The Black Bat series MEGATHREAD!

[md62]

Brian Buccatello is currently writing Detective Comics (I think), but like pulphero said, the Black Bat story has put me off from reading that.

Only co-writing with his creative partner on Flash - Francis Manapul. Totally different style & tone. Batman is noble. I don't think he intended Black Bat to be a noble hero worth looking up to. And BB started out less than noble plus he was manipulated the whole time.

[pulphero]

I don't need to read fictional stories in which life is unfair, people suffer, striving against injustice results in utter failure. Or maybe the message here is merely that putting on a costume to "fight crime" is a stupid and ultimately unworkable idea, I don't know. If I want those things I can just watch the nightly news (well, except for the part about masked crimefighters being stupid). It's not that cynical, downbeat stories in which grim reality intrudes on the escapist fantasy are impossible to pull off, but they have to be done with some finesse, and have something to say about something. I didn't see that here.

This was so poorly written that we aren't even left with any definitive sense of what the major antagonist's angle or motives were. Was Cameron just a misguided idealist with too much power and a manipulative nature, or was he more of a typical megalomanical power-monger? We still never got any answers regarding his ultimate personal goals.

After the climactic scene, things wrap up all too quickly with a single panel of Quinn pondering the tragic outcome of events, and no real lesson being learned or philosophical conundrum being considered.

[md62]

All good points. Normally I hate depressing stories. I read comics for escapism. I guess for me I had no idea of what BB would be like. So when he really wasn't a noble hero it didn't bother me as much. Would I buy another BB series by the same writer? Probably not.

[Guest]

I don't need to read fictional stories in which life is unfair, people suffer, striving against injustice results in utter failure. Or maybe the message here is merely that putting on a costume to "fight crime" is a stupid and ultimately unworkable idea, I don't know. If I want those things I can just watch the nightly news (well, except for the part about masked crimefighters being stupid). It's not that cynical, downbeat stories in which grim reality intrudes on the escapist fantasy are impossible to pull off, but they have to be done with some finesse, and have something to say about something. I didn't see that here.

This was so poorly written that we aren't even left with any definitive sense of what the major antagonist's angle or motives were. Was Cameron just a misguided idealist with too much power and a manipulative nature, or was he more of a typical megalomanical power-monger? We still never got any answers regarding his ultimate personal goals.

After the climactic scene, things wrap up all too quickly with a single panel of Quinn pondering the tragic outcome of events, and no real lesson being learned or philosophical conundrum being considered.

But, the story and series was wrapped up . . . problem is, do we know if it was planned this way all along or if it was a case of "The series will be ending with issue #12 . . . you'll need to change what you originally planned on doing"?

[Lobster Johnson]

It seems like several Dynamite series have had endings that may have been changed (GH, Black Bat, etc.). I won't miss BB too much, but I sure wish GH hadn't ended...

[Lobster Johnson]

Well, I finally got the last issue of Black Bat from my comic shop. Geez, what a disappointing ending. It ends with the "hero" brooding about his failure to make a difference. The ending of Mark Waid's GH was WAY better than this.

[GreenHornet0415]

Well, I finally got the last issue of Black Bat from my comic shop. Geez, what a disappointing ending. It ends with the "hero" brooding about his failure to make a difference. The ending of Mark Waid's GH was WAY better than this.

Green Hornet was much better, but I didn't mind the ending of Black Bat. I gotta give Buccellato props, the 'tragic hero' ending was something I didn't expect.

[md62]

I thought it was a "gutsy" ending. The "hero" ends up in jail & fails in his "mission" to atone for his past life. Not your typical ending....

[Lobster Johnson]

I thought it was a "gutsy" ending. The "hero" ends up in jail & fails in his "mission" to atone for his past life. Not your typical ending....

Gutsy? Sure. Satisfying? No. That ending was depressing and showed how little of a difference BB actually made.
Of course, if Black Bat had not killed that cop in #11, I would probably like this ending a little more. I was enjoying this series until #11.
But that's not to say that I would've liked this ending even if BB was a hero. I think I still would've been disappointed.

[pulphero]

I thought it was a "gutsy" ending. The "hero" ends up in jail & fails in his "mission" to atone for his past life. Not your typical ending....

Well, it wasn't typical, I've give you that. It definitely played against reader expectations. As to whether it was any good, I suppose that depends on if you're more interested in reading a story about a hero, or a more 'reality-based' approach where a nut in a costume turns out to be pretty much just that.

[MajorHoy]

As for how Dynamite's Black Bat did (through orders with Diamond Distributors); numbers courtesy of charts on comichron.com:
* May 2013 = 133rd - Black Bat #1 - 16,328 copies
* June 2013 = 212th - Black Bat #2 - 8,682 copies
* July 2013 = 272nd - Black Bat #3 - 7,010 copies
* Aug 2013 = 268th - Black Bat #4 - 5,541 copies
* Sept 2013 = 333rd - Black Bat #5 - 4,815 copies
* Oct 2013 = 370th - Black Bat #6 - 4,350 copies
* Dec 2013 = 363rd - Black Bat #7 - 3,485 copies
* Jan 2014 = 350th - Black Bat #8 - 3,349 copies
* Feb 2014 = 350th - Black Bat #9 - 3,066 copies
* May 2014 = 358th - Black Bat #10 - 2,874 copies

For the last two issues, it does not seem as if any Dynamite titles ranking lower than 300th place were being listed.