Should Dynamite get Black Bat and Phantom Detective?

[Manga4life]

Anyone else think the Black Bat would make a great addition to the pulp lineup that Dynamite has going on currently? He's a cool character that kind of reminds me of Batman in a way, but he was created years before Batman and I'm sure some of his influence went into the creation of Batman back in those early days of comics. Any which way, he's got a cool story, a great look, and he would totally fit in with the whole "pulp" line of comics that Dynamite has got going on, I would certainly purchase it in a heartbeat.

I also wouldn't mind seeing Phantom Detective too, the more "pulp" the better......especially when you're publishing many classic pulp characters already!

[Professor Moriarty]

that's a great idea.

seeing how moonstone isn't really doing anything with the characters.

they should also have a go at Doc Savage & The Avenger.

[Manga4life]

that's a great idea.

seeing how moonstone isn't really doing anything with the characters.

they should also have a go at Doc Savage & The Avenger.

I'm not too familiar with Doc Savage, but The Avenger would be a GREAT addition to the pulp family! I'm going to have to look up Doc Savage now and see what we have going on here, maybe Dynamite could build a whole universe off of the classic pulp heroes, it seems to be already happening before our eyes.

[HasbroSlayer84]

I would die of happyness if Dynamite published a monthly based on The Avenger and Black bat!!!!! Please Dynamite, please do this!

[Ed Love]

As far as I know, The Black Bat is public domain. The Phantom Detective is partially. Some stories were renewed, but the current copyright holders are either absent or unaware of the property. I don't see Dynamite doing much different with the characters than Moonstone has other than having better artwork and Alex Ross covers. Otherwise, I'd expect to see just more modern re-imaginings which I can do without. Considering just how much of the Black Bat already made it into comics (his origin is the basis for Dr. Mid-nite and Two-Face, his gloves were given to Batman), he wold seem a natural for comic success. If only the agreement with DC kept him from being translated more faithfully to the comics in the 40s.

The Avenger is owned by the same people that own the Shadow and Doc Savage, so I'd think it's not out of the realm of possibility now that DC's take is officially belly-up. I've long thought the Avenger would be a better fit for comics than the Shadow and Doc Savage.

[emb021]

The Avenger, Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Whisperer, The Skipper, Bill Barnes and a few others were published by Street & Smith and owned by Conde' Nast. Sanctum Books as the license to reprint the pulp stories.

Black Bat and Phantom Detective were published by Thrilling (Ned Pines' company, also known as Standard and Better) and are in the public domain. Altus is reprinting the Black Bat stories. Wildside Press has been reprinting Phantom Detective stories.

[Ed Love]

You wouldn't know it by looking at the publishers using their characters but Standard did renew some of their copyrights. Among them, at least some of the Phantom Detective pulps were renewed. The question becomes that as the company was sold/bought out, were copyrights included and which ones? Renewals of the Phantom Detective were by another company for example.

I don't really think he's a good fit for comics anyway. Comics are a visual medium and there's a reason why costumed heroes dominate the landscape. His main deal is to operate in disguise. So, it would take an artist who draws distinctive faces, people in regular clothes in dynamic action and preferably a clear, easy to read art style. Frankly, that's the antithesis of most of the artwork in Dynamite's books that I've seen. It would take almost the exact right creative team to make the character work in comics. Doc Savage, Avenger, Shadow, Spider, Black Bat, Green Ghost(s), Green Lama, all have distinctive looks that can be exploited for comics. Phantom Detective and Secret Agent "X" aren't built along those lines.

[emb021]

I recall that Will Murray spoke of the pulp heroes coming in 3 'waves' starting with The Shadow, Doc, Phantom Detective.

the third wave of characters, which included Black Bat, Green Lama, The Avenger and similar, he describes as being more visual characters that would work better in comics, due to their appearance.