determine what postage would cost me, which was good. I wasn't spending hundreds of dollars on these items...

That done, he included a few interesting extras in the package. I'm not going to say what they are because I don't want to put him on the spot or create an expectation for anyone else ordering from him. Suffice to say they are a) quite cool, and b) very much appreciated.

Anyway, I would love it if more artists did this. Quite a few talented people have handled the character and it would be fun to gather a portfolio of prints and commissions and such. No doubt there's a cost involved, so I understand if it's easier said than done, just throwing it out as feedback.

As for Mr Dorman, while I provided a link to his site earlier, the store page specifically is here.

Artist Needed for Black Bat / Domino Lady: Danger Coast to Coast

Interesting call sent out by writer Ron Fortier on Facebook earlier today:

The Black Bat - Domino Lady - Danger Coast to Coast I'm writing for Moonstone Comics is in need of an artist. If you have the skills and would like to work on a pulp era series like this, then now would be the time to get your samples off to Joe Gentile at Moonstone Comics. Please, DO NOT send such to me.

Too bad I suck. I'd kill for that gig.

I believe I heard earlier that the artists were determined for the first and second issues of the book. Hopefully this is for the 3rd and/or beyond and not an indication that one of the artists has backed out.

So if you don't suck and are interested, you'd probably be best to contact Gentile through his Facebook page, or by using the Moonstone website contact page.

The above image, which was included with Facebook posting, does not display any Domino Lady I've ever seen. The best guess is that's actually from the team-up with The Purple Scar, (Faces of Fear) but probably indicative of what Moonstone is looking for. Unless the guy in the background is just some thug, or Silk/Butch.

In any event, it's cool as all hell. Credit to whomever drew it.

Highlights of Ron Fortier's appearance on the Art's Reviews podcast

This is a rare two-post day on this blog, but I take that as additional proof that 2015 will be the year of the Bat.

Airship 27's Ron Fortier was a guest on Art's Reviews podcast yesterday and talked about the huge amount of projects occupying his time over the next few months. The bulk of the first half of the conversation was about Sherlock Holmes projects (past and future) but at about the 30 minute mark, the attention turns to The Black Bat for a few minutes.

I attempted to capture the information as best as I could, starting with a project that I'm hearing about for the first time. All quotes are by Mr. Fortier (host Art Sippo may as well have not been involved, he contributed very little besides the occasions "wow").

"Last year I wrote a long Black Bat vs. Doctor Satan story which will be appearing in a new Black Bat anthology from Moonstone."

Fantastic! I was getting tired of The Black Bat appearing in one story in anthologies for Domino Lady, The Spider, and so on. About time the tables were turned in that regard. I knew little about Doctor Satan but have done a little research and this could be quite cool. More on him later.

We are also given a bit more information about the team-up with The Purple Scar.

"Basically it's a novelette...It will have ten interior illustrations by none other than Rob Davis."

Onwards from prose books to comic book projects. The image below is several months old, but for those who may not have seen it yet, you could probably guess that it is meant to be the cover to the Black Bat / Domino Lady book. The art is by Mike Dorman.

"I've taken over writing two series for Moonstone. One of them is called 'Black Bat and Domino Lady: Danger Coast to Coast'...

What I've done is, every two issues we tell a complete story. In the first storyline, the Black Bat story is the 'A' story whereas interspersed between it is the 'B' story of Ellen Patrick out in Los Angeles.

When you get to issue #3, it reverses. The A story becomes the Domino Lady story, in between some of those pages you're going to find the continuation of the Black Bat saga but it's the B story now."

"And then as if that wasn't enough to fill my plate, he (Moonstone's Joe Gentile) turns around and had another comic project in the works that for whatever reason, the gentleman who was writing it took a hike...And it was going to be a pulp team book, much like a pulp version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but with The Black Bat as the primary, central force collecting these pulp heroes...The series itself is going to be called Guns of The Black Bat".

"Any public domain character that you can possibly imagine is sooner or later going to pop up in this series. In the first two issues we've got...Domino Lady is there, The Phantom Detective, Air Boy, I.V. Frost, Ki-Gor The Jungle Lord, Jim Anthony Super Detective and...I got to throw in my own character Nighthawk (sp?), is going to appear there, in comic book form."

So basically, in terms of Black Bat content, the exact opposite of Mask and Masks 2. Where he appears to be a bit part player in those books, he will be the hub character in Guns.

There was also a brief reference to a third volume of Black Bat Mystery. So all very good news, aside from the fact that we don't have a release date for any of them yet.