Faces of Fear is a work that teams up two Thrilling heroes: The Black Bat and The Purple Scar. And it’s written by Ron Fortier, who has been doing new stories with both, so he understand them. Through Airship 27 he has overseen several new collections with both characters.
But this work is from Moonstone. You actually have two ways of obtaining this. One is a stand-alone book from Moonstone; the other is in a volume titled New Pulp Fiction that also includes a Secret Agent X comicbook story. It’s the later that I got.
A quick rundown on these characters. The Black Bat is former DA Anthony Quinn, who was blinded by acid. After a secret surgery that give him the eyes of a deadman, he creates the Black Bat to go after criminals. In addition to regaining his sight, Quinn’s new eyes also allow him to see in the dark In this, he is assissted of a trio of aides.
The Purple Scar is really plastic surgeon Dr. Miles Murdoch whose brother, a cop, is murdered with acid by criminals. He makes a mask that mimics his dead brother’s scarred visage and goes after criminals, aided by his nurse. Secret Agent X, published by Ace, is an unknown master of disguise who operates a secret war against criminals, and is too often sought by the police who think he’s a criminal as well.
Fortier does a good job in both stories to give you their background as the novel goes along.
In any team-up of heroes, there has to be some reason for the heroes to meet, especially if they operate in different cities. Here, Dr Murdoch has traveled to New York for a conference and to meet an old friend, a fellow plastic surgeon, who is later murdered. The next thing with any team-up is how the heroes meet and team-up, and it’s handled well here.
Before the heroes appear, we get a hint as to what the big story is they must contend with when a cop breaks up a street craps game before a murder occurs and discovers that one of the men is a criminal that was executed and buried. But here he is — alive. And no, he’s not a zombie.
The Black Bat breaks up a criminal gang as they try to rob a fur company, and among the criminals he leaves behind, the police find another who shouldn’t have been there. A criminal who was killed years before in a police shoot-out. And there appear to be more of these. What is going on?
We soon learn that these criminals are under the control of a mysterious Mr. Mask. He seems to be trying to take over the gangs in New York. Is that his end game? Why was Murdoch’s friend killed, and how does he fit into the mystery? It’s a complex one, but it’s interesting in how the heroes figure it all out. At the end they leave as friends, and leave things open for a possible future teamup.
In addition, Faces of Fear has several excellent pieces of detailed pencil artwork by Rob Davis. We also get an afterward by Fortier on the story, characters, cameos, and its background. Some might not pick up all the cameos and hints in the story, and even this afterwards doesn’t touch on all of them. This just adds to the overall story.
The Secret Agent X comic story is about 30 pages, having him help an ambassador threatened by assassins. It gives you a good exposure to the character. The story is by Fortier and the artwork is by Davis, who has illustrated several Airship 27 collections. This is a good story, and it originally appeared in Secret Agent X #1 comic from Redbud Studio. I’d like to see further issues.
Whichever version you get, this is another good pulp hero adventure.
