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.

Guns Of The Black #2 Bat Preview Art

Courtesy of Ron Fortier. I've been away from the internet for a few days.  The message below is from Mr. Fortier, originally posted on August 4th on his Facebook page  .

I want to personally thank all of you who picked up Moonstone Comics' GUNS OF THE BLACK BAT # 1 yesterday upon its release to comic shops. Writer Erick Esquivel and artist Paul Delacroix were the stars of that issue, I being brought on board at the 11th hour to do a little script doctoring. With issue # 2, my participation grew a bit more with artist Sylvestre Szilagyi joining the team. Here's a peek at page #1 of issue #2 as my way of saying thanks for your wonderful support.

It seems like publishing this book has been quite a battle. If my memory is sound, the first issue was scheduled for April but only finally reached stores this past week. And at the moment, Previews World display a release date of December 28th for issue #2. Yikes.

Looks gorgeous though.

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.

Guns Of The Black Bat #3 solicitation

Writer: Ron Fortier
Art: Silvestre Szilagyi
Cover: Michael Stribling 

32pgs, grayscale, $3.50 

UPC: 685239899108 

Domino Lady and the Phantom Detective travel to the Congo to find a life-saving plant as the Black Bat and the rest of his team continue to battle prehistoric humans and animals on the streets of Manhattan..

Might have me a new banner picture coming soon...

Edit: In response to a question asked by a fan on Facebook, writer Ron Fortier identifies the two men on either side as I.V. Frost and Jim Anthony. And Ki-Gor in the middle, but most people probably figured that part out based on past solicitation material.

Guns Of The Black Bat #2 Solicitation

From Moonstone's June 2016 solicitations:

GUNS OF THE BLACK BAT # 2 

Writer: Ron Fortier
Art: Silvestre Szilagyi
Cover: Michael Stribling
32pgs, grayscale, $3.50 

UPC: 685239899085
UPC (variant): 685239899092 

Someone has poisoned Manhattan’s water supply and is turning both humans and animals in to de-evolved monsters and beasts. Only the Black Bat and his assembled team, Phantom Detective, Domino Lady, I.V. Frost and Nighthawk, can hope to stem the nightmare tide and save their city before it is too late. 

RETAILER INCENTIVE: If you purchase 3 or more of Guns of the Black Bat #2, you can purchase a variant…AND you get one variant free!

We'd seen the regular cover quite some time ago (though I believe at the time it was said to be the cover for the third issue) but it looks great with the header. And the variant follows the close-up style used for the first issue.

Guns Of The Black Bat About Ready To Fire!

According to writer Ron Fortier, we will soon see one of the several Moonstone Books Black Bat projects become available.

This should be scheduled for an April, release. The series was supposed to feature The Black Bat at the head of a group of other pulp characters, such as Domino Lady and The Phantom Detective. The cover above no longer seems to indicate that so we'll see what the actual solicitation material says.

In the meantime, I wasn't terribly familiar with Silvestre Szilagyi's work so I went on a brief hunt. The pages below provide what appears to be good sample material and if so, it seems Bat fan are in good hands.

I'll post the full solicitation when it comes out.

Edit: Since the Black Bat Facebook page included the solicitation earlier today, I'll just add it to this post:

Dateline 1938. Hitler and the Nazis have begun their plans to conquer the world. In the states, the crimefighter known as the Black Bat encounters German spies exhibiting strange, unworldly powers. Have aliens infiltrated the Third Reich and is the threat to mankind greater than imagined? Hurriedly the Bat assembles a team of specialists to help him confront this unknown foe: Airboy, Domino Lady, Moon Man, Golden Amazon, and more! They will become known as The Guns of the Black Bat. 

***RETAILER INCENTIVE: If you purchase 4 or more copies of Guns of the Black Bat #1, you will receive 1 FREE variant issue!

The book is listed as being 32 pages in length for $3.50

Guns of The Black Bat, Issue 3, Cover Reveal

The image below was revealed earlier today on Facebook through artist Michael L. Stribling's personal page, and shared a number of times. As it should be, it's friggin' gorgeous.

I haven't seen the cover to the second issue, but the cover to the first is elsewhere on the blog. Click the "Guns of The Black Bat" label. That one displayed an entirely different group of guest star, including The Phantom Detective, The Domino Lady and I.V. Frost.

On this one, we appear to have Airboy, The Golden Amazon, The Moon Man and...someone who looks far too much like The Joker. Writer Ron Fortier named many of the characters schedule to be included in a podcast some time ago but unless that mug belongs to a character that is being totally reimagined, I have no clue who it's supposed to be. Something to look forward to.

Guns of The Black Bat cover

Well ain't this a thing of beauty (lifted from the Black Bat Facebook page)!

Coming later this year from Moonstone Comics - GUNS OF THE BLACK BAT from writer Ron Fortier. This cover is by artist Michael Stribling.

"Later this year" is more vague than I'd like (by necessity, no doubt) but seeing a cover for it makes it feel a little more real. This may be the project I'm most looking forward to in 2015. Seeing my favourite pulp character be the straw that stirs the drink, as it were, is an exciting prospect. Bring it on, Mr. Fortier and Moonstone.

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.