Grant - Kill the Lady Goodbye (A Short Story): A Domino Lady & Black Bat Adventure

KILL THE LADY GOODBYE

A Domino Lady & Black Bat Adventure

By Taylor Grant

Kill the Lady Goodbye , Copyrigh t 2017 by Taylor Grant. All rights reserved. No part of this story may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. The Domino Lady and The Black Bat are Public Domain characters. The Domino Lady was created by Lars Anderson. The Black Bat was created by Norman A. Daniels. The incidents and dialogue of all characters are drawn from the authors imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

To learn more about Taylor Grant go to http://www.taylorgrant.com

Cover Artwor k 2017 by Matt Andrew

www.verboten-valley-art.com

Title Desig n 2017 by Joseph Sigillo

www.pixellogicstudio.com

Introduction

If youre reading this, you most likely discovered this story one of two ways: you have enjoyed my fiction in the past and were willing to give something different a try, or you are a fan of The Domino Lady and/or The Black Bat.

Regardless of how you discovered Kill the Lady Goodbye , I greatly appreciate you giving it a read. If you are not familiar with either The Domino Lady or The Black Bat, they both hit the scene during the glory days of the pulp magazines of the 1930s/40s.

The Domino Lady has been called Americas first masked/costumed heroine, and as far as I know, she is the only masked female character to carry her own (albeit short) series in the classic pulp magazine era. Her first appearance in Saucy Romantic Adventures (May, 1936) predates both Olga Mesmer, cited as the first American superheroine (August, 1937 in Spicy Mystery Stories ) and Fantomah ( Jungle Comics #2, February, 1940), considered the first superheroine in comics.

Despite only six short appearances in the pulps during 1936, and after disappearing from print for over half a century, the Domino Ladys mythos not only survived, she returned to print in the nineties. As a public domain character, she has continued to appear in comics and books from various publishers ever since. Recently, some of those stories have been adapted as professional full-cast audio dramas.

So who is the mysterious Domino Lady?

She is the resourceful, daring and sexy alter ego of University of California, Berkeley-educated socialite Ellen Patrick. Her signature costume is a white evening dress, cape and domino mask that she wears while avenging the murder of her District Attorney father. She is armed with a .45 automatic and a syringe filled with a knockout drug, but her secret weapon is her beauty, which often distracts opponents, or at the very least leads them to underestimate her, allowing her to outwit them. Being something of a Robin Hood, she takes from her victims, and gives it to charity, leaving a calling card that states: Compliments of the Domino Lady.

The original Domino Lady was unique in that she didnt have any special powers or even any particular fighting prowess. She relied on her wits and wilesand occasionally a bullet or two. Though in later versions, Ellen did develop fighting skills of the martial arts variety, specifically judo.

As for the pulp era Black Batalso a public domain character--there were two incarnations: the first was a traditional detective type who left a calling card with a Black Bat mark. However, that version had a short run in print. A few years later, another interpretation of The Black Bat hit the newsstands with far greater success. He was Anthony Quinn; a former District Attorney turned costumed crimefighter, who unlike most pulp heroes had an actual origin story. It is this latter, costumed Black Bat that co-stars in Kill the Lady Goodbye .

Interestingly, the Black Bat and Batman were created around the same time, and both claimed that the other was a copy. There were threats of lawsuits, but eventually a deal was made in which both characters could co-exist: Batman in comic books and the Black Bat in the pulp magazines. And while Batman obviously had far greater success, the Black Bat had a nice long run in the pulps, starring in Black Book Detective from July 1939 to Spring 1953, and outlasting both Doc Savage and The Shadow.

In the origin story, District Attorney Anthony Tony Quinn, is blinded by a criminals acid (an idea later used as the origin of Batman villain Two-Face). After a secret surgery transplanting the eyes of a murdered police officer, Quinn regains his sight, and finds he can see in the dark . This, he learns, was due to additional changes to his eyes done by the surgeon. Keeping his new sight a secret, he wages a one-man war against crime as the Black Bat.

I had always wanted to write a story in the classic tradition of the pulps, so creating Kill the Lady Goodbye was a dream-come-true for me. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Also, if you enjoy this tale, you might want to head on over to Moonstone Books, which publishes comics and prose stories starring several classic characters from that era, including the Domino Lady and the Black Bat. You will see more of my pulp fiction published through Moonstone Books in the future, so keep your eyes peeled. You can also check the Whats Happening page on my website, which is updated regularly: www.taylorgrant.com or contact me there.

Now, sit back, and lets take a trip back to a different time. When pulp magazines ruled the newsstands and saucy adventure stories reigned. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Taylor Grant, Los Angeles

June, 2017

Kill the Lady Goodbye

They were being followed.

Ellen Patrick spotted the two hulking men the moment she and her date, attorney David King, stepped out of Trocadero, a posh French restaurant on the Sunset Strip. With her movie star good looks, Ellen was accustomed to the stares of both men and women. But these two had a dangerous countenance that immediately put her on guard.

The silent men wore long, dark overcoats, their hands buried in their pockets. They trailed about fifteen yards behind as Ellen and David strolled down Sunset Boulevard, holding hands. It was a full two blocks before they would reach Ciros, the hottest nightclub in town. They were planning to dance the night away, but Ellen had a feeling that was about to change.

A shame , she thought. Its been a perfectly romantic evening so far.

Her romance with David, a young attorney on the rise, had been as fast as it was passionate. They had met at a cocktail party on a mutual friends yacht two months earlier and he had charmed her with his passion for law and refreshingly optimistic views on the American justice system. His dedication and integrity reminded her of her father, back when hed been in his prime as District Attorney.

She caught herself sliding into thoughts of her fathers murder and quickly shook them off. She needed to be present right now--the men following them had quickened their pace.

Ellen reached into her beautifully crafted, black-beaded handbag, popped open an elegant gold case and removed a cigarette. Can I get a light? she said to David with a grin.

It was a look she had used to charm her way past doormen, detectives and more than a few criminals shed eventually brought to justice. As the Domino Lady, she counted on men finding her curvaceous, radiant beauty so mesmerizing that they underestimated her ability and intelligence. It was the most powerful weapon in her arsenal.

But tonight there was no secret agenda. Tonight the grin was authentic.

Standing under the streetlight, in her sleeveless black silk and velvet evening gown, she looked like a Hollywood starlet walking the red carpet. Her plunging neckline revealed an ample bosom, as well as creamy, luminescent skin.