The Black Bat – The Politics of Murder

If things proceed according to schedule, we might get ourselves a double dose of Bat goodness come the early fall.

The following is an excerpt from an interview that Pro See Productions did with writer Gordon Dymowski recently.

I’m really excited about what’s coming out from Pro Se later this year – in fact, I’m proud to announce that my novel, The Black Bat – The Politics of Murder will be released in late September. Think of it as “two-gun avenger has a Leverage-style backup team” and you have a great idea of what to expect. 

Yes, it’s the classic character done in modern times. Yes, it stays true to the spirit of the original pulps. But its plot – focusing on how a racial incident leads to the revelation of political corruption – has its roots in the 21st century. I’m proud to take the lead on such a character, and yes, we will see Tony Quinn and his aides take on more adventures!

Dymowski might be the only writer to work with this characters in both prose and comic book format. He recently contributed a Black Bat story to the Always Punch Nazis anthology book and a few years ago his story "The Magnificent Anderson" was included in the third volume of Airship 27's Black Bat Mysteries series. He described the inspiration for that story on his own blog here.

The Black Bat Will Always Punch Nazis

The near future may appear bleak in terms of new tales of The Black Bat but we found out yesterday that before longthe masked nemesis of crime will be punching Nazis right between their beady eyes.

The news came courtesy of writer Gordon Dymowski on Twitter.



I'm proud to say that I solved that mystery in a matter of minutes!

The anthology in question is in comic book form and while it is still in the planning stages, each story should run somewhere between 4-8 pages. The original Black Bat's stories were first published between 1939 and 1951 and therefore the character is no stranger to Nazis. Gordon Dymowski is likewise familiar with the Black Bat, having contributed the story "The Magnificent Anderson" to Airship 27's third volume of Black Bat Mystery.

It appears that Erik Franklin will be handling art duties. Erik also contributed a story to volume three of Black Bat Mystery entitled The Dark Magician and has seen his work included in anthologies for Sherlock Holmes and The Purple Scar as well, among others. I don't know of any published work as an artist, however.

It seems that interest among creators is such that there may already be enough material for a second issue. They do want to get the first one out there quickly though so it should not be long until we...

"Gordon Dymowski on Black Bat Mystery, Vol. 3 and much more!"

Gordon Dymowski contributed "The Magnificent Anderson" to Airship 27's third volume of their Black Bat Mystery series and joined Art Sippo for a chat about that story among many other topics.

Click on the link below to be taken to the First Comics News page from which you can listen to the conversation. The Black Bat content starts at about the seven minute mark or so.