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.

Day of The Destroyers: Jimmie Flint, Agent X-11, must save America

Moonstone continues to give The Black Bat the attention that Dynamite fails to provide (wish they'd do the same for Miss Fury) although I admit I'm unsure as to whether I'll get this book.  It seems as though The Black Bat's contribution may be relatively small.  Still, it might make for a good introduction to some other characters from the era.

Authors: Ron Fortier, Adam Lance Garcia, Gary Phillips, Paul Bishop, Eric Fein, Tommy Hancock, Aaron Shaps, & Joe Gentile 

Cover: Fernando Ferreiro 

6” x 9”, Softcover, 276pgs, $13.95
6” x 9”, Hardcover, 276pgs, $23.95

Based on a real historical event during the Roosevelt administration! 

Guest starring pulp heroes The Green Lama, The Phantom Detective, and The Black Bat! 

Day of the Destroyers is an all-original linked prose anthology – each story is part of a larger arc wherein Jimmie Flint, Secret Agent X-11 of the Intelligence Service Command, battles to prevent the seditionist Medusa Council from engineering a bloody coup overthrowing our democracy. 

Agent X-11 fights across the country preventing an aerial assault on Chicago’s rail lines, destroying a secret factory of gas meant to enthrall millions in New Mexico, racing to stop a machine of fantastic destruction in Manhattan, and so much more! 

Written by pulp fictioneers: Ron Fortier, Adam Lance Garcia, Gary Phillips, Paul Bishop, Eric Fein, Tommy Hancock, Aaron Shaps, & Joe Gentile. 

Introduction by pulp historian and award-winning author Robert Weinberg! 

The book is scheduled for release in March of 2015 so I have some time to think about it but I gather that pathetic hoarder that I am, I'll likely end up getting it as long as the Black Bat that appears is a more traditional one.  I didn't care for the version that Moonstone introduced a few years ago, but they seem to be drifting away from that one.