Team-ups: Coasting Part 2
March 1972 – May 1979
1974
#110: … &
Wildcat, “A Very Special Spy”
Rozakis
again is named in the letter column, as well as the first request for a Swamp
Thing team-up and a Black Orchid team-up. One reader suggested Plop! Now that
would be interesting!
Ted Grant
(Wildcat) takes the job as a vice president of an energy corporation for the
sake of publicity. Too bad the company
is involved in corporate theft and murder!
#111: … & Joker,
“Death has the Last Laugh”
This is the
best selling issue of (and one of the most sought after) Brave & Bold in this period.
Features letters by Rozakis (does he slip twenty dollar bills in with his
letters?) and Bob Rodi.
Someone is
framing the Joker for murder! To prevent an underworld massacre, Batman makes a
deal with the Clown Prince of Crime to bring in the real killer – together!
#112: … & Mister
Miracle, “The Impossible Escape”
Sixty
cents! Sixty cents!! What am I, made outta money? Well, it is 100 pages of comics. Most of it reprints, but tripling the price
for over triple the pages – well, okay for now!
This issue also features reprints from issue #s 59 (Batman and Green
Lantern), #52 (Aquaman and Hawkman) and the Silent Knight story from #15. A letter from Keith Griffin is published (who
apologizes for his “nasty letters” to B&B).
Uh-oh, where’s Rozakis? Is he sick? Twelve mentions in the letter column
in a row – a DiMaggio-like run!
Another
milestone: for the first time in 16
years the Silent Knight appears on the cover of a comic book!
Another
Kirby creation debuts in B&B (the first being the Demon two issues ago)!
And the only character from Kirby’s “Fourth World ”
series of comics to appear in B&B.
To
investigate possible museum fraud, Batman searches for the tomb of Atun, first
pharaoh of Egypt .
Accepting the challenge of an archeologist, Mr. Miracle does the same. Will
they find the secret of eternal life! Or be trapped forever in the tomb?
#113: … & Metal
Men, “50 Story Killer”
The new
mayor of Gotham fires Commissioner Gordon and forces
Batman to retire. A new commissioner and the Metal Men will continue the fight
against crime. Good thing – terrorists
have just “hi-jacked” the Wayne Enterprises
Building
Also
features reprints of a B&B Viking Prince story and Hawkman’s debut tale; a
Green Arrow story from 1958’s World’s
Finest, and a Challengers of the Unknown tale from #14 of their magazine.
Bob Rodi and
regular contributor Joe Peluso are mentioned in the letter column that also
features full page biographies of Bob Haney and Jim Aparo. Bob Rozakis created a puzzle page, now being
on National’s payroll.
#114: … &
Aquaman, “Last Jet to Gotham ”
Batman and
Gordon wait for a jet to land in Gotham holding a mafia
boss. Unfortunately it also holds a
nuclear bomb, set to go off when the plane lands! Batman and Aquaman try to rescue the
passengers as mafia lieutenants try to rescue their chief.
This 100
page giant features a solo Aquaman story from 1961, a Teen Titans reprint, as
well as the first team-up from B&B #50 – Green Arrow and the Martian
Manhunter.
#115: … & Atom,
“The Corpse that Wouldn’t Die”
Okay, I’ll
explain it again if need be. Batman is electrocuted when searching for a
kidnapped girl. The Atom microscopically enters Batman’s brain to stimulate
his neurons to simulate movement to again try to rescue the girl. Atom
is pretty good at it! He makes Batman
walk, punch and do a backflip! Oh yes, Batman comes back to life after so much
cerebral excitement.
This issue
also features reprints of the Challengers of the Unknown, a solo Atom story,
one of the Viking Prince tales from B&B #23 and a reprint of Showcase #55
starring Dr. Fate, Hourman and the golden age Green Lantern fighting Solomon
Grundy – the best tale of the issue!
Bob Rodi
again appears in the letter column, how close is he to tying Rozakis’ number of
entries (13)? #118’s letter column swore
on a stack of DC’s that they received hundreds of positive letters on the
recent Atom team-up and only two negative letters. Wow!
1975
#116: … & Spectre,
“Grasp of the Killer Cult”
Army
veterans turn into strangling thugs. No,
they really do, literally: they are possessed by the spirits of
nineteenth-century Kali-worshipping Thugs from Burma !
Good
issue: reprints of a Teen Titan
adventure from #16 of their comic, a Silent Knight reprint from B&B #2(!)
and the Batman-Wonder-Woman-Batgirl team-up from #78.
Letter
column: another letter by Bob Rodi, and someone asks who designs the puzzles in
B&B? Bob Rozakis! Sorry, Bob, a mention in the letter column doesn’t count
if you work for the company! More seriously, the letter column shows some
revealing things this time around: The editor laughs at a Krypto suggestion for
a team-up. Actually, it might make for a
fun story! He certainly would have fit
better than Wildcat (again) in #118!
Why do they
take such pains to laugh at some suggestions? And belittle the remarks of some
letter-writers? One writer in #119 called Haney and Boltinoff smug. This kind of criticism was usually shrugged
off with a smirk by saying if they were why’d they publish the letter? Well,
from reading nearly thirty issues of editorial comments, they were smug
and arrogant! Stop talking down to us!
Great example: in this issue when
more golden age characters are suggested, the editor makes a point to say, “What
is it that makes these tarnished heroes so popular?” Well, I don’t know, but they obviously are
popular. Apparently, the only people who do not want golden age heroes to team
up with Batman are the people in charge of selecting the team-ups. Every issue
begs for Dr. Mid-Nite, the Crimson Avenger, or some other golden great. So why
drag out Wildcat – again!? Considering how they treat Wildcat in every issue
(“Pardon me, can you help a fellow superhero who’s down on his luck?”), do they
really think it would satisfy a golden age fan?
Do they think reprinting the Dr.
Fate-Hourman team-up from Showcase
will satisfy demands? Will running
Challengers of the Unknown reprints instead of teaming them in a new adventure
with Batman stop the flood of requests? No, it didn’t! Some readers took the
editors to task for that question in the upcoming letter columns.
#117: … & Sgt.
Rock, “Nightmare Without End”
The last of
the 100 page giants, with reprints of a Viking Prince story from #24; the first
issue of Secret Six, a Mission
Rock
participated in the execution of a soldier for cowardice during WWII. And the
soldier’s been haunting Rock ever since. Or is he really still alive and spying
for the US all
this time?
#118: … & Wildcat
with Joker, “May the Best Man Die”
Twenty-Five
cents! This is better! Twenty-five cents for a comic book. Beats sixty! Well, it’s not a hundred pages
anymore, but I can accept that …wait a minute!
It’s only 18 pages of comics!
That’s three pages less than when it cost 20 cents!
Well, as of
this issue it is going from bi-monthly to eight-issues-a-year! So I get less pages per issue, but two more
issues per year! (Still, sounds like a
rip-off!)
To hush up
a stoolie, the Joker poisons the drinking water of a prison. All 600 inmates
will die unless Batman and Wildcat can rush the antidote to the prison before
the Joker gets to it first. The trouble is the “antidote” are antibodies inside
a small dog named Spot. And Spot has run off and is hiding somewhere in Gotham …
Does this
count as a second team-up for the Joker? He is given credit on the cover,
obviously to boost sales in an otherwise silly story.
For your
consideration: Batman’s B&B stories always seemed geared toward the guest
(how many times did Batman fight evil robots when the Metal Men weren’t
featured?). Since this story involved a dog, why would a Krypto team-up seem so
far fetched?
#119: … & Man-Bat,
“Bring Back Killer Krag”
A Mafioso
widow puts a contract on the bounty hunter who killed her husband. The killer is living in a country ruled by a
US-hating dictator. Three sets of hunters go after the killer: two ex-CIA
agents, Man-Bat, who is desperate for money, and Batman!
#120: … &
Kamandi, “This World is Mine”
Batman is
magically brought into earth’s future after the Great Disaster to lead a group
of humans hiding in Mt. Rushmore
Two new team-ups in a row! This
issue features a reprint from Secret Six
#2. Letter pages features Bob Rodi and
future comics scribe Jo Duffy and Justice
League’s Dan Jurgens. The price of the comic hikes to 50 cents for 64 pages
this issue only, ala Superman Family,
Tarzan Family, etc.
#121: … & Metal
Men, “The Doomsday Express”
B&B
quickly converts back to 18 pages for twenty-five cents. Why so soon? Sales were very good for #120. Maybe the
powers-that-be decided against a bigger format for B&B.
A train
bearing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution is hijacked by
Native American terrorists! Twist: foreign terrorists have hidden a bomb on the
train!
#122: … & Swamp
Thing, “The Hour of the Beast”
A
plane-load of experimental biochemicals crashes into Gotham ’s
reservoir, causing killer vines to spring throughout the city – crushing all in
its path. Elsewhere in Gotham City
The letter
column thanked a reader for a nice letter, explained a continuity flaw and
asked if it helped improve the reader’s enjoyment and thanked readers for their
team-up requests. Oh, yeah, and whole letters are printed, not printed “sound
bites”. What gives? Ah, Jack C. Harris is now the assistant editor, taking over
the letter column! I guess Boltinoff was
too busy strangling puppies for profit and touring orphanages presenting his
“Surprise, Brats, There Ain’t No Santa Claus” lecture to do B&B’s letter
column anymore. He remains the editor though…
#123: … & Plastic
Man & Metamorpho, “How to Make a Super-Hero”
A rare
three-teamer, and a sequel to #95.
Batman finds Plastic Man out of work and panhandling as a bum. He asks Plas to guard Gotham
as Batman while he is away. However,
Plastic Man is then put under the sway once again of Rudy Ryder – who 1)
brainwashes Plas into thinking he is the real Batman and 2) frames Bruce Wayne
for murder! Coincidentally, Bruce Wayne is in competition with Ryder over the
purchase of an ancient African statue.
Metamorpho springs Wayne and
together they hunt down Ryder and Plas!
Long-lost
letter writer Joe Peluso contributes to the letter column.
Bob Haney
created Metamorpho, who has powers similar to Plastic Man (as they each admit
during their battle). So guess which hero is called a freak (twice), a fool and
an idiot? Plas gets a similar treatment in his last appearance in B&B #148.
C’mon Bob, don’t be so petty! Cosmic justice: for a time, Plastic Man was one
of the primary members of the JLA
comic, while Metamorpho was killed off in JLA
comic in its first story arc. See Bob? I
told you not to be so petty…
1976
#124: … & Sgt.
Rock, “Small War of the Super-Rifles”
Joe Peluso
contributes to the letter column again.
Top secret
infantry rifles are stolen by terrorists. Rock, assigned to find them, ends up
tracking the terrorists to Gotham . But the terrorists
have managed to also steal the script to Brave
and Bold #124, and hunt down Jim Aparo and Bob Haney to stop them from
completing the comic and thus halting their defeat!
Jim Aparo
“appears” in this story as an actual character.
Jim Aparo from Comic Book Artist
#9: “That was corny. I didn’t live near the water as they had me in the story.
I climbed out of my studio in the basement and climbed into a boat and went to
a lighthouse or something. It was just written that way. I guess the readers believed
it. I was just a joke. They [Haney and Boltinoff] wanted to fool around.”
#125: … & Flash,
“Streets of Poison”
Batman and
Flash go to Rangoon to stop a poppy
farm/heroin factory. While there they
meet a female aviator missing for many months. Only later do they discover she
has been in on the heroin trafficking the whole time!
#126: … &
Aquaman, “What Lurks Beneath Bouy 13?”, Artist: John Calnan (Aparo inks). Joe Peluso is again in the letter column; the
price hikes to thirty cents for eighteen pages.
#127: … &
Wildcat, “Deadman’s Quadrangle”
Illegal
aliens are smuggled to the US
via Ted Grant’s island resort. Is he somehow involved? No, but after five
appearances with Batman in only 39 issues, fans have had enough. Wildcat
appearing became something of a joke to letter-writers and future editors
(including Mike W. Barr’s text in the “Best of Brave & Bold” mini-series);
this is his last appearance. Wildcat does later become intertwined with the
Batman mythos: he taught Batman how to box and had a fling (and a mini-series)
with Catwoman.
#128: … & Mister
Miracle, “Death by the Ounce”
This is
B&B’s “DC Salutes the Bicentennial” issue.
Joe Peluso again writes a letter.
In exchange
for one ounce of a youth-restoring potion, Apokolypsian Granny Goodness kidnaps
the world’s richest ruler – the Shah of Kirkan – to prevent him from signing a US
peace treaty.
#129: … & Green
Arrow, Atom, “The Claws of the Emperor Eagle”
Only the
third multi-guest issue, and the first multi-issue storyline since #25 and 26
with the Suicide Squad seventeen years before!
Okay, I’ll
explain it again if need be: The people of Pathanistan created the Emperor
Eagle to appease Alexander the Great. All who have since owned it are cursed
and doomed. Oliver Queen, believing he can beat the curse, buys it. The plane
carrying the Eagle is skyjacked by the Joker and Two-Face, who have been hired
to return the Eagle to Pathanistan. Queen is put on trial in Pathanistan for
“stealing” their national treasure, but Batman and the Atom rescue Queen before
his execution.
Later,
Joker and Two-Face steal the Eagle for themselves, and with Batman as a
hostage, head for high ground, with Green Arrow and Atom and the whole
Pathanistan army in pursuit!
#130: … & Green
Arrow, Atom, Joker, Two-Face, “Death at Rainbow’s End”
The cover
boasts “Four Famous Co-Stars” in the same manner as the 100th issue.
Our heroes
find the ancient city of Pathan ,
where the Emperor Eagle was created.
Green Arrow convinces the citizens to make a duplicate and switch it
with the real Eagle being held by Joker and Two-Face. During this time, Batman
supposedly is killed in a landslide, but he pops up in the nick of time at the
end of the story. The ruler of Pathanistan recovers the Eagle but plummets with
it (we discover that the Eagle is filled with gold, rubies and diamonds) down a
chasm where it is lost forever.
Joker and
Two-Face, meanwhile, now own a large, hollow iron statue of an Eagle!
#131: … & Wonder
Woman, “Take Seven Steps to Wipe Out”
Bad: the
African country of Sudaria smuggles drugs into the US
via diplomatic attaches. Worse: they are smuggling out the blueprints of the
most top secret encoding devise ever created in the United
States . Worst: they’re latest diplomat is …
eek! … Catwoman!
Copyright (c) 2012 Michael G Curry
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