Bud's Closeout Sale!

Bud's Art Books website has a Closeout Sale section to which I'd like to draw people's attention. The Sanctum Books Black Bat reprint material has been on sale there for some time and continue to be as I write this, along with many others including The Phantom, The Shadow, The Avenger, The Phantom Detective and Doc Savage. Check that out here. 

I took advantage of the sale and snatched two books that I might have otherwise waited on. The first was Gentlemen Prefer Domino Lady from Moonstone Books. I had planned on ordering it when Moonstone's June 2022 Triple Threat issue became available, but I couldn't pass up Bud's sale.

I was aware of a Black Bat guest-appearance in one of the stories in this anthology. What I did not know was that the story in question is Kill The Lady Goodbye by Taylor Grant.

That story has been available for download for some time on Amazon. I purchased it shortly after its release in 2017.

I admit to being initially somewhat disappointed at not getting new Black Bat material, but I'm pleased that I have this one in print format now, and a bunch of Domino Lady stories to get into. I believe every story has a guest appearance from characters such as the Phantom Detective, the Woman in Red, and Ravenwood.

The other acquisition was the fifth issue of Sanctum's Black Bat reprint series. 

I've added Market of Treason to the Recommended Reading page. It's notable for being the book in which the Black Bat sheds his cape but is entertaining regardless of that milestone moment.

The rest of the team is heavily involved, particularly Butch, which isn't always the case. McGrath can be said to score a rare win in his rivalry with Anthony Quinn as well. A one-sided rivalry is no rivalry at all, so you can't help but be a little happy for him.

And we get to meet his wife again! In reviewing a past issue, I mentioned that Mrs. McGrath had a few lines and how that came as a surprise, as she so often seemed to be out of town or otherwise unavailable when a scene takes place at McGrath's house.

That book was from 1948 while Markets of Treason was published in winter of 1944. I was unaware that we'd heard from Mrs. McGrath so much earlier. It tickles me that she is given the first name of Mary in Markets of Treason while Lieutenant/Captain McGrath (rank depends on story) is never given one throughout the entire series.

Something else caught my eye. In a scene in which someone sees Tony Quinn for the first time, Quinn is said to look about 30 years of age. This is as specific as I've ever seen Quinn's age referred to. He is usually described as a being unusually young for a district attorney when he was attacked and lost his sight. That would put him in his mid-20's in 1939. Seems to fit.

Since much of the story was described on the Recommended Reading page, there's no sense in rehashing the rest of the information here. I instead want to point out that I love Sanctum's format for these books.

They are slightly wider than your standard DC/Marvel graphic novel. Perhaps it's a result of reading the original, faded, yellowed material of late, but I found the text and image restoration very clear.

This applies to the Mask comic strip. I'd seen a few of those in the past and I figured they would be tough to reproduce but Sanctum did a good job of it.

There were a number of typos, it needs to be said, but I found those in the original Black Book Detective as well. It doesn't ruin the experience or story clarity. I enjoyed the additional essay providing historical background on the two Bat stories as well.

It's been quite some time since Sanctum reprinted Black Bat stories. They stopped after nine issues (a tenth was solicited, I believe, but never released).

I doubt that they'll resume doing so any time soon but if they do I'll now be more likely to purchase it. The only thing preventing me in the past was that I'd already acquired the material in some other format. But if you are new to the character and want to sample his stories, I would very much recommend these books as a means to do so.

Moonstone Triple Threat, June 2022B

I almost didn't scroll down far enough!

First Comics News shared Moonstone's June solicitations last week. They include one of the publisher's Triple Threat books, an ongoing series of three-story anthologies. Each book seems to run between 70 and 100 or so pages in length for the three stories combined.

Moonstone rarely has many books solicited in any given month. When I saw a Triple Threat issue that did not include the Black Bat, I figured it was another dry month for our favourite characters and was prepared to move on.

That book was labelled "Jun '22A", however, which strongly implies a "B". Clearly, reading all these detective stories has made me mentally razor sharp. Sure enough, there are two issues of the Triple Threat title scheduled for June and the second includes our boy, as seen below. 

Three pulp-action-adventure thrillers! The Lone Ranger stars in “Bad Company”, The Black Bat in “The World is Sick”, and Domino Lady and Judgement star in “Served Cold”!

David Boop has some experience with the character. He co-wrote (with Josh Vogt) one story for Moonstone's The Black Bat Returns anthology called Light And Dark in Symphony teaming the Bat with Domino Lady, and wrote another called The Blind Leading The Brave.

The cover is by John K. Snyder. This particular issue is said to be 70 pages long for $6.49. Even assuming he gets a full third of that page count (which I doubt based on cover prominence), that's not a lot of room for Mr. Boop to work with, but I'm still eager to see what he has in store for us.

Gentlemen Prefer Domino Lady

We may finally be in store for some new Black Bat material after a long, long wait.

The long-awaited Black Bat / Domino Lady: Danger Coast To Coast graphic novel is now said to be in stores as of November 25th. I'll believe it when I see it, but I'll certainly be looking for it on Moonstone's website regularly. 

Speaking of Moonstone's website, for quite some time I avoided buying their New Pulp Fiction book, which features a team-up between the Black Bat and the Purple Scar, because of ridiculous shipping charges. It would have cost me roughly four or five times the cost of the book to have it delivered. I assumed that this was due to my Canadian address but United States residents pointed out a similar issue as well on social media. 

If by coincidence you read this and held off buying from Moonstone for the same reason, give them another look. That appears to be fixed on their website now, right on time.

In addition to the above book, our boy also seems set to appear in a new Domino Lady prose anthology next month!

The City of Angels attracts beautiful people from all over the world with its glitz and glamour. But just beneath the surface is a city stinking of corruption seeded by crime and politics. Enraged by the murder of her father, beautiful socialite Ellen Patrick knows she must break all the rules. She has to become somebody else: Domino Lady, of the sexiest and most elusive crime fighters of all time. Guest starring: The Black Bat, The Phantom Detective, The Green Ghost, Zero, Secret Agent X, Ravenwood, and more! Introduction by Nancy Holder!

Comixzone shows a 200 page count for this one (and 160 for Danger Coast to Coast). That delightful cover is the work of Alex Innocenti. I'm assuming this is all new material (Unlike DCTC which is roughly half new, half reprint) but won't know for certain until we're closer to the release date.

Thank you to Bobby Nash for drawing my attention to this on Twitter, I had not known that this book was even in production.

Domino Lady and the Black Bat by Douglas Klauba

We've been told so many times over the years that the Black Bat / Domino Lady graphic novel is "coming soon" that, at least speaking for myself, it has ceased to generate any excitement. The image below, however, revived that spark when I came across it on comicartfans.

Douglas Klauba, Domino Lady and the Black Bat, soon to be published for Moonstone Books.

As you'll see on the link, its "art type" is listed as "cover". There was already an image from the project shared a year and a half ago which appeared to be a cover shot. Unless that one has been replaced, the above image could be a variant cover, much like the softcover and hardcover editions of Moonstone's last Black Bat anthology displayed different art.

Whatever the case may be, I absolutely love Mr. Klauba's work here. It might just need to grace the walls of my secret crime fighting lab. :-)

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.

New Pulp Fiction Clarified

Moonstone Books recently announced the upcoming release of a book called New Pulp Fiction, but its contents weren't particularly clear to me. Ron Fortier's explanation on various Facebook groups clears everything up.

Last year Moonstone published a limited edition novella, Faces of Fear by Ron Fortier with illustrations by Rob Davis. That book was available exclusively on their website. At the same time Fortier & Davis published the first ever Secret Agent X comic book from Davis’ Redbud Studio. Now both the novella and the comic will be offered in a new package called, New Pulp Fiction, being solicited via Diamond to be released in comic shops this September.

So it's a Fortier/Davis double bill.

While I have no particular fondness for Secret Agent X, I've only read the Kindle version of Faces Of Fear so getting a print one for the collection will be swell. I thought I had seen illustrations (by Davis, naturally) for that book that were not included in the digital copy so there'll be new material to take in along with the Secret Agent X story. Looking forward to this.

Moonstone's New Pulp Fiction Scheduled for September

Upon laying eyes on the cover below, I had to assume that this was the solicitation for the new edition of the Faces Of Fear book that was released by Moonstone last fall. It is a vertically flipped version of that cover with a purple colour scheme rather than orange.

Writer: Ron Fortier
Artist: Rob Davis
Cover: Dennis Calero 

7”x10”, squarebound, grayscale, 146 pgs, $12.99
ISBN: 978-1-936814-53-451299
COMICS & ILLUSTRATED PROSE! 

From Blood and Thunder Alley…dealing out Maximum Justice:
New complete action thrillers starring the Black Bat (can-see-in-the dark two-gun crimefighter), Secret Agent X (man of a thousand faces), and the Purple Scar (who wears a mask of his murdered brother)!

The text above confuses matters a bit though. If it is a "deluxe" edition of Faces Of Fear from last October, can it be called a new action thriller? It actually sounds like three new stories but I can't see applying a re-coloured cover to such a book. Unless that cover is not final.

Also, I don't recall much involvement from Secret Agent X in FOF so does he get a story all his own in this edition, or has he been worked into FOF?

I'll be eager to get a look at a table of contents but since I could only read the Kindle version of Face Of Fear, this will be making its way into the collection even if it is "just" a reprint with a few extras.

Second Edition of Faces of Fear Being Produced By Moonstone Books

The information below was revealed in the Airship 27 podcast that was released earlier today. The original version of Faces Of Fear was only available for purchase directly from the Moonstone Books website or digitally from Amazon. Evidently, the new edition will be easier to obtain.

I'm quoting illustrator Rob Davis as best as I can.

Now (Moonstone Books) is producing a second edition which, when finished, will be distributed by Diamond to comics shops everywhere.  

The new edition also includes a special essay by Ron (Fortier) revealing some of the hidden "Easter eggs" that are featured throughout the tale, a fun feature that you won't want to miss.   

Swell news, being that the book's availability was an issue for me. I was only offered one shipping option when attempting to purchase from the Moonstone website. It would have cost me $50 to have a $10 book shipped to me. I love me some Black Bat but that was too rich for my blood.

If the book is available in comic stores then hopefully it will also hit Amazon and I can purchase it that way. It sucked to have to wait, but the extras that come with the new edition will make up for it, no doubt.

Mr. Davis states that there's a format issue to work out but it should be solicited before long. My guess is that it will be available around mid-summer.

Amazon lists the original print length at 145 pages.

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.

Reluctant Review: Guns Of The Black Bat

I was stoked when this series was announced, bummed (but not surprised) when it turned out to be late, then excited when I saw all three issues available for order from Moonstone's website. I ordered them that morning and they hit my mailbox two weeks later.  Pretty good turn around time, Moonstone, so thank you for that.

So was it worth the wait?

I don't like to review books, frankly.  I've never had a damn thing published and my art skills are at toddler levels. Who the hell am I to judge someone else's work when they're clearly better than I am?

I'll share impressions, knowledge of content and personal opinion but with a reminder that whether or not *I* happen to like something (or not) doesn't make it good or bad. Different strokes and all that.

First things first; I've long had the impression that this project encountered a lot of challenges. Both writing and art credits changed since the covers for the first issue (at right) were revealed. Fortier's name remains, but with co-writer Eric Esquivel taking Shaps' place and art by Paul Delacroix. Also, some pages of art are more detailed than others which makes me wonder if there wasn't a bit of a rush to get the book finished. Entirely speculative on my part, mind you.

As to the cast, I very much enjoyed the variety among the Guns. Staying with the first issue, let's refer back to the solicitation text for a moment.

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.

More signs of changes in original plans. The book actually takes place in December 1940, not 1938. Domino Lady does not appear in this book, however another character does and a few more are referred to. There are a number of Easter eggs for long-time pulp fans, which is always fun.

The book assumes you have some basic knowledge of the characters. Golden Amazon, for example, has some sort of evil voice-in-head deal going on, but it is never explained.

This doesn't take anything away from the book. If anything, it adds an element of mystery. But it does feel as though the first issue might have better served as the third issue out of four or more (and makes one question whether that wasn't the original plan). Several aspects of the book make it feel as though the story of the Guns was meant to continue but as we move to issues two and three, none of the material from number one is acknowledged.

Numbers two and three take place in 1937. Again, being that they are earlier chronologically, they probably should have been released first. In fact, Sylvestre Szilagyi's art is so gorgeous that I feel that releasing issue two as issue one (and three as two, obviously) instead would probably have made a stronger first impression.

Different cast in this two-part story called The Final Phase, but many similarities among the characters. Instead of Air Boy flying overhead, we have Ron Fortier's original creation, Nighthawk. Instead of The Golden Amazon providing a strong female presence, we get the Domino Lady.

These issues do a great job of building the suspense and desparation of a very dire situation, explained in issue two's solicitation text:

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.

I can tell you one thing, there is none of that "decompressed writing" crap. There is a lot of character interaction, dialogue and narration because so much happens so quickly. All three books have a very quick pace. No panel is wasted.

And while there are many "Guns" featured in these three issues, the Black Bat is undeniably the star of the show. A fine balance has been struck.

So yeah, very enjoyable ride and fun concept. I would love this idea to become a Moonstone regular.

It would probably work best as one-shots or two-parters. I can imagine a "core" group of guns (I.V. Frost as the resident scientist type, Nighthawk as the regular provider of air support, etc.) with an otherwise rotating cast. Something like Marvel's Defenders; a "non-team" which nonetheless featured some characters while others came and went.

We'll keep our fingers crossed while we wait for the Black Bat / Domino Lady mini to be solicited and released.  But to those of you who have read and enjoyed these books, take the time to provide feedback to Moonstone if you would like to see more. It may have more of an impact than you realize.

For Halloween, Return Of The Monsters

This is a bit of a frustrating time to be a Bat fan.  There are all kinds of projects on the way, whether comic, novel or reprint, but they are all taking forever to arrive.

So today being Halloween, I took the plunge and bought the digital version of  Return of the Monsters: Black Bat & Death Angel vs. Dracula.

A Return of the Originals event! For the first time in history three eras collide in one place as Pulp Fiction's newest heroine, Death Angel joins forces with Pulp's enduring vigilante The Black Bat to battle the eternal face of horror, Dracula. Mike Bullock (The Phantom) and rising star Eric Johns bring this spine-tingling tale of darkness, lust and fear to you, wrapped in a visceral cover crafted by horror comic legend Dan Brereton.

All right. While I can enjoy a different interpretation of the character, I hated the version by Moonstone from the Return Of The Original "event" which basically fizzled. He was little more than a schizophrenic psychopath, at least in his own oversized book. And I have no love for Death Angel, a character who was unnecessarily shoe-horned into said book.

But this single issue had a few good things going for it, admittedly. Aside from a couple of panels I found confusing, Eric Johns' art is easy on the eyes. And while little attention was paid to The Black Bat's team of assistants in Moonstone's material at the time, McGrath makes a brief appearance in this one.

One the downside, for a book which uses the Black Bat as a selling feature, the character first appears on page 22 out of 30. Death Angel, mind you, is on every single page. Hell, she gets more face time than Dracula! In fact, she basically defeats him!

Setting that aside, this book left open the possibility of these characters meeting again.  But being that it was published in 2011 and it appears that Moonstone now prefers to publish a more traditional version of The Black Bat, it's unlikely to happen.

Still, I may very well include it when I order the print version of Moonstone's Guns Of The Black Bat series. It's not a classic but it would nicely complete the collection of Moonstone's initial attempt at publishing the character. Demonstrating interest can't possibly be a bad thing.

Beyond "Faces Of Fear"

I almost gave up. Almost. I normally listen to the Airship 27 podcasts right to the delightful closing tune but when it seemed like there would be no Black Bat discussion during episode 18, I came this close to shutting her down at the 53:48 mark. But they were moving on to fan questions, there were only about six minutes left in the show, so I said "what the hell" and finished the show.

Quite glad I did. At the last minute (very nearly literally), Ron Fortier brought us up to date on Faces Of Fear, the team up book with The Purple Scar to be published by Moonstone.  A choppy partial transcript of Fortier's conversation with Rob Davis follows (Fortier is speaking throughout):

You and I have done a book for Joe (Gentile, Moonstone Books) called Faces Of Fear in which The Black Bat teams up with The Purple Scar. 

Well Joe was so happy with that particular novella, which should be out (in) maybe another month...Well, at Windy City this year, Joe and I got to talking and Joe said "Would you and Rob (Davis) consider doing another one of those?"

And I said "'m pretty sure we can fit it in our schedule later, for the start of next year". So I said "Are we talking novella and, you know, Rob's illustrations, and all that stuff?" and he said "Definitely". 

And he turned around and told me this: "I'd love for it to feature The Black Bat and Domino Lady". And I went "Okay... " and he goes "Remember that character that you like so much on radio, Ron?...Could we incorporate that character in the story as well?".

So it's basically going to be two classic pulp heroes and the premiere of this classic radio character in print, in prose, for the first time ever.

So what do we know about this character? Prior to relating the details of that conversation, Fortier explained that the character was an inspiration to Stan Lee for the creation of a specific Marvel character.  The obvious answer would be The Spider but he doesn't meet the criteria of being a prose first-timer.

So I'm a little stumped, but it makes for a fun mystery. And it's encouraging to know that the flow of Black Bat material is not on the verge of stopping for a while.

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.

Takeaways From the March 16th's Art's Reviews

Earlier this month, Arthur Sippo hosted five of the writers involved in the "The Black Bat Returns" anthology book from Moonstone. The interview lasts over an hour, but here are the most noteworthy (in my opinion, of course) points touched upon.

1) Most of the stories are re-writes of Spider stories that Moonstone could no longer publish.

This is the lump of coal gift to Spider fans that keeps on giving to Bat fans. If not for the folks holding The Spider's license yanking the character away from Moonstone, we would not have the Black Bat / Domino Lady comic that is (presumably still) coming soon and perhaps not even this book.

Most of the writers explain that they had planned to contribute to a Spider anthology only to find out that they could not, so their respective tales were adapted for the Black Bat. Honestly, there is little evidence of this as one reads the stories. The transition from one character to another is rather seamless.

2) Green Lama fans really should get this book. 

Writer Adam Lance Garcia explains that his story is his take on the Green Lama's return to New York from the Tibet (?) and essentially the character's first adventure under that name.

So while The Green Lama appears in only one of the nine stories, it's a rather important one for the character. And that's because...

3) Moonstone may be working towards a true shared universe.

This wasn't the first "first" mentioned during the interview. Black Bat Returns also features the first encounter between our hero and Domino Lady (and The Golden Amazon, for that matter).

I don't know how tight the continuity might become but there is a fair amount of discussion around trying to get all the various projects somewhat connected.  Whether this is something the writers are taking on themselves or a Moonstone-driven initiative, at the end of the day they want to build a certain consistency so that the Domino Lady that you read about in one book is the same in every book, for example.

Pay attention, DC Comics.

4) We have quite a few more "qualified" writers now.

A couple of the writers admit to knowing precious little about the character prior to writing (or adapting) about him but having since developed a fondness for him. Nice to have the talent pool get a little deeper as a result of this book's publication.

5) McGrath doesn't have a first name. 

Well, son of a bitch. And here I thought I was just unable to find it.

I wish this interview had taken place months ago, it would have saved me a bunch of time. If I ever do come across one when I'm further along in the original stories I'll be sure to make a big deal out of it.


While those might be the key points, a lengthy round-table style interview such as this one naturally has far more to offer. I would suggest listening in regardless to hear each writer detail his inspiration for his specific story or for more discussion about Domino Lady, Honey West and a slew of upcoming projects from the cast.

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.

Faces Of Fear Solicitation!

Good stuff! Maintaining a fairly steady monthly stream of Black Bat content starting next month, our hero's team-up with The Purple Scar will hit stores in July.

The BLACK BAT & The PURPLE SCAR
“Faces of Fear”
Illustrated novel 

Story:  Ron Fortier
Art: Rob Davis 

Cover: Dennis Calero
100pgs, grayscale, 7” x 10”,
$9.99 

ISBN: 978-1-944017-04-0 

When dead gangsters begin appearing all over New York, the Black Bat and his team find themselves on the trail of a merciless crime boss known as Mr. Mask. 

At the same time a strange vigilante known as the Purple Scar enters fray, but is he friend or foe? 

Will even the pairing of the Black Bat and this mysterious new crime-fighter to solve the mystery of the Faces of Fear?

And dig that killer cover by Dennis Calero. This should be a blast.

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.