This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Neufen01 (talk | contribs) at 22:57, 30 August 2006. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 22:57, 30 August 2006 by Neufen01 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Black Bat was the name of two characters featured in different pulp magazine series in the 1930s.
The first Black Bat appeared in Black Bat Detective Mysteries, a short-lived pulp which saw six issues, all written written by Murray Leinster (a pen-name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins), between 1933 and 1934. He was a man called Black Bat in the way Simon Templar was called the Saint; unlike the Simon Templar books, however, none of the Black Bat stories ever mentioned the character's real name.
In July 1939 Ned Pines' Thrilling Publications (also known as Standard or Better) introduced a new Black Bat in a series called Black Book Detective. 1 - 61 were written by Norman Daniels under the house name G. Wayman Jones, and 62 (and 63) by Stewart Sterling. The stories describe the crime-fighting career of former District Attorney Anthony Quinn. In a clear departure from most pulp characters and heroes, this Black Bat was actually an origin story, describing how Quinn became the Black Bat after being blinded and disfigured by acid, an idea borrowed a few years later by DC Comics for the creation of villain Two Face when D.A. Harvey dent was disfigured by having acid thrown in his face.
Both Black Bat and Batman hit the newsstands around the same time, and both claimed that the other was a copy. The threat of lawsuits ended when the Black Bat finally ended his run. It is probable that the costumes of both characters were copied from the 1933 Black Bat covers.
Black Bat Detective ran for 62 issues, from July 1939 to Winter 1953, one of the few hero pulps to survive past World War II. No. 63 was planned for Spring 1953 but never appeared. A few titles have been reprinted.
Along with other pulp heroes such as The Shadow and Doc Savage, the Black Bat was an influence on DC Comics' Batman.
Categories: