|
Post by MDG on May 29, 2019 9:58:15 GMT -5
I want to say that I've read in interviews that Bat Lash sold well in Europe, but at this point I can't find the reference. It did warrant its own digest by French publisher Artima in the early '70s, but it was cancelled after eight issues. The digests, which were roughly 180 pages long, included adventures by other DC heroes like Enemy Ace, Firehair, Hawk & Dove, etc. (Artima used to keep DC characters in some of its digests, and Marvel characters in others, sometimes spiked with British strips like Garth). I never saw a copy of Bat Lash's title in French, but saw it advertised in other Artima books. At the time I thought it must be some kind of Batman-themed cowboy story. If DC had been set up for such an arrangement, I could see Bat Lash having a healthy run in Europe without a US edition being put out. It seems very similar in tone and style to things that were coming out on the continent during that time.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 29, 2019 10:02:09 GMT -5
Man-Bat lasted one issue too long. You're speaking to the world's biggest Man-Bat fan. Them be fighting words in these parts! *Puts boxing gloves on* I wish Marvel Comics World Championship Wrestling title had had a longer run, but then again, I am a wrestling fan. Twelve issues wasn't enough for me. I think we can safely say that I won't be chiming in on whether that title was cancelled too soon.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 29, 2019 10:19:45 GMT -5
How about Super-Villain Team-Up, lasting 17 issues?
I read them about 8 years ago. I thought there was some false advertising. How does a predominantly Doom/Namor storyline equate to being a 'super-villain team-up book'? When I bought the bundle, and I hadn't Googled anything about it, it was in a bag. I was taken aback to open it up and see a bunch of Doom/Namor comics.
I was expecting a variety of supervillain team-ups. So I have an issue with the whole premise of the book.
That aside, is 17 issues gone too soon? Maybe it should have lasted longer and done a different team up each issue.
|
|
|
Post by hondobrode on May 29, 2019 10:30:39 GMT -5
Marvel's The Crew, by Christopher Priest and Joe Bennett, and covers by J.H. Williams III, grouping War Machine, Black Panther, Luke Cage, Storm, Misty Knight, Josiah al hajj Saddiq ( Isaiah Bradley, the black Captain America, his son ), the White Tiger and Junta. Really good series that I'll bet Marvel will be bringing back.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 29, 2019 11:02:39 GMT -5
How about Super-Villain Team-Up, lasting 17 issues? I read them about 8 years ago. I thought there was some false advertising. How does a predominantly Doom/Namor storyline equate to being a 'super-villain team-up book'? When I bought the bundle, and I hadn't Googled anything about it, it was in a bag. I was taken aback to open it up and see a bunch of Doom/Namor comics. I was expecting a variety of supervillain team-ups. So I have an issue with the whole premise of the book. That aside, is 17 issues gone too soon? Maybe it should have lasted longer and done a different team up each issue. Whether something is gone too soon is ultimately up to the individual reader. For my purposes I'll probably stick to stuff that lasted less than a dozen issues. And at least early on, significantly less. Part of that is just where my reading is right now. I'm suffering from a fairly significant case of Readers Block. Both comics and prose. So I'm finding that anything over about six issues or so just bogs down for me unless I really like it (Bat Lash did not drag). Even in prose I'm leaning toward short novels and novella length stuff unless it's something I'm super interested in (Flashman's Lady is going fairly well). It's been probably close to 15 years since I've read Super-Villain Team-Up. I'd definitely agree that on the whole it was not a team-up book. I suppose if the thread lasts long enough I could get too it. But it's fairly unlikely.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on May 29, 2019 11:04:51 GMT -5
Man-Bat lasted one issue too long. You're speaking to the world's biggest Man-Bat fan. Them be fighting words in these parts! *Puts boxing gloves on* I wish Marvel Comics World Championship Wrestling title had had a longer run, but then again, I am a wrestling fan. Twelve issues wasn't enough for me. Nnngghhh! The only wrestling comic I ever saw that was worth reading was Tiger Mask (and that is only a few panels and some of the original cartoon). That series understood the drama of the ring. Santo and Mil Mascaras starred in comics, in Mexico (Mil Mascaras' name and personna was created by a comic book publisher); but I've only seen covers. Crying Freeman had one storyline involving a pro wrestler and Freeman fighting him, in the ring, under a mask. The giant wrestler was even wearing what looked like the United National title belt (part of All Japan's Triple Crown and one of the oldest belts used there). I skimmed one of the WCW issues; didn't see much that interested me, though it looked better than the Battlemania comic, from Valiant. Ron Wilson's art is decent and he was a fan. He did better with the Super Boxers graphic novel, though. The likenesses varied quite a bit. The version of Missy Hyatt in the comic (I looked over some samples on-line) is way off and is just generic blond woman. They have Terry Taylor with brown hair, instead of blond and it looks nothing like him. Jim Ross isn't recognizable, either. Some of the wrestlers are close, though they are best in shots you can tell came from photo reference. It's pretty text heavy, I'll say that. I just looked through one issue and it made Don McGregor look terse.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,376
Member is Online
|
Post by shaxper on May 29, 2019 11:45:29 GMT -5
Prez. Please please do Prez. It's certainly a possibility. Maybe I can just take requests. Careful. The Brother Power The Geek comments are only a few posts away...
|
|
|
Post by dbutler69 on May 29, 2019 11:46:16 GMT -5
I think that Omega the Unknown and Ms. Marvel were both gone too soon. I'd loved to have seen where they went, especially Omega.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 29, 2019 11:48:49 GMT -5
It's certainly a possibility. Maybe I can just take requests. Careful. The Brother Power The Geek comments are only a few posts away... I'm waiting until I can track down a copy of issue #3.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on May 29, 2019 11:59:43 GMT -5
Careful. The Brother Power The Geek comments are only a few posts away... I'm waiting until I can track down a copy of issue #3. Yeah, great story, where he meets Sister Sledge, fights Mother Seton, and has the mystery solved by Father Brown!
|
|
|
Post by Roquefort Raider on May 29, 2019 12:06:01 GMT -5
Logan's run and Skull the slayer are two series I could have followed for a longer time. Both ended on a cliffhanger, too!
|
|
|
Post by Prince Hal on May 29, 2019 12:21:44 GMT -5
Careful. The Brother Power The Geek comments are only a few posts away... I'm waiting until I can track down a copy of issue #3. I gave mine to Dan Bailey.
|
|
|
Post by Prince Hal on May 29, 2019 12:24:06 GMT -5
How about Super-Villain Team-Up, lasting 17 issues? I read them about 8 years ago. I thought there was some false advertising. How does a predominantly Doom/Namor storyline equate to being a 'super-villain team-up book'? When I bought the bundle, and I hadn't Googled anything about it, it was in a bag. I was taken aback to open it up and see a bunch of Doom/Namor comics. I was expecting a variety of supervillain team-ups. So I have an issue with the whole premise of the book. That aside, is 17 issues gone too soon? Maybe it should have lasted longer and done a different team up each issue. Your wish was MW Gallaher's command... classiccomics.org/thread/5927/tidings-marvels-super-villain-reviewed
|
|
|
Post by pinkfloydsound17 on May 29, 2019 12:45:09 GMT -5
Great topic! I like review threads covering the stuff that was here but then gone too quickly. Interesting to see different opinions too on whether they were gone too soon or were rightfully cancelled.
Bat Lash was a character I always found interesting. Definitely well drawn. I read the first couple issues a long while ago and this has inspired me to hunt a few down and re read them.
I'll throw my suggestion in for a review of some Atlas stuff from the 70's. New movie speculation aside, I have always wondered if there was anything from this publisher and timeframe worth reading. Also, Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen is another short lived war series I have always loved and wondered why it did not last....
|
|
|
Post by Prince Hal on May 29, 2019 12:57:15 GMT -5
I've never read any of the original Bat Lash series (and is it just me, or is Bat Lash a really weird name for a Western character??), but I do know him from his handful of appearances in Jonah Hex. I think I'm right in saying that he was the star of a back up strip in the Bronze Age Jonah Hex series too. Though not a patch on Hex himself, I do find Bat Lash an interesting DC Western character, much like I do with El Diablo. His dandy, flower wearing appearance and genteel manner was a strange combination for a character aimed at young boys, I think, and I'm sure more than a few readers must've regarded him as a bit of a "sissy" character. I imagine that this would've affected his popularity and contributed to the cancellation of his series in the late '60s. As codystarbuck points out, it's generally felt that the name is a combination of Bat Masterson and Lash Larue. The name was originally Batton Lash. Batton is generally a surrame, but it's not unknown as a given name. If you read the book the flower in his hat and the genteel manner really add to the character. Because he's very fast on the draw and is plenty good in a fist fight. He tries to avoid violence and fails spectacularly. I'd think that in 1967, the day of the flower child, the idea of him trying to avoid violence might have played okay. But I could well be wrong. As so many have already said, Bat Lash was definitely a cut above, and a perfect example of a comic that needed time to find its way. Superb art and attention to detail buoyed the storyline, yes, and it was struggling to find its sea-legs (mixing metaphors... sorry), but the sudden shift in tone was probably due to a DC editorial edict of "Sell or die." I've mentioned before on other threads that DC's experiments in this brief period were the proverbial breath of fresh air; they revived past genres, brought in fresh "new" artists like Aragones, Jay Scott Pike ( Dolphin) and Howie Post ( Anthro), resurrected Steve Ditko ( Creeper, Hawk and the Dove) and in general tried to take it to Marvel and to themselves as they struggled to go beyond the same old super-hero stuff. What they didn't do was give those titles and creators enough time. All of the above-mentioned titles were by turns charming and unique, but they didn't get the kind of introduction that DC had given new characters in previous years. They were one-and-done in Showcase and then given their own titles. I'm guessing that Dc was impatient to get new material out there and thus abandoned the traditional three-issue (in some cases, like Rip Hunter, Hawkman, Tommy Tomorrow, and others, even more) tryout. Each of the features that debuted in Showcase 73 through 77 immediately "graduated" to its own title within two months. I'm guessing the sales numbers couldn't have been back in time to justify that and that it was simply a new practice DC and Carmine Infantino were going to try. Dolphin never graduated, but the reprint issue of Phantom Stranger did. The Windy and Willy (updated Dobie Gillis reprints) brought the one-issue experiment to an end, and the final few Showcase series ( Nightmaster, Firehair, Jason's Quest, Manhunter 2070) each received the standard three-issue run. None of them made it into its own title, however. Oh, one further note about Bat Lash, who clearly owed a great deal to James Garner's Brett Maverick character. Garner kinda sorta brought Maverick out of retirement for a lighthearted Western that was a surprise hit in the spring and summer of '69, "Support Your Local Sheriff!" that wound up in the top 20 best-grossing movies of the year. If DC had just held off a little longer instead of canceling Bat Lash in the summer of '69, perhaps it could have capitalized on the success of the Garner movie. It might be as close to a Bat Lash movie as you'll ever see.
|
|