Toward the end of 2020, Moonstone Books put out a collection of new pulp comics by Ron Fortier and several artists: Danger: Coast to Coast, featuring The Black Bat and The Domino Lady.
These stories have pulp heroes The Black Bat and The Domino Lady, but also several others. This collection has the three-issue series Guns of The Black Bat, but also four additional issues of new material.
So before we get into the stories, here’s a brief overview of the heroes in this volumes, most of whom I’ve posted on.
The Black Bat is really former district attorney Anthony Quinn, who was blinded by acid in a courtroom. But a secret procedure gave him new eyes that allow him to see in the dark, so he became The Black Bat to fight crime with the help of a trio of aides.
One of the rare female pulp heroes, The Domino Lady is really Ellen Patrick, whose father, a district attorney, is murdered by criminals. Now she goes after the criminals as The Domino Lady, using her looks to distract them, in part because she was published in spicy pulps.
Dan Fowler, G-Man, was a long-running character from the Thrilling line of pulps, racking up over a hundred stories for about 20 years.
Scientist-detective I.V. Frost was created by Donald Wandrei for a series of short stories. As noted, he brings science into figuring out crimes, aided by Jean Moray, his sexy, but very capable, assistant.
A comicbook character, Airboy was created in the 1940s for Hillman publications, and is notable for his plane, Birdie, which flaps its wings. He was revised in the 1980s, using his son, for a good run, and has been appeared again recently.
British pulp character, The Golden Amazon, is an interesting one who exists in an alternate post-WWII world and who has been made into a superwoman. I’m not sure how she is able to appear in the pre-WWII story, not with the reasoning from her internal monologue.
The Moon Man is sometimes called the Robin Hood of pulp heroes. He doesn’t go after criminals per se, but usually robs the unjustly rich — some of whom may be criminals — of their ill-gotten gains to give to the poor. He is really a policeman in Great City, so must avoid being exposed as his father is the police chief and his fiance is the daughter of his boss. Here he is relocated to New York for no given reason.
Nighthawk is an original character by Fortier, and is an aviator similar to G-8. He is aided by a pair of wingmen like G-8 was.
Jim Anthony is a sort-of Doc Savage pastiche, a scientist and adventure who runs his own hotel, and has a small group of aides, none of whom appear here.
The Skull is actually based on The Skull-Killer, the pulp hero who went up against The Octopus and The Scorpion. But here, he is given a surgeon’s outfit and made a bit crazy, elements that weren’t true for The Skull-Killer. But he does have his triple identity.
The Jungle Lord, Ki-Gor, was created as a Tarzan pastiche and is probably one of the more popular ones with a large number of stories.
The Phantom Detective is one of the longest running pulp heroes, who actually outlived both The Shadow and Doc Savage. Really rich playboy Curtis Van Loan, who used his detective skills in solving crimes and was actually respected by police forces around the world. He is aided by the Clarion papers who signaled him by a light (not a bat-signal type light as far as a I know) on the roof of their building.
So in the first story, we get The Black Bat along with The Domino Lady taking down a gang leader, with some help from Dan Fowler. The next story has two storylines. In one, The Domino Lady teams up with I.V. Frost to figure out who caused bees to attack a beauty pageant. And in the other, The Black Bat makes sure the gang leader from the first story isn’t sprung from the cops.
In the first of the stories from Guns of The Black Bat, we have The Black Bat bring together Airboy, Moon Man, The Skull, and The Golden Amazon to help stop an alien invasion that is allied with the Nazis. This story seemed rushed and didn’t work for me, plus it seemed more a setup for a longer story we don’t get.
Then in the next story, we have The Black Bat bringing in several heroes to help with a virus outbreak that is making animals giant and savage, as well as turning humans into violent savages. He needs to get I.V. Frost to help figure things out, and they send The Phantom Detective and The Domino Lady to Africa to obtain materials for the cure, where they are aided by Ki-Gor. Jim Anthony and Nighthawk join in this one. While the story is resolved, the group behind the virus, the Cult of the Black Sun, is still out there.
Then we have a final story with just I.V. Frost, who must contend with wild animals being mind-controlled.
Overall, except for some issues, this was a good collection of stories. As some stories left it open for further adventures, will we get them? It remains to be seen.
