Altus Press has added another volume to their “Companion” series of handbooks on classic pulp series. This one is on The Black Bat, Thrilling’s long-running pulp hero, and one of the very few to last into the ’50s.
Tom Johnson is the main author of this work. It’s an update and expansion of the volume he did for Howard Hopkin‘s Golden Peril Press back in 1990.
We get list of The Black Bat stories, plus an index and overview of each story, with small black-and-white photos of the corresponding pulp cover.
There is information on the main characters, and comments on the works by some of the other authors of the series. There is a brief article on the German Black Bat series, which added several hundred additional stories, and an article on the Batman-Black Bat controversy (the two characters came out so close together that people try to claim that one influenced the other).
As part of a “settlement” with DC Comics, Thrilling promised not to publish a Black Bat comic series in their Nedor Comics line. But in fact they did, but called it “The Mask,” which ran for 20 stories. Nine of the Mask comics are reprinted here, and the first one (an origin story) is based on the origin of The Black Bat.
Toward the end of the pulp run, there remained some unpublished Black Bat stories. What happened to them? Well, we find out in this volume. One, attributed to “Stewart Sterling,” was most likely recycled into another story. One chapter looks at several possible candidates. Another Black Bat story by Sterling, also revamped for another character, is reprinted here in its final format. Also, there’s an overview of what was probably Norman A. Daniels‘ last Black Bat story that was rewritten into a paperback novel with the characters again renamed.
There are also several articles on main Black Bat author Daniels, including a list of all his pulp works, which clears up the authorship of some other hero pulps he worked on.
While this is a great book, I have some problems with it. I saw a few typos, including a glaring one on a chapter name. Also, there are some inconsistencies between some of the material. The listing of the series at the beginning gives all the authors, but this doesn’t quite jibe with a later overview of the series nor the article on Norvell Page and Laurence Donovan writing Black Bat stories.
Also confusing for some readers is that “Stewart Sterling” is pseudonym for Prentice Winchell, but Winchell is only given in the list at the beginning (and credited on the chapter list), but no mention of this fact is given in the index/overview or in the inclusion of his unpublished story. Sterling is given as if it’s the author’s real name rather than his pseudonym. This is really confusing, and I wish this had be made clearer. I prefer using an author’s real name, but citing the published pseudonym(s).
Despite these issues, this volume is a great reference on this character. I’ve gotten several of Altus Press’ Companion volumes and encourage others to do the same.
