|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 28, 2019 16:23:11 GMT -5
In which Slam Bradley (that's me) looks at short-lived books, features and maybe eventually mini-series' and one-shots and answers the question... were they gone too soon? I don't have an over-arching plan for the thread. I likely won't do comprehensive reviews of each issue because, frankly, I'm not good at keeping up with them. And it also comes from me having a hard time maintaining focus on long runs of anything lately. So let's read short stuff and see how it goes. The thread will probably trend Big Two because that stuff is more readily available. And I may tend to avoid the books that codystarbuck is covering in the Land of the Misfit Stories-Marvel Premiere/Spotlight/Etc... thread. I've already got a short run and what turned out to be a one-shot read and have an Atlas-Seaboard book on tap. So let's read some shorties.
|
|
|
Post by Reptisaurus! on May 28, 2019 20:19:03 GMT -5
Man-Bat lasted one issue too long.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 28, 2019 20:23:33 GMT -5
Bat Lash - DC Comics. Showcase #76, Bat Lash 1-7 (Aug. '68, Oct. '68 - Oct. '69). Well that was the house ad that let readers know that Bat Lash was coming to the pages of Showcase, DC's premiere try-out book. The ad is interesting in that it really doesn't convey much about the feature other than it will be a western. In fact, the silhouette, if it's supposed to be Lash, bares virtually no resemblance to the character we'd see in Showcase #76. It's been quite a while since I've read the requisite interviews about the genesis of Bat Lash. I'll try to find time to dig into at least what the Twomorrows magazines have to say when I get a few minutes. What I can say, at this point is that Joe Orlando was assigned as the editor and in a move that was probably shocking at the time, Sergio Aragones wrote the Showcase issue and did layouts for Nick Cardy. At the time Aragones was largely known for his work at Mad Magazine where he was friends with Orlando. Orlando said in an interview in Comic Book Artist #1 that following his becoming an editor at DC that Aragones came looking for work. Orlando credited Carmine Infantino for allowing him to hire Aragones to plot romance stories and then moving on to the mystery books, Bat Lash and Plop! It was Orlando's opinion that no publisher before Infantino would have let him hire Aragones as a writer. The creative team on Lash would be set early on. By and large Aragones plotted the stories (Cardy seems to have had some hand in some plotting) with issue #1 Denny O'Neil came on to script the book and Nick Cardy provided pencils and inks for the entire run except for issue #6 in which the art is credited to Cardy & Sekowsky, though the GCD posits that most of the issue was pencilled by Sekowsky and inked by Cardy. Showcase had arguably been DC's premiere try-out book, launching the careers of the revamped Flash, Green Lantern and Atom along with new characters such as Adam Strange and The Metal Men. By the late 60s it was a bit long-in the-tooth, and Lash came toward the end of a string of characters (Creeper, Anthro, Hawk & Dove, Angel & the Ape) that would go on to short-lived books (foreshadowing?). He also came at a time when the western, which had been a pretty big genre in comics (and huge on TV) was dying out, particularly at DC. At the time DC hadn't had a true western since the early 60s with Tomahawk and its eastern frontier setting the closest thing to a western. The house ad seemed to be promising something more akin to the then popular spaghetti westerns. What came out in Showcase and in the continuing series was more like James Garner's Maverick...with maybe a bit more edge. What it absolutely was, though, was a far cry from the western comics of the 50s and not at all like the re-vamped Marvel westerns that had taken on the trappings of the Marvel super-hero books. Bat Lash was on the cutting edge of a new breed of comic book westerns. Seriously...one of my all-time favorite covers. The humor angle of Bat Lash certainly makes sense given the creators. Aragones obviously cut his teeth at Mad Magazine and has continued to largely produce humor work for the last 50+ years. Nick Cardy, while a long-time superhero artist had a fairly cartoony style that he emphasized on Lash. In fact, Orlando complained in later interviews that Cardy overdid the cartooniness on the book and that it may have affected sales. I feel that the art was among the best that Cardy ever did. There was a definite change to the tone of the book in the last two issues. One wonders if this was in response to poor sales and an attempt tweak the book to help sales. The tone in the last two books was definitely darker. And the last issue delved into Bat's "origin" and introduced his brother though the two didn't realize they were related. I personally don't think it was a change for the better. Lash was a different breed of western character. An early anti-hero (there were some issues with the Code over some of his actions) who even when he did the right thing didn't really do it for the right reason. 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. If so that market wasn't enough to keep the book going. The book wasn't without criticism. The early issues were a bit formulaic. Bat finds a girl. The girl leads to trouble. He's reluctantly drawn into violence. He escapes leaving the girl behind with enough money that he ought to be able to retire in 1880 dollars. But it was a fun formula and the switch to heavy drama in the last couple issues didn't feel right for the character. So was it gone too soon? I certainly think so. The book was a ton of fun, well written and incredibly well drawn. More than that it filled a niche that really wasn't being filled by any other book at the time. The only true western at DC it was also pretty much the first modern western in comics (Lobo from Dell predated it, but I've not read it and never seen one in the wild). Lash was very much a true anti-hero, not the type of misunderstood hero that we saw at Marvel with the likes of the Outlaw Kid. This really feels like a book that should have found an audience. It was definitely a precursor to Jonah Hex, who, while a different breed than Lash, showed that the anti-hero western could find an audience.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 28, 2019 20:25:37 GMT -5
Man-Bat lasted one issue too long. There's a good chance I will weigh in on this issue in this thread. Stay tuned, Winged Wonder.
|
|
|
Post by Cei-U! on May 28, 2019 21:31:53 GMT -5
I adore the original Bat Lash series (as anyone who's read my novel "Lash House" surely knows) and I agree with Slam that Cardy's cartoonish art was a huge part of its appeal. I also concur with his opinion that the darker tone of the final two issues was a letdown. It should've had a much longer run.
Cei-U! I summon the genteel gunslinger!
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on May 28, 2019 21:50:00 GMT -5
I'd certainly have loved more Batlash... for a character that had such a limited run, he pops up pretty often, which, I think, shows how well received (at least in hindsight) the character was.
My more recent vote would be for Gotham Academy. Instead of keeping it a fun, manga-style book that was doing something totally different than anything else in the DCU, they went all in with tied it into the Bat-books, which caused a sharp drop in quality, IMO. Maps is one of the most fun characters created in at the Big 2 in years, and she deserves better than comic book limbo.
|
|
Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,533
|
Post by Confessor on May 28, 2019 22:21:03 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.
|
|
|
Post by codystarbuck on May 28, 2019 22:34:14 GMT -5
The Bat Lash name was probably derived from a couple of Western fronts: Bat Masterson, a real Western lawman, who was featured in a tv series, and Lash Larue, a Western movie actor. The thematic inspiration, Brett Maverick, was a bit of an odd name.
The name might also derive from "bat an eye/bat an eyelash."
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on May 29, 2019 5:01:42 GMT -5
I can’t wait until you review Skateman.
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,353
|
Post by shaxper on May 29, 2019 7:01:11 GMT -5
Prez. Please please do Prez.
|
|
|
Post by Roquefort Raider on May 29, 2019 8:10:12 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.
|
|
|
Post by badwolf on May 29, 2019 9:03:01 GMT -5
For a long time I thought he was the western version of Batman.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 29, 2019 9:43:46 GMT -5
Prez. Please please do Prez. It's certainly a possibility. Maybe I can just take requests.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on May 29, 2019 9:53:17 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.
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on May 29, 2019 9:56:26 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.
|
|