THE MAN IN THE BLACK CLOAK (1886) by P.T. Raymond (Francis W Doughty). Before Batman there was the Shadow. Before the Shadow there was Judex. And before Judex there was the Man in the Black Cloak, or simply the Black Cloak as I’ll call him for short. And ironically, four years before The Man in the Black Cloak was published there was simply The Man in Black, a story I will examine another time.
Our present tale first appeared in serialized form in Boys of New York in July and August of 1886. The title figure is a neglected forerunner of dark-attired vigilantes like Judex and the Shadow, plus his paranormal abilities mark him as a very early proto-superhero.
I need to start right at the top with a certain amount of spoilers to make it clear the kind of place the Black Cloak should occupy when tracing early influences on Pulps and superhero stories.
Our title character at first appears to be a somewhat sinister figure as he effortlessly makes his furtive way around 1880s New York City, often glimpsed by young salesman Bob Leeming. Bob is increasingly disturbed, both by the way this man follows him around and by the man’s bright, burning eyes and chalky-white complexion, glimpsed just above his pulled-up coat collar and bandit kerchief. Continue reading
It’s time for another current events roundup, courtesy of
To counter that here’s a letter written to Heaven by the child of a law enforcement officer killed by an illegal immigrant. It’s just as sad, Democrats. Do you immature drama queens STILL think that heart-breaking letters written by children should form the basis of a country’s immigration policy? Or have you decided to finally grow up?
Balladeer’s Blog’s love of quality horror ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) has been well established. In the past I’ve examined productions like Local 58, Claridryl and Jack Torrance (NOT the character from The Shining.) 
The eerie storyline revolves around the disappearance of a beautiful young Polish woman named Ania Slowinska and the dark, seemingly supernatural forces behind it. As the tale unfolds it becomes apparent other women have fallen victim to the same forces, with one having had all her teeth removed after being murdered. 
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1916) – The famous first cinematic adaptation of the Jules Verne classic. Having loved the version of this pioneering 1916 film that was available during the 1990s and earlier I had put off watching the restored and upgraded version released in 2010. 
Personally, I would have preferred that Universal had just produced a shorter 20,000 Leagues film that was all Leagues and nothing but Leagues, then release The Mysterious Island later as a sequel. In 1916 audience expectations were not yet such that movies had to run the 86 to 105 minutes boasted by surviving copies of 20,000 Leagues. 
Have I mentioned lately that anti-Trumpers are the most ignorant, uninformed and emotionally unstable people I have ever seen? They still haven’t learned to curb their brain-dead enthusiasm for reading “nazi salutes” and the like into waves from people associated with him. 
At any rate, this blog post shows just a few of the photos online which featured Democrats Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Barack Obama, Elizabeth Warren and many, many more of their ilk making that same arm gesture when waving to crowds. 
Democrats, you are in no way fit to compare yourselves to heroic people who were often killed or tortured by REAL nazis, often being herded to their deaths with the laughter of their killers being the last thing they ever heard. NO Democrat today would have the courage to take any actual risk by opposing the world’s REAL forces of oppression in 2025.
Not even having the career criminal installed in his place in 2020 unleashing his attack dogs in the DOJ on him stopped him. Not even the heinous heads of the CIA stopped him. Not even multiple assassination attempts stopped him. (Though let’s face it, America’s cesspool of a political establishment may yet try more impeachments and assassination attempts against him.) 
But most importantly, the man himself prevailed. By refusing to give in to forces that would have stopped lesser figures, Trump inspired America’s voters to remember the many successes from his first term and take note of the failures, graft and lies of the white-collar criminals who opposed him. From BOTH parties. 
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