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paper shortage, to about 45 pages for a time) Prohibition is over so ex-bootleggers move into the commodity market, stopping supplies getting through. Issue 28 features a criminal hypnotist. Issue 36 (Artwork is usually checked for "taste" but this one got through. A woman on the front cover who is obviously not wearing a bra.) One by one, people who know a secret start dying. Issue 38, a man convicted of murder has the Black Bat convicted of charges too on which he must acquit himself. Issue 39 Crooks plan to attend a rich party as detectives and steal two million in diamonds. Issue 40, the death predictions of a man prove too accurate so the BB investigates. Issue 41, in a 73-page story, a killer plots to control the
Sentinel newspaper. Issue 44, a jailbreak and bank loot vanishes.
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later acquires the title of "Special
District Attorney". Con man, Norton "Silk" Kirby, a small-time crook who had tried to rob Tony Quinn (when sighted) one night and had been persuaded to stay on as "officially" a valet and this continued after Quinn was blinded. His many criminal skills are a valuable asset to the Black Bat. Carol, a "resourceful and intelligent girl" who is already working undercover in a gang decides to work with Quinn on his secret crusade and last comes Jack "Butch" O'Leary who risked his life to save a crowd from machine gun fire. None too intelligent but completely loyal and "a hulking giant of a man who was never happier than when his fists were flying in defense of the law and in the aid of the Black Bat".
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McGrath (under
Commissioner Warner) who is so honest he would turn in his own mother if she did something wrong is also enemy of the Black Bat. He suspects they are one and the same (same build, similar voice) and often tries to prove it, with tricks, even once having a doctor examine Quinn's eyes. While Quinn can see perfectly, he can also make his eyes appear like those of a blind person and even a doctor is fooled. Quinn usually turns the tables on McGrath, making him look foolish in his attempts to prove he is the Black Bat.
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gang of arsonists burning down tenement buildings for insurance money, regardless of who dies in them. Issue 11 has the Black Bat investigating a strange plane crash as well as a missing fortune in diamonds, needed for
America's war effort. Russia initially started the war on Germany's side so issue 12 deals with Russian spies who commit sabotage and murder in America. Issue 13, a fiend uses a hospital for illegal and deadly experiments, even punishing his own men with horrible torture if they fail him.
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surgeon is willing to perform an operation to graft his corneas onto Tony Quinn's eyes so that he can see again. The operation is done in secret and when the bandages are removed four months later, Quinn finds that he can not only see normally but can even see perfectly in darkness too. While blind, Quinn had developed the necessary skills of the blind; sharper hearing, more sensitive touch, a better sense of smell, etc.
329:. Ventura, a former reluctant assassin, has vague memories of Anthony Quinn's past suggesting he is a clone of some kind. In addition to this he also has access to all the Black Bat's former hidden weaponry and tech arsenal in the Bat Crypt. Anthony Quinn's former teenage sidekick Jeremiah Graymalkin helped Ventura begin his new life as the new Black Bat.
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Issue 19 has a man who is believed to be the Devil but the Black Bat reveals his trickery. Issue 25 has Nazi fifth columnists steal a supply of bauxite (aluminum ore) which
America desperately needs for the war effort. Issue 27 (around this time, page count of the BB stories started dropping due to a
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Unlike many heroes of the pulps, the Black Bat did not come up against the fantastic but battled ordinary criminals who prey on the weak and helpless. The stories were detective stories too with the criminal and details revealed in the last pages by Quinn. Issue 7 has the Black Bat fighting against a
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intervened. Ellsworth had once worked for the Black Bat's publishers and brokered a deal that allowed both characters to co-exist peacefully. It is probable that the costumes of both characters were copied from the 1933/34 Black Bat series which featured costumed illustrations of the Black Bat inside
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where Black Bat was the main story with some back-up stories were normally dark and featured a crime being committed while in the background shadows is the symbolic face of a brooding Black Bat looking on. Few covers broke with this tradition, like #27 where the Black Bat is seen being attacked by a
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Quinn has a secret tunnel to a gatehouse at the rear of his house which leads to a quiet street, which he uses as the Black Bat. This is necessary not just because of criminals who want him dead but because of the police too as he works outside the law. Friend to Quinn, the bulky lieutenant, Captain
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Like many other crime fighters, Quinn is unhappy about all the criminals who slip through the law's net on legal technicalities, etc. and decides to work outside the law in another persona to bring them to justice, and so the Black Bat is born, with Quinn deciding to keep the role of a blind man and
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In the first issue, DA Tony Quinn is blinded by acid thrown by a thug working for Oliver Snate, a crime lord, and believes his career is over until a mysterious woman arrives (Carol
Baldwin). She tells him that her father is a small town policeman who is dying from a gangster's bullet and that a
633:, the comic publishing arm of Thrilling Publications, did not create a Black Bat comic series; however, it did create a series with a character called "The Mask", which was based on the Black Bat. The Mask appears in the first twenty issues of
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under the house name G. Wayman Jones, 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 actually has an
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called Kane's attention to the wrist flaps, which appeared to be gauntlets the rival character was wearing. Subsequently, similar "fins" were added to Batman's gloves which remain to this day.
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before him (who stamped a blood-red spider stencil on the criminals' foreheads), innocent people would not be blamed for their deaths, and other criminals would come to fear him.
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Both the 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 DC editor
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included the Black Bat in a new series of comics based on public domain pulp heroes called "Return of the
Originals", which began in September 2010.
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During his introduction it is stated that
Anthony Quinn, the second Black Bat, was killed. Who this third Black Bat is remains a mystery.
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was called the Saint; unlike the Simon
Templar books, however, none of the Black Bat stories ever mentioned the character's real name.
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94:(a pen-name of William Fitzgerald Jenkins), between 1933 and 1934. The character was called Black Bat in the way
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the pulps, although in reality, the "Black Bat" in the stories wore ordinary street clothes. Batman creator
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began using the Black Bat name for another completely unrelated new costumed identity for the character
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215:). (Marvel Comics later created Matt Murdock, the blind lawyer who gained "super senses" and became
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when trying to save evidence against Oliver Snate in court, an idea borrowed a few years later by
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always contended that the only bat-like man he had seen was the villain from the 1930 film,
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246:. However, the Black Bat did have a permanent influence on the Batman: chief Batman scribe
90:(published by The Berryman Press), a short-lived pulp which saw six issues, all written by
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Black Bat (Tony Quinn) is one of the pulp heroes in Dynamite's "Masks" comic book series.
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story. It describes how Quinn became the Black Bat after being blinded and disfigured by
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This article is about the pulp magazine character. For the comic-book character, see
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was going to relaunch the Black Bat. The first issue was released on May 1, 2013.
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174:(also known as Standard or Better) introduced a new Black Bat in a series called
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and a new Black Bat under the alias Steve Ventura took on the daunting legacy.
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219:.) The Black Bat left paper stickers of a bat stuck to his victims, so like
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with art by Michael Metcalf, was one of the five main titles in the line.
207:(when D.A. Harvey Kent is disfigured by having acid thrown in his face in
739:"DYNAMITE LAUNCHES "BLACK BAT" WITH BRIAN BUCCELLATO & RONAN CLIQUET"
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Black Bat in Black Bat Detective Mysteries Index (The first Black Bat)
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362:(Note - Titles in italics have all been reprinted by Sanctum Books)
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series in the 1930s, most well known because of their similarity to
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Mask in Exciting Comics #7 (January 1941). Art by Raymond Thayer
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was the name of two unrelated pulp heroes featured in different
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Black Bat in Black Book Detective Index (The second Black Bat)
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launched a new Black Bat with ties to the title character in
211:#66, August 1942; his surname was later changed to
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570:"The Riddle of the Dead Man's Bequest" (Mar 49)
301:In 2011 Anthony Quinn is stated as dead in the
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591:"The Black Bat Fights For Life" (Fal 50)
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828:Literary characters introduced in 1939
823:Literary characters introduced in 1933
798:Internet Speculative Fiction Database
672:, who had previously been the fourth
594:"The League of Faceless Men" (Win 51)
285:huge dog and a knife wielding woman.
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813:Fictional American police detectives
612:"The Celebrity Murders" (Sum 1953) .
606:"Hot, Willing--and Deadly" (Win 53)
531:"With Malice Aforethought" (Fal 46)
341:"The Coney Island Murders" (Nov 33)
254:How the Black Bat got his abilities
415:The Black Bat and the Trojan Horse
195:for the creation of both the hero
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567:"Thirty-One Deadly Guns" (Jan 49)
519:"Murder Among the Dying" (Fal 45)
507:"Murder Deals in Ersatz" (Fal 44)
486:"Without Blood They Die" (Sum 43)
703:Comic Book Legends Revealed #179
600:"The Killer Who Wasn't" (Win 52)
579:"The Dennison Document" (Fal 49)
555:"Inheritance of Murder" (Apr 48)
525:"The Man Behind Murder" (Spr 46)
510:"The Skeleton's Secret" (Win 45)
477:"Millions for a Murder" (Mar 43)
456:"The Eyes of the Blind" (Jan 42)
433:The Black Bat and the Red Menace
353:"The Warehouse Murders" (Apr 34)
347:"Murder At First Night" (Jan 34)
344:"The Hollywood Murders" (Dec 33)
321:is an ongoing series created by
765:"DYNAMITE COMICS ON SALE MAY 1"
679:In 2012, it was announced that
629:Due to the issues with Batman,
597:"The Dangerous Corpse" (Spr 51)
549:"City of Hidden Death" (Dec 47)
528:"The Survivor Murders" (Sum 46)
471:"The Nazi Spy Murders" (Nov 42)
459:"The Blackout Murders" (Mar 42)
445:The Black Bat's Invisible Enemy
338:"The Body in the Taxi" (Oct 33)
576:"The Missing Million" (Sum 49)
573:"Murder's Playground" (May 49)
546:"The Long Ago Murder" (Oct 47)
537:"The Lakeside Murder" (Apr 47)
516:"Murder on the Loose" (Sum 45)
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818:Male characters in literature
609:"The Lady of Death" (Spr 53)
603:"The Eyes of Death" (Spr 52)
585:"Blueprint of Crime" (Spr 50)
552:"The Coiled Serpent" (Feb 48)
543:"Dead Man's Plunder" (Aug 47)
540:"The Murder Prophet" (Jun 47)
489:"Guardians in Black" (Fal 43)
474:"The Seventh Column" (Jan 43)
468:"The Murder Prophet" (Sep 42)
465:"The Faceless Satan" (Jul 42)
350:"The Maniac Murders" (Feb 34)
88:Black Bat Detective Mysteries
45:Black Bat Detective Mysteries
588:"The Murder Genius" (Sum 50)
561:"The Lying Killers" (Sep 48)
534:"The Crime To Come" (Feb 47)
522:"Blind Man's Bluff" (Win 46)
504:"Death For Charity" (Sum 44)
421:The Black Bat's Dragon Trail
637:from April 1940-July 1942.
558:"The Murder Maker" (Jun 48)
403:The Black Bat's Flame Trail
379:The Black Bat Strikes Again
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833:Characters in pulp fiction
367:The Brand of the Black Bat
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513:"The Marked Man" (Spr 45)
462:"Shadow of Evil" (May 42)
391:The Black Bat's Spy Trail
385:The Black Bat's Challenge
308:Education of a Superhero
227:The Black Bat and Batman
564:"City of Hate" (Nov 48)
439:The Black Bat's Summons
427:The Black Bat's Justice
409:The Black Bat's Triumph
397:The Black Bat's Crusade
318:Legacy of the Black Bat
117:Publication information
34:Publication information
796:series listing at the
771:. Comic Book Resources
745:. Comic Book Resources
681:Dynamite Entertainment
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582:"Murder Town" (Win 50)
172:Thrilling Publications
128:Thrilling Publications
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769:Comic Book Resources
743:Comic Book Resources
714:Comic Book Resources
645:Black Bat Doubleshot
373:Murder Calls the Bat
282:Black Book Detective
263:The other characters
178:. Written mainly by
176:Black Book Detective
156:In-story information
140:Black Book Detective
102:The second Black Bat
297:The third Black Bat
82:The first Black Bat
716:, October 30, 2008
708:2021-06-10 at the
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493:Markets of Treason
481:Captains of Death
451:The Voice of Doom
233:Whitney Ellsworth
180:Norman A. Daniels
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221:The Spider
146:Created by
51:Created by
794:Black Bat
666:DC Comics
654:In 2011,
617:In comics
276:Pulp hero
217:Daredevil
193:DC Comics
161:Alter ego
123:Publisher
72:DC Comics
64:Black Bat
706:Archived
501:(Spr 44)
495:(Win 44)
483:(May 43)
453:(Nov 41)
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399:(May 40)
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387:(Jan 40)
381:(Nov 39)
375:(Sep 39)
369:(Jul 39)
238:Bob Kane
205:Two-Face
203:villain
199:and the
674:Batgirl
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660:E.O.S.
201:Batman
185:origin
76:Batman
74:hero,
775:1 May
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213:Dent
189:acid
62:The
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