Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Bring on the Back-ups: "Peal of the Devil-Bell!" and "Scream of the Gargoyle!" by Pasko and Marcos

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Has Ol' Groove got a Tuesday two-fer for you! I know there are a bunch of Man-Bat fans here in Groove City, right? Well, just for you, here's the rare, two-part Man-Bat back-up tale from Detective Comics #'s 458-459 (January-February 1976). Martin Pasko's story takes place right after Man-Bat #2 (which Ol' Groove already posted for ya here), and was probably intended for the never-realized third ish of M-B. Artist Pablo Marcos is still on board (with cartoonist Tex Blaisdell handling the inks on part one), cramming a lot of action and drama in the short number of pages he's given. Don'tcha just dig his splash pages? This is a fun one, pitting that 1970s staple, the monster-hero, against a mad mystic. I mean, how're ya gonna go wrong when our hero is battling a dude with a name like..."Dr. Thanatogenos"? Wild!

2 comments:

  1. I enjoyed this little tale! My main exposure to Man-Bat was from the too short lived Batman Family comic. I always loved that idea for a comic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't know about this story, or that it was probably intended for Man-Bat #3. Thanks!

    At just two issues, you know that DC didn't wait for the sales figures to come in before cancelling it.

    ReplyDelete

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.


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