Batton Lash (1953–2019)

Bob and Barb Ferly have a problem. They own an older house that’s seen better days, and they were planning to sell it. Unfortunately, it’s haunted. They inherited the home when Bob’s father Everett passed away. But although he’s dead, Everett hasn’t vacated the property. His ghost wanders through every room, upstairs and down looking for leaking plumbing and plaster that needs to be patched. Now that he’s dead, he has a lot of time on his spectral hands, and he wants to catch up show more on the home repairs that he neglected while he was alive.

The living Ferlys aren’t happy. They want him out so they can flip the property. Let’s be honest, the two of them and their son who lives in the basement playing endless video games are not a harmonious family unit. A lot of bickering takes place in the old homestead.

Barb has asked an exorcist to come in to get her deceased father-in-law out. But when he shows up, so do Everett’s lawyers. As the author states: Beware the creatures of the night – they have lawyers! The firm of Wolff and Byrd are there with a written agreement that states that Everett has been grandfathered in. As long as he remains in the house, even in his present state, he cannot be put out. See you in court. show less

As their law offices are being remodeled Wolff & Byrd, Counselor of the Macabre, must also navigate rocky emotional relationships, the press, and retain their professional dignity while representing Frankenstein’s monster, a client who’s slipped off to another dimension, the imaginary friend of crooked financier, and an 800-pound gorilla. Did I forget to mention the giant robot that’s run amok in the mall, the boyfriend encased in ice, and “The Scariest Kid on Earth?”

Once again, show more Lash dishes out the laughs with a seasoning of witty social satire. show less

My local library had three books in the Tales of Supernatural Law series, and I'd checked them out more than once. They didn't have the first volume, which has the same title as the series, so I was glad to get my own copy.

Our lawyers are the tall, lovely Alanna Wolff and her short, chubby partner, Jeff Byrd. According to the last story, they've known each other since law school. They are counselors of the macabre, which is good news for horror comedy fans. (I love the in-jokes in these show more stories.) Their secretary is Mavis Munro, who takes no nonsense from the supernatural creatures who enter the office.

We start with the preliminaries for the case of Sodd, a swamp creature who looks a lot like Marvel Comic's the Man-Thing.

'Herbert Has Risen From the Grave': Herbert was much loved in life and missed in death, but his family is upset when he returns. Worse, the neighbors are suing them over Herbert.
Notes: The judge's name, William W. Jacobs, is a nod to William Wymark (W.W.) Jacobs, the author of the famous short story, 'The Monkey's Paw'. I'm not sure if a German shepherd that appears in this one is Rin Tin Tin, star of movies, and both a live action and a cartoon TV show. The white wire fox terrier is obviously Snowy (original French name 'Milou') from the Tin Tin comics. The 'choke' between two asterisks that is used comes from old DC comic books, probably from the 1950s through the early 1960s. Mr. Lash was born in October, 1953 and I was born in October, 1954, so we probably read similar old issues/reprints.

'Curse of the Werehouse': Tom and Kim Curtis bought their dream house. Unfortunately, under the full moon it turns into a haunted house complete with ghosts, bats, and other unwanted things. Even more unfortunately, their nosy next-door neighbor assumes the monthly transformation means the Curtises are running a crack house and calls the authorities.
Note: There is an Everglades tale about a man named Cypress Jack, but I don't know if Jack Cypress' name is a nod to that. The Bureau of Firearms and Drugs is presumably a parody of The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), "Explosives" having been added in 2003.

'Long Night's Journey into Day' is an umbrella title for several stories, starting with another few pages of Sodd's case. That segues into:

'The Zombies Strike at Midnight': Mr. Houngan is a factory owner who employees zombies. After his employees retain Wolff & Byrd to better their lives, Mr. Houngan tells his story to Wade of Wade of Wade's Haitian Hut while drowning his sorrows in Wade's booze. Then the zombies show up.

Notes: Voodoo, also spelled 'Vodou," is practiced on the island of Haiti, where our zombie folklore comes from. A houngan, also spelled 'oungan,' is a male voodoo priest.

'Court of Public Opinion': Jury selection is over. Wolff, Byrd, and Sodd exit to meet reporters. Too bad a bigger story shows up. We meet attorney Chase Hawkins and client Dawn DeVine.

'Wolff & Byrd's Secretary Mavis': Count Dracula is commenting on Mavis' neck when her employers arrive. Mr. Howell, the Big Bad Wolf, is talking with Mr. Byrd as Mavis prepares to leave. Mavis' attempt to get home isn't as safe as she thought it would be.

'Things That Go Bump in the Night ... and Day!': Wolff and Byrd stay up all night catching up on paperwork -- and they have a full day in court in the morning. What to do?

'The Man Who Broke the Laws of Gravity* *(and Landed in Court)': Wolf & Byrd client, Professor Rose, was hired by Blackwood Museum to catalog items and translate a Tibetan scroll. As a result, Rose is permanently levitating. He's suing the museum.

'A Host of Horrors': The Bier-Meister, one of many horror hosts who are out of work because of the late psychiatrist, Dr. Forrest Bertram, has good news for the rest -- assuming Josette, a dour woman wearing a 'CMAA' button, doesn't stop it.
Notes: These are nods to horror comic books' hosts before Seduction of the Innocents by psychiatrist Dr. Fredric Wertham came out in 1954, and sanitized American comic books for decades.

Part 2 - 'Bar Association': We learn that Alanna Wolff's birthday is on Halloween, a big day for their clients. Now it's the day after, so she and Byrd are at The Final Judgment Bar & Grill so Jeff can buy her a birthday drink. They learn news about their client, Sodd, and the Bier-Meister. Toby Basco tries to use his charm on Alanna.

Part 3 - 'Tale From the Tombs': The tombs in question is the Tombs prison in New York City. Luckily for the Bier-Meister, prison guard Leroy Wroten was a fan when he was a child. The Bier-Master can't afford Wolff and Byrd, but they're taking the case pro Bono. Is their client innocent?

Part 4 - 'The Fault of Horror': (That title is a pun based on 'The Vault of Horror', an EC comic book published from 1950-1955. The Bier-Meister looks like the Vault-Keeper, the host of that comic, who had a beautiful co-host named Drusilla.) The woman with the CMAA button from part 1 is Josette LaFargue. She and Gershon LaFargue are the heads of the Children's Movement Activist Association, and they try to protect children from negative influences in the media. Of course, they're deciding which influences are negative. Josette is the President. Westchester, New York has banned the Bier-Meister's show, which is why the case in being tried in Westchester County. There will be a surprise witness.
Notes: Dr. Wertham was one of those who appeared before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency's 1954 hearing about comic books that led to the Comics Code Authority. Dr. Wertham's subjects for his claim included children from the LaFargue Clinic. Keith Michaels and Steve 'Slick' Rampart were two of the journalists in EC Comics' 'World Press Extra' comic book. Alice Feldstein of the EC Network is probably a nod to EC Comics editor Al Feldstein. Judge Dewey is probably named for Governor Thomas Dewey, who vetoed a New York Legislature ban on selling certain comic books to minors. Dewey said it was unconstitutional. Dr. Hennings' argument about horror movies desensitizing children is one that can be found in psychiatric and psychological research. Her argument about books is still around today.

'That Model Client': Part 1 - The Dawn DeVine is a beautiful, but vain fashion model. She wants to leave the Greatbody Agency because they get most of her earnings. Her boss, Jake Panache, threatens to ruin her career. Will her hotshot lawyer lover help her? Jake Panache makes an offer to his lawyer, Cynthia Sully.

Part 2 - 'The Demure Demurrer': Dawn does not show up to her hearing and Ms. Sully's looks have improved since part 1. Also, Tobias 'Don't Call Me Toby' Bascoe calls Wolff & Byrd.

Part 3 - 'Ill-Gotten Gains': We learn why Dawn didn't show up. Yes, Panache carried out his threat.

Part 4 - 'Weight of the Evidence': We find out how Panache carried out his threat. How will the judge react?

'It Stalks the Public Domain!': Wolff has a lunch appointment with Toby Bascoe and Byrd has one with Kim Curtis. Toby is trying to get Wolff to speak at a bar convention. We learn how life has been for the Curtises and their soon-to-be born baby since 'Curse of the Werehouse'. Meanwhile, Al Lampini has a problem with his traveling chamber of horrors -- competition.
Notes: A 1944 horror film, 'House of Frankenstein,' had a traveling showman named Professor Bruno Lampini who displayed monsters. As for Dr. Hammer's House of Horrors, Hammer Films are famous for their horror movies. Universal films gave us the classic movie versions of Dracula, the Frankenstein's monster, and the Wolf-Man.

Part 2 - 'Return of It Stalks the Public Domain!': Igor pleads with Al Lampini not to remove the stake from Count Dracula's skeleton. Al ignores him. Dracula is persuaded to seek lawyers. He becomes a client of Wolff & Byrd. Also, Jeff gets a call from Dawn DeVine and Alanna calls her younger sister, Corey, who will become a supporting character later.
Note: Count Dracula did hire solicitors to obtain property in England for him in Bram Stoker's Dracula novel.

Part 3 - 'Son of It Stalks the Public Domain!' The monsters from various exhibits come to Lampini's Chamber of Horrors to pay their respects to Count Dracula. Dracula inspires them to quit being sideshow displays.
Notes: Mel Gaffe chomping flies is a nod to Renfield from the Dracula book. The fly crying for help is a nod to the 1958 horror film, 'The Fly'. The various vampires, including Blackula, appearing in one panel are drawn to resemble actors who have played Dracula. Several versions of Frankenstein's monster appear in the last panel.

'Fungi and Dolls' is another umbrella title for three shorts. There's a three-page introduction.

'I, Sodd': We finally get Sodd's backstory. It involves four steps that wound up with the former Herbert Moss regaining consciousness in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. He's arrested and his cellmate advises him to use Wolff & Byrd. We see how his life has been going until he's waiting to use their services again.

'The Bequeathing of Hodge the Flunky': Flatbush Freddy's case, narrated by another would-be client, is three pages of prose, each with an illustration. Flatbush Freddy was left the services of the late Hodge the Flunky in Big Al's will. Big Al was Freddy's competitor. Freddy does not want what he inherited.

'I turned a Dream Date Into a Nightmare': the prelude takes up four pages, which move along some story lines. Chase Hawkins is not a good boss. The Curtises' baby is a boy. Jeff tells Alanna about his date with Dawn DeVine, which he didn't think went well.
Note: Singer Jack Ripper, Dawn's old pal, and his band, From Hell, are a nod to the 15 October 1888 'From Hell' letter sent to George Lusk, the Chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee that was signed 'Jack the Ripper'. It's also called the 'Lusk letter'.

'Bar•Con': Wolff and Byrd are attending the American Bar Association Convention in San Diego, where Alanna is going to be one of the speakers. Meanwhile, Mavis is at the office and it's pouring rain. Toby Bascoe comes to the office for research. It does not turn out well. At the convention, Chase Hawkins takes an interest in Alanna.
Notes: Ryatt Hotel is probably a play on Hyatt Hotels. Mrs. Donovan's husband's brain under glass is a nod to the 1953 horror film, 'Donovan's Brain'. The guy dressed as Abraham Lincoln at 'Bar•Con' - Lincoln was a lawyer. Apparently, someone is dressed as another famous lawyer, Clarence Darrow from the Scopes Monkey Trial. The game 'Magistrate: the Gathering' is probably a play the game 'Magic: the Gathering'. Abul Alhazred's Trial Notes is a play on H. P. Lovecraft's Abdul Alhazred, writer of the dreaded Necronomicon. Lemuria is also mention in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. I'm not sure what Dark Visions by Marquis LeMode is a play on. Th'lulu's nicknames are a play on Lovecraft's 'The Haunter of the Dark' and Robert Bloch's 'The Shambler From the Stars'.

I enjoy the art and the stories are a lot of fun. If you like comic books/graphic novels and monsters in unconventional settings, you'll probably enjoy this book. show less

“IT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE AND TERRORIZED A CITY – FOR THREE MONTHS, WHEN THE MOON WAS FULL, IT APPEARED AND STALKED THE STREETS FOR PREY--! THE POLICE FINALLY CAPTURED THE BEAST BEFORE ANYONE WAS HARMED … AND WHEN THE WEREWOLF REVERTED TO HUMAN FORM, HE HAD THE WHEREWITHAL TO HIRE COUNSEL... ” Mild mannered Leon Reed, who only goes on a rampage three nights a month at the most, has employed the firm of Wolff and Byrd, a Brooklyn firm whose clientele have earned Alanna Wolff and Jeff show more Byrd the title “Counselors of the Macabre.”

Mr. Reed gets a break from the judge at his hearing: conditional dismissal of the charges. But the conditions of his dismissal are Reed’s pledge to the judge that he will work to overcome his lycanthropy and enter a rehabilitation program. But even his girlfriend, his lawyers and residential rehab at Sister Mary Maledict’s Halfway House of Horrors can’t keep Reed to succumbing to the dark forces of the full moon, especially when those forces are aided by a fringe group calling itself People for the Rights, Interests, and Concerns of Shifters, or PRICS.

Lash’s comic has evolved from newspaper strip to independent comic books to graphic novels and online webcomic. This is his first graphic novel collection to feature color illustrations and a predominance of landscape panels reflecting the new format he adopted in 2005. He retains the word play, subtle social and political commentary, and pencil and ink style that makes his work so distinctive and enjoyable since the series’ debut in 1979. show less