Beautiful half-page house ad for Bat Lash, in this case taken from The Witching Hour #2 (1969). The cover depicted is issue #4, which was by the comic’s regular artist, the always brilliant Nick Cardy.
In an era of near-ubiquitous cowboys—TV was wall to wall westerns in the late-1960s—Bat Lash was a different kind of hero. He had a penchant for the finer things in life, and, while a serial womaniser in common with many of his lik, was more likely than not to run away from any suggestion of violence. The man with no name he was not. Oh, and he often wore a flower in his hat.
Created by committee, Bat Lash enjoyed a seven-issue run of his own comic, which followed an initial appearance in Showcase. Sergio Aragones—yes, that one—most often provided the plots, while Denny O’Neil scripted. It’s a beautiful piece of work that deserved a far longer run.
Image ©2012 DC Comics
Actually by the late 1960s the westerns were a dying breed on (US) TV; about the only ones still around were holdovers from the 1950s like Gunsmoke and Bonanza. I do love the Bat Lash series for its humor and the gorgeous Cardy artwork.
One thing that has always bugged me about the series was the name. Why on earth did they come up with Bat Lash? A combination of Bat Masterson and Lash Larue? Batmania had already petered out, so it couldn’t be that.
Plus The High Chaparral, The Wild,Wild West, The Virginian… with Alias Smith and Jones not too far away. There were others. Here Come the Brides… etc. I ate this stuff up when I was a kid. I believe Gunsmoke was the number one rated show around 1967/68, and Bonanza was sill riding high.