Finally, the ASPC Black Bat has arrived!

Late last week, I received the two volumes of the Airship 27 / Redbud Studio All-Star Pulp Comics I'd ordered some time back and read through them this past Saturday.  As expected, the Black Bat content was small, but entertaining nonetheless.

The story in volume one is written by C. William Russette and drawn by Wayne Beeman. The Black Bat's detective skills are on display here as Russette uses the bulk of the few pages he has to show us how the character approaches a mystery.

It's difficult to elaborate without giving anything away.  The book was released in 2011 but who knows how many people may just now be buying it (hell, *I* just did!).  I'll only say that I thought it was well done on that level and leave it at that.

The second's volume takes a broader look at the pulp era.  Many pulp-inspired stories take place in an urban setting but volume two, for the most part, utilizes a number of different locations and eras.  We get jungle tales, air aces, a little Robin Hood...But the big city backdrop returns for "Shootout at the Dry Martini", a Black Bat story by Todd Jones and artist Lee Oaks.

As the title might give away, there is a fair amount of action in these eight pages.  And I find the art completely, appropriately beautiful.  Here are a couple of (non-consecutive and non-lettered) pages.

Scarring around the eyes.  I'm a sucker for the eye scarring.

I believe work is underway for a third volume of All-Star Pulp Comics, though whether The Black Bat will be included is unknown to me.  The only other character to appear in both books (15 stories in total) is Domino Lady so there seems to be some attempt at variety, including some pulp-inspired original creations.  However a page of art by Redbud Studio's Rob Davis recently posted on the Black Bat Facebook group is certain cause for optimism.

Maybe The Black Bat even gets his own book from Redbud?  Let's see what happens.

New Black Bat Material on the Way: Possibly, Eventually and Literally.

After a quiet spell, there has been a bit of news on the Black Bat / Miss Fury front in the last day or two.

Let's start with "possibly", because it's arguably the biggest one. It's not a huge surprise, but it was kind of a long time coming.

Dynamite Entertainment is proud to announce that comic book writer Cullen Bunn (Deadpool, Magneto) will tackle their wide cast of company-owned and licensed pulp heroes in Masks II. Following upon the success of the bestselling 2012 Masks miniseries, Masks II will unite iconic crime-fighters of singular purpose (if not diverse ideologies and techniques) in an epic miniseries event designed to appeal to both longtime fans and fresh newcomers. Dynamite plans to launch Masks II in late 2014. 

"I couldn't be more excited to be working on Masks II," says Bunn. "I've always loved these great classic characters that I will have the privilege of working with, and I'm striving to keep the tone of the pulps that have always been a big inspiration for me. I'll admit, this project is a little intimidating, because I've put together a very ambitious team-up story that readers will have to see to believe!" 

The original Masks series launched in 2012 with industry fanfare, with its #1 issue ranking among the bestselling independent comic books of the year and selling over 70,000 copies. Drawn to the premise by the work of superstar painter Alex Ross, writer Chris Roberson, and artist Dennis Calero, readers thrilled to an adventure that united classic characters like The Shadow, The Spider, The Green Hornet, and Kato against a cadre of corrupt politicians and their fascist police state. Masks II promises to follow the themes established within that first series, but in a way that's perfect for new readers. 

The presence of The Black Bat or Miss Fury's is not guaranteed but you'd think at least the latter would be included.  Neither character had a huge role in the first volume, but Fury has appeared in the Noir mini and had a digital-first mini in addition to her own book.  She seems to have Dynamite's support.

Over to "eventually".  The following wall message appeared on the Black Bat Facebook page yesterday.

Some very exciting Black Bat news on the way, BB fans. Stay tuned.

That page tends to focus on the work done by Airship 27 and Moonstone Books.  We already know about The Black Bat's team up with Domino Lady being prepared for Moonstone.  My guess then (and that's all it is) is that there'll be either a 3rd edition of Black Bat Mystery (and being that the first two are among Airship 27's best sellers, it's kind of a no-brainer) or a comic book specific to him from Redbud Studio.

Which leads me to "literally".  I ordered both volumes of Airship 27 / RedBud Studio' All Star Pulp Comics from IndyPlanet yesterday.  As mentioned in an earlier post, each book has a healthy page count (58 for volume one, 64 for volume two) but also feature several characters from the pulp era.  So the Black Bat content might be kind of light, but I'll enjoy the other stories and save the Bat for last.

I'll display a page or two from those books when they arrive, and I'll gleefully share the news referred to on Facebook when it's made public.  Looking forward to being able to do both!

Miss Masque vs Miss Fury by John Chalos

Some fun stuff here, lifted from John Chalos' deviant art page.  Make sure to view the full-sized version.

This story is two pages in black and white featuring three characters in the public domain (Miss Masque, Miss Fury, Fighting Yank) and a group of 1940s era Nazi collaborators. I wrote, penciled, inked and hand lettered it. It was published this month in the Public Domain volume of The Gathering by Gray Haven Comics. 

The Black Bat vs Jim Anthony, Super Detective

I'm currently reading the second volume of Black Bat Mystery from Airship 27, specifically completing the second (of four) story, The Black Bat at Bay by Joshua Reynolds.

Because I'm not familiar with all the characters from the pulp era, and partially because of his rather generic name, I didn't clue in right away that the Jim Anthony that appears was himself featured in magazines in the early 40's. The name is vaguely familiar, but that's about the extent of my knowledge about him.

I can understand, however, the appeal of using him in a Black Bat tale. Educating myself through Wikipedia (and sharing below for those who are also unfamiliar), the similarities are evident.

Jim Anthony was described as "half Irish, half Indian, and all-American". He inherited great wealth and physical attributes. He could see in the dark, was super strong, and had a sixth sense. He excelled in several subjects, including physics, psychiatry, and electro-chemistry. He owned businesses around the country, including the Waldorf-Anthony Hotel in New York, where he maintained a penthouse apartment and secret laboratory. There was also the Tepee, his hidden mansion in the Catskills Mountains, and the Pueblo in the southwest, a hotel/resort built at an oasis by Anthony. 

His father was Shean Boru Anthony, an Irishman who had traveled the world as an adventurer, becoming rich in the process. His mother was Fawn Johntom, daughter of a Comanche chief. 

Anthony was aided by several others: 

• Tom Gentry, large, Irish, served as chief pilot, chauffeur and man Friday.
• Dawkins, English butler
• Mephito, Anthony's grandfather, a Comanche shaman who guarded the Tepee.
• Delores Colquitte, daughter of Senator Colquitt and Anthony's love interest. 

The first ten novels pitted Anthony against a variety of super-villains bent on the destruction of the United States. The first three had Anthony go up against Rado Ruric. After Spies of Destiny, the Anthony stories were changed to a more hard-boiled detective stories. This was probably done by direction of the publisher. The larger-than-life elements were dropped, along with most of his supporting characters, leaving only Tom Gentry.

In Black Bat at Bay, we get get the "super" version (though I don't recall Anthony running around wearing nothing but bright yellow shorts).

Frankly, I would have preferred the more "hard-boiled" version.  In a brief commentary following the story, Reynolds explains that he attempted to have the two characters appear to be evenly matched but while working my way through the story, I found that the Bat seemed outclassed.  Without giving anything away, even when the Black Bat got the upper hand on Anthony, it felt as though it was due to the latter allowing it to happen.  Maybe it's just my perception from expecting Black Bat to dominate the opposition.

Speaking of perceiving, please allow me to share this sharp pinup by Andres Labradra.

That's McGrath that The Black Bat is terrorizing, but what I particularly enjoy about this piece is that Tony Quinn's scarring around the eyes is visible.  It's constantly mentioned within the character's adventures yet many artists ignore it.  Writers make reference to a piercing, frightening gaze and Labrada very much captures that. Well done.

The Men of Bronze Black Bat, by way of Moonstone Books

You'll have to pardon any inaccuracies on my part. Most of the sites from which I did my research were written in Spanish and I don't have a good grasp of that language.

I located the image below from the Men of Bronze Studios Facebook page.  "Los Hombres De Bronze" describe themselves as...

...a group of new talent artists (pencillers, inkers, colorist...) with the goal of working -mainly- for the american comic book industry. 

I believe that both pencils and inks are by Antonio Rojo and that colours are by Christian Castellanos.

This is basically the Moonstone Books version of the The Black Bat.  I didn't think much of it initially, assuming that the artists simply appreciated that version of the character.  However, looking through the albums on the Facebook page and finding complete pages gave me a bit of a charge.

For a moment I believed that we were finally going to get something solid out of the "Originals" event that Moonstone hyped years ago.  It did lead to a few books, mostly featuring Domino Lady, but by and large the whole thing fizzled, unfortunately.

Closer inspection revealed it to be little more than a page in someone's submission portfolio, but if Men of Bronze ever decide to publish their own books involving The Black Bat, I'll be happy to support it.

Black Bat appearance in Captain Action sequel (revisited)

The Black Bat's guest-appearance in a Captain Action book was mentioned here before, but we now have a cover and some story details.

Oh, and it's available from Amazon!

The following is from the Airship 27 blog:

While on assignment in Japan, Captain Action is haunted by the woman he loved and lost years ago in the underground kingdom beneath Siberia.  When she mysteriously begins reappearing during his clandestine mission to witness a newly discovered power source, agent Miles Drake begins to question his own sanity. 

Forces are at work to steal two naturally formed energy stones whose limitless power in the wrong hands could destroy the world. When he begins to suspect his alien nemesis, Dr. Evil, is behind these attacks, Drake has to utilize his most daring disguises ever to learn the truth and ally himself with an old vigilante hero from the past. 

Now the one and only Captain Action must walk a delicate tightrope between old and new allies while attempting to discover the source of the threat to the Hearts of the Rising Sun.  If he fails, mankind is doomed!

I wondered about the degree to which The Black Bat would be involved, but if the cover is any indication, he'll play a significant part.  I can't claim to be a huge fan of Captain Action, but there's little doubt that this book will find its way into my little Bat pile.

Super-Team Family Presents #713: Batman and Miss Fury

If you read either of my other two blogs, you're aware of a another with which I have nothing to do but that I enjoy a great deal; braveandboldlost.blogspot.ca.

The blog's premise, as explained on its banner, is quite simple. Ross Pearsall creates mock covers of superhero team-ups that are highly unlikely to ever happen (since the characters involved are from different publishers) but that would be extremely cool nonetheless. Miss Fury was featured on one such cover manipulation recently.

Well done, eh?  If you're any kind of comic book fan, take a look through Pearsall's portfolio.  His blog's a blast.

Black Bat Mystery revisited

I mentioned in an earlier post that I recently acquired Airship 27's first volume of Black Bat Mystery. At the time, I was only a few pages in but was optimistic about it based on the few pages I'd read.

And things held up.  I enjoyed the book a great deal.

Before I go on, I do need to confess one thing; my exposure to the original version of the Black Bat character is limited to the first three stories from 1939 (which I was able to read from the first omnibus offered by Altus).  By no means do I consider myself an expert on the character and because I don't have a definitive version in my mind, I am quite open to modernized or "alternative" interpretations.

This is why, while some purists might have found that the Dynamite version of the Black Bat deviated too far from the source material, for example, I wasn't particularly bothered by that.  In this case, there appears to be a conscious effort by the writers/editors to be as faithful as possible to the original version. Fine by me.  Whatever feels right.

Speaking of conscious efforts, I took some time before writing about the book to go back and read the first two Black Bat stories.  Having done this, I would guess that each of the four writers contributing to this book, knowing what they were tackling, deliberately attempted to create stories that could be slotted between some of the original ones.  In other words, they attempted to write so that a reader would not be able to differentiate between the stories from the 40's and their own.  I could be completely wrong about this, but ultimately it was the feeling I was left with.  Between Dynamite and Moonstone, I've had plenty of the modern version over the past year or so, so a more traditional take was admittedly kind of nice.

If my memory is sound, I believe "Team Bat" (Silk, Butch and Carol) is present in its entirety in all four stories.  But the second story, entitled "A Deal With The Devil" was a particularly pleasant surprise in that it touched into Bat-hunting detective McGrath's background.  Perhaps that happened in the 1940's as well, but not to my knowledge, so the "backfill" was an interesting addition.  Writer Aaron Smith did a nice job handling the dynamic between the two characters, and their reluctant partnership, as well.

If forced to criticize, I suppose I would say that with the possible exception of the first story, "Death Rides The Valkyrie" (by Andrew Salmon), there is not much mystery to Black Bat Mystery.  The antagonists, their plans, and their methods are quite clear, for the most part.

For that matter, several of those antagonists are quite...spectacular, pushing the stories a little closer to the superhero genre than maybe some would like.  My exposure to the original Black Bat is limited to fighting "normal" criminals, not Nazi giants.  Did I mind that Black Bat Mystery's villains had more of a super-hero comic book feel?  Absolutely not, but it may not be to everyone liking, I suppose.

Overall, an enjoyable read and a fine addition to the Bat collection.  I'll get the second volume some time this summer and fingers are crossed that work on volume three is underway.

One to watch: Moonstone's Of Monsters and Men

The following solicitation appeared on Major Spoilers today.  It's for a Moonstone book being released in July.  Unfortunately, the solicitation is lacking in the details department.

Of Monsters & Men sc
Stories: Matthew Baugh, Tommy Hancock
Art: Tom Floyd, David Niehaus
Cover: Fernando Ferriero
200pgs, grayscale, 7” x 10”, squarebound, $14.99 

Return of the Originals AND Return of the Monsters! 

Nine brand NEW tales of PULP HEROES vs MONSTERS! 

The Green Lama, Richard Knight, Captain Future, Green Ghost, Moon Man, and more… 

Battle demons and monstrosities from out of this world!

I'd be awful interested in knowing whether The Black Bat appears in this thing.  I do know that he appears in the hardcover version.  Unfortunately, it's the Black Bat story in which I'm least interested.

Of Monsters & Men HC
Stories: Matthew Baugh, Tommy Hancock
Art: Tom Floyd, David Niehaus
Cover: Fernando Ferriero
300pgs, grayscale, 7” x 10”, squarebound, $24.99

Same as the above but with 100 extra pages that reprint the previously published “Domino Lady vs Mummy”, Black Bat vs Dracula”, and “Phantom Detective vs Frankenstein”!

Perhaps when we get closer to the release date, an actual table of contents will be available.  Because Black Bat has already had his monster battle, I doubt he'll be among the new content offered in the softcover, but we'll bear this book in mind and check in later.

Dynamite Entertainment's May 2014 Bat/Fury solicitations

So obvious even a blind man could see it (see what I did there?), Dynamite ends their Black Bat book at issue #12 in May.

Writer: Brian Buccellato
Art: Ronan Cliquet 

FINAL ISSUE! In the final chapter to this story, the Black Bat is confronted by the unforeseen consequences of his vigilante quest for redemption. He comes face to face with the shadowy villain that has been pulling all of the strings, and must decide how far he is willing to go to save the city.

So who knows if we'll see this version of the character again.  Dynamite CEO/Publisher Nick Barrucci did hint, on the company's message board, at an announcement by the end of February but nothing ever came of that.  In recent months, Dynamite had done a good job of including some of their less-popular characters in limited series with more popular ones, but they seem so focused on the Gold Key and Chaos universes of late that there's little cause to be optimistic about the Bat (or for that matter, Miss Fury) getting that sort of treatment.

Speaking of minis, the Noir trade paperback is also available in May.  I haven't finished the series yet, but I am enjoying it, though the art is a little rough in spots and Miss Fury only shows up at the end of the first book.  Still, interesting story.

On the flip side, I've finished the first volume of Black Bat Mystery from Airship 27 and will definitely be getting the second before long.  More on that later.