General Discussion & Chat: Mark: This one's for you, 1 by gardenwife

gardenwife wrote:
It must be bat day, for I found this while doing a search for Victoriana:

Human Bat
http://www.geocities.com/jessnevins/vich.html

The Bat first appeared in The Funny Wonder, March 1899. The Bat is John Holloway, a lively young lad whose father is the 17th Baron of Fingall, lord of a sizable Irish estate. However, his rival in Parliament connives with a cousin to swindle Fingall out of his wealth and manor. Holloway is still in school and seemingly cannot do anything to help his father. But he discovers that a special suit he'd been given by his father's butler/valet/batman enables him to glide through the air; the suit is a caped affair made for formal dinners, but with a mask it lets Holloway glide around incognito. Holloway then begins using it to fight for his father; he takes up the identity of the Human Bat so much that he begins hiding out at night in a local cave and sleeping upside down, hanging from the ceiling by his feet. Eventually, of course, Holloway helps his father regain his good name and wealth, as well as stymieing various Chinese smugglers and getting a kiss from the girl who was his best friend growing up. (That's John on the prowl, going after one of the hirelings of the man who swindled Fingall out of his money and land).