“Yesterday’s” Comic> Lucky Comics Free Comic Book Day 2017

For those of you following the schedule, this isn’t from this year’s Free Comic Book Day so it counts as the current Drive Thru Comics library reviews.

Lucky Comics Free Comic Book Day 2017

Lucky Comics (May, 2017)

WRITER/LETTERER: John Michael Helmer

ARTIST: Eric Douthitt

EDITOR: Michael Waggoner

SENIOR EDITOR: Lou Mogin

Shown are both covers. Cover A, by Josh Holley, features Beetle Girl, the descendant of Dan Garret, Danni. That’s the Fox/Holyoke/Fox Again/first Charlton version, not the second Charlton/DC version. Cover B, by Salviano Borges, features “The Black Bat”, but is called the Bat because Cassandra Cain was going by Black Bat at the time (I think). The characters may be public domain, or at least Danni’s father is, but DC are notorious jerks when it comes to trademarks and copywrite lawsuits. Just ask anyone who worked at Fawcett at the height of Billy Batson’s success as the original Captain Marvel. Note that the stories are not in public domain but are owned by Lucky Comics. I think they also created Beetle Girl even if the original Blue Beetle is public domain-ish. Just don’t use her or her dad. If you get these from Drive Thru, which is free, it doesn’t matter which cover you have. The pages inside are just the same. I didn’t know that when I downloaded it. The covers are in color, but the comics are not.

The Black Bat: “The Boss”

Chicago, Illinois: Summer, 1932. J. Edgar Hoover doesn’t like vigilantes like the Bat, but he is willing to have the hero work for his G-Men. Bat refuses because he can cross lines even Hoover’s FBI can’t. He also proves he works better alone when he takes out a thug who shot down the G-Men while holding a woman hostage. The pulp hero has appeared in comics before, but adding the utility belt may make him a bit too close to Batman, one of the heroes inspired by him. (He also pretends to be blind in his civilian identity, shades of Daredevil…Marvel’s Daredevil, not the comic hero from the Golden Age.) I’m also curious how, even with the hostage, the crook shot down all the G-Men we saw earlier with one handgun. All that aside it wasn’t too bad, but at 11 pages and two stories, you’re not getting a lot out of this comic.

Beetle Girl: “The Creature From Beneath”

Dan’s descendant lives in present day, working as a third grade teacher. Danni takes her class to a local aquarium when a sea monster out of The Creature From The Black Lagoon, which actually was the inspiration by the creators, appears, looking for Danni’s friend, Tanya. Beetle Girl manages to chase him off, but not without embarrassment, and Danni later learns the monster was actually Tanya’s missing boyfriend, but “something happened to him”. We don’t learn how this happened because the story doesn’t have the space to fill out the full adventure. Don’t worry, Danni. It happened to Dan in a lot of the stories I reviewed, too.

overall

I do like when Free Comic Book Day stories, even ones that I think were created for digital, have a complete story, and this has two. Unfortunately, at eleven pages there isn’t room for either story to get beyond the plot to a fully satisfactory story, being interesting at best. Beetle Girl is essentially defeated and we don’t know if she has any of Dan’s powers. The bat fares a bit better but I’d like to know why so many writers treat Hoover like crap. Is it worth the read? If you’re curious about how Lucky Comics handles these classic characters, maybe. I’m hoping the other two years’ offerings show something better.