In 1968, Carmine Infantino, newly installed editorial director of DC Comics, and his editor, Joe Orlando, came up with the name and basic premise of the loner whose family had been wiped out by murderous thugs, and then brought in Sheldon Mayer (former DC editor and creator of Sugar and Spike) and Sergio Aragonés (an artist best known for his comedic illustrations in Mad magazine) to further flesh out the concept.

First, Aragonés would create a plot in thumbnail sketch form, then O'Neil would write the dialog, and last came Cardy's finished art.

A 1998 miniseries, "Guns of the Dragon" set in 1927 China, teams an elderly Bat Lash with Biff Bradley and Enemy Ace on an adventure that sends them to Dinosaur Island.

In 2008, Bat Lash appeared in a self-titled, six issue miniseries from DC, written by Aragones, with dialog by acclaimed western novelist Peter Brandvold, art by John Severin and covers by Walt Simonson.

In Blackest Night, Bat Lash is temporarily resurrected as a Black Lantern alongside Jonah Hex and Scalphunter.

During the Dark Nights: Death Metal storyline, Bat Lash is among the superheroes revived by Batman using a Black Lantern ring.

[8] Bat Lash appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Once and Future Thing, Part One: Weird Western Tales", voiced by Ben Browder.