Bat Lash: Showcase #76

[northstarfan]

Title: Showcase #76 (DC, 1968, 24 pages)
Creator: Sergio Aragones (writer) and Nick Cardy (art)
Availability: Available In Trade

For a change in tone from the more recent western posts: a gentleman rogue and cardsharp with an appreciation for the finer things in life, a man who hates violence and yet can't ever seem to keep out of the way of the wrong end of a gun -- Bartholomew Alouysius Lash.

But his friends just call him "Bat".




When we first meet our hero, he's decided it's best that he leave town due to a misunderstanding with one of the locals...mainly misunderstanding that the young lady he'd been wooing wasn't as unattached as he'd assumed.



Bat rides on, coming to the near-abandoned town of Welcome, which has been having terrible problems with a gang of roughs trying to take over the place.





Truly a peace-loving fellow.



But, alas, Bat has earned the ire of the town's criminal element. Trouble dogs his heels, even to as he goes to collect dinner ingredients from the general store...



...and select his dinner wine.





One last encounter manages to convince his foes that he's not to be trifled with and that there's not enough room in the town for them both, but the crowning indignity is yet to come -- his winsome cook is in cahoots with the blackhats and has poisoned his pheasant!



Or perhaps someplace considerably closer to home.






The Showcase collection has some pretty impressive talent at the helm, particularly on the writing side; the three primary contributors are Sergio Aragones, Len Wein, and Denny O'Neil, with the tone of their stories running the gamut from light-hearted love-'em-and-leave-'em to the unexpectedly tragic, particularly anything concerning having to do with Bat's past. On the down side, the book does require a measure of holding your nose and keeping in mind the genre and the time of publication, because the usual tropes and stereotypes do raise their heads -- feisty senoritas, pistol-packing banditos, faithful Mexican companions with a lousy survival rate, and portraying raising funds to educate the Indian children as a near-saintly thing. Despite that, the collection as a whole is highly enjoyable, and I do think it's worth picking it up, particularly given how reasonably priced the Showcase editions are.

Suggested tags: char: bat lash, creator: sergio aragones, creator: nick cardy

Comments

[arilou_skiff]

Ah, Western comics.

I was actually thinking of stitching together a Blueberry post, but I've A) kind of not really conversant with the series as I mostly read various bits and pieces published in old issues of The Phantom B) I'm not sure how much (if an) was published in english and C) I don't speak french.

[northstarfan]

I'd be interested in seeing the results either way -- I've heard of it, but I've never been able to find any actual English translations, or even decent scanlations.

[bradhanon]

See, Bat Lash was a great character before they decided to give him a tormented past, a revenge origin story, and a One True Love for whom he still pines.

These are not good modifications to a happy-go-lucky comedy-action hero.

[northstarfan]

Don't forget the long-lost brother. It was all definitely a jarring change in tone. I was also a little disappointed that the new mini focused entirely on re-telling Bat's origin story rather than on new adventures.

[lissa_quon]

Hah, I think I love this guy.

Just going around trying to make a gourmet dinner kicking asses all around.

[northstarfan]

Glad you enjoyed.

[jkcarrier]

I like the running gag about how he always takes the flower out of his hat before he kicks somebody's ass. It's like he's flipping a switch between the two halves of his personality, the genteel connoisseur and the short-tempered brawler.

[northstarfan]

Or possibly a statement of priorities, with him being more concerned about preserving the beauty of a wildflower than he is with the fact that he's about to use a fellow's head to split a table. ;)

[psychopathicus_rex]

Well, here's a guy I'd like to get to know. I'm not sure I really WANT to know that much about pheasant in aspic, but I like the man's style - he's a LOT more personable than Jonah Hex. (Really, though, he was kinda askin' for it there - anyone who rhapsodizes about fancy cooking in front of a gang of toughs can expect little less than mockery.)

[northstarfan]

One of the joys of the current Johnah Hex series are the issues where Bat Lash guest-stars. The two get on about as well as you might expect, and each one's commentary on the habits and moral and/or social failings of the other is worth the price admission.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Oh, awesome! Any chance of posting some of that?

[northstarfan]

'Fraid not. Jimmy Palmiotti is pretty vocally anti-scan over at The Beat, and I prefer not to do anything that has the potential to borrow more trouble than usual for the comm.

[psychopathicus_rex]

Drat. Oh, well.