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Sunday, January 06, 2013

Number 1293: “You dirty rat!”

We begin another theme week at Pappy's: “Furry Fiends and Foes.” We'll show four stories featuring superheroes and their enemies of the hirsute variety.

First up, the Black Rat. Or more properly, “The Return of the Black Rat,” a Bulletman story from America's Greatest Comics #2 (1942). I haven't seen the original appearance of the Black Rat, and if there's more to his story than is shown here I don't know. He's costumed, but he isn't shown outside his costume. Despite the cape and panties (not really needed) I'm impressed by his dark, shuddersome visage. The villainous vermin is pictured by Phil Bard, credited by the Grand Comics Database with the artwork.

Tomorrow: The Black Owl and the Fox!



















4 comments:

Kirk said...

"The Black Rat must be caught, and, er, this calls for Bulletman!"

"Says you. And for Bulletgirl, says I"

Don't ask me why, but I love the "er" part. And her response.

Pappy said...

Kirk, you made me go back and re-read the story, which I haven't read since I prepared the scans.

I liked Black Rat's name for Bulletman, "Pop-gun Jim."

Darci said...

Pappy,
Re: "if there's more to his story than is shown here I don't know."

An excellent resource for this type of question is http://www.herogoggles.com/fawcett_villains.html (you might recall its previous name, Cash Gorman's Golden-Age Encyclopedia):

"Bulletman #3. Master criminal that dressed up as a huge rat, planned crime waves and bedeviled Bulletman and Bulletgirl. While tough, he was defeated by the heroes and apparently fell to his death into a vat of molten steel. He was also member of the Revenge Syndicate, a group of villains that fought Bulletman and Bulletgirl."

The Revenge Syndicate story is in Bulletman #7.
Hope this helps!

Pappy said...

Thanks, Darci, but jeez...you mean you want me to work at this by checking all this stuff out when it's easier to say I don't know and let you do my heavy lifting? Ha!