There is a story called Plastic Mickey where a chemical gives people stretching powers, like Plastic Man/Mister Fantastic/Elastigirl.
It had a more "manga style" remake (as in page and layer design, not art style).
The villain of this story is called "The Red Bat" (not to be confused with Fethry's superhero identity) and he looks like the Phantom Blot except his costume is reddish.
Back then, I remember when I read this story that Mickey said about this "Red Bat": "The Red Bat! I have already met him before!"
(in the original French I read: "Le Vampire Rouge! J'ai déjà eu l'occasion de faire sa connaissance!")
However, according to InDucks, that story was this "Red Bat"'s only appearance!! (not counting the remake, of course)
That line struck with me because I wondered when this "Red Bat" previously appeared!
I think I have read somewhere that this "Red Bat" was supposed to be the Phantom Blot in the original sketch/project, but it was changed in the final product because of editorial mandate or something like that. Or is it just my mind playing tricks on me?
Even as a kid, when I read this story, I thought that this "Red Bat" was just a lame knock-off of the Phantom Blot, and I wondered why they didn't just use Phantom Blot at all.
Does anyone know about this "Red Bat"? Do you think he is just a recolor/change-at-the-last-minute of Phantom Blot?
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Post by Scrooge MacDuck on Jan 23, 2017 21:13:35 GMT
After checking out the story in its American printing, I can at least tell you that he can't just be a recoloring, inasmuch as he has a more angular frame, little devil horns and a visible mouth that don't look like the Phantom Blot's at all. In the American localization, Mickey refers to him as "a guy he's tangled with before", and so does the Bat; they don't call each other by name. This seems to implies they only met each other once or twice before. And from skimming through the story, he seems to have a henchman/associate, something the Blot rarely does. Overall, he *might* be a Phantom Blot copycat… but I think he might just as well be a "random superhero comic villain" copycat, tying in with the story's take on superheroes.
A fair number of 1990s Mickey stories introduced characters as though they had a past.
Doc Static was one (introduced as "Mickey's old pal, Doc Static"). The Red Bat was another, and so was "Pigmalion" in this story. I think it was an attempt to build a sense of ongoing continuity.