The Brave & The Bold Index Part 15
Team-ups: The Long Goodbye Part 1
June 1979 – July 1984
The inmates
are running the asylum! Or more accurately, the fans have taken over the comic
book company!
By July of
1979, uber-fan Roy Thomas has been
editing at Marvel for over a decade. Joe Staton, whose letter to Justice
League of America #9 slamming Wonder Woman and praising Green Lantern
reverberated for months in that comic, is now drawing those characters! B&B letter-writers Bob Rozakis, Bob Rodi,
Keith Griffen and others are now in comic books on the first page instead of
the last.
No more
will fans suffer under the boot of the Moltinoff-Haney junta! Rise up, fellow
fans! We have nothing to lose but more Wildcat team-ups! Guest stars who were
laughed at or ignored are starting to appear: Supergirl, Superman, the Legion
of Superheroes, the Guardians, Firestorm, Black Lightning, etc.
As many new
team-ups appeared in these last fifty issues (23) than in issues #50 -
#100! (Thirty heroes appeared total in
issues #50 - #100, but only twenty-two with Batman). The fans were finally
getting what they craved!
But why weren't they happy? Part of the reason is because Bob Haney left, leaving a
succession of writers to finish the series. Jim Aparo drew less and less frequently
– he was now considered THE Batman artist, and his work appeared everywhere!
Was there a cover he didn't draw in the late 1970s and early 1980s (with
apologies to Ernie Chua!)? So much demand was on his time something had to
give. It was issues of Brave & Bold. Fans were back to B&B’s early team-up
days – various artists and a rotating roster of writers contributing stories
that ranged from classics to just plain bad. There was no sense of continuity –
you weren't sure what the next issue would bring. Paul Levitz admitted the same
in his letter column.
Fans were
no longer eagerly anticipating the next issue of B&B, which meant they
started looking elsewhere.
Back to the
fans running the company: During Haney’s reign, as stated, Batman was the
world’s greatest detective, a super-cop. Now the fans thought Batman exchanging
jokes with the Atom didn't fit his personality – he was a lone wolf, a creature
of the night. This style of Batman worked in the pre-Robin days, and the
O’Neil-Adams Detective Comics of the
late 1960s; isn't it time the pendulum swung back from Batman the world’s
greatest detective to Batman the brooding loner?
Fans,
editors and creators thought so. So much so that by the later part of the new
century’s first decade; the pendulum has yet to swing back fully, although
there is some light at the end of the dark (knight) tunnel.
This style
eventually lead to Frank Miller’s criminal Dark
Knight Returns, turning Batman into a brutish thug; and eventually culminated in the awful series of Batman movies.
Brave & Bold would obviously not fit
into this paradigm. Batman constantly insulting, assaulting, threatening and/or
ignoring his guest stars would not make for good reading. Later attempts at Brave & Bold prove the point: either
ultra-violent encounters with terrorists (with Green Arrow, the Question and
the regrettably-named Butcher) or ignoring the team-up altogether for a
more World’s Finest-style mode with
Flash and Green Lantern starring.
It was time
to replace Brave & Bold with a
comic more in line with this style of Batman. I will let others discuss the
logic in replacing B&B with a comic about Batman (the brooding loner)
forming a new group of superheroes!
I guess
B&B is a lesson in extremes: here’s what happens when you ignore fans
outright; and here’s what happens when you kowtow to the most vocal fans every
whim.
Well we
still have four years and two months of fun left. Let’s dig in:
(unless otherwise stated, Bob Haney wrote and Jim Aparo drew
the issues)
June 1979
#151: … & Flash,
“Disco of Death”, (No, I’m not kidding!)
Who is killing
the patrons of Gotham City
#152: … & Atom,
“Death Has A Golden Grab”
Computers
run amuck – planes crash, traffic snarls, prison cell doors open, Bruce Wayne
apparently steals money from his own foundation and Ray Palmer embezzles Ivy
University Switzerland ,
with Batman being fed into a trash shredder and Atom thrown into a garbage
incinerator.
#153: … & Red
Tornado, “The Menace of the Murder Machine”, Writer: Cary
Burkett, Art: Don Newton & Bob Smith.
A
scientist, injured in a lab accident, takes his revenge by siccing his Mars
probe robots against his industrial backers, unless Batman and the eternally
whiny Red Tornado stop him first.
A story
about robots that doesn’t co-star the Metal Men? Did they have to chain Haney to a water
heater in the basement?
#154: … &
Metamorpho, “The Pathway of Doom…”
Sapphire
Stagg “hires” Batman (offers him one million dollars to his favorite charity)
to find Metamorpho. The trail leads to France
and Turkey ,
where our heroes stop a gold extortion ring, if they can avoid a mysterious
assassin.
#155: … & Green
Lantern, “Fugitive from Two Worlds”
Tri-Vul, a
well-respected scientist, steals a large meteorite from Gotham ’s
bedrock to take back to his planet, causing massive earthquakes in Gotham ! But why?
Batman and Green Lantern fight over jurisdiction: will he be tried in Gotham
or before the Guardians? Can our heroes stop fighting long enough to find the
meteorite and get it back to Gotham before an earthquake
destroys the city?
#156: … & Dr.
Fate, “Corruption”, Story: Cary Burkett, art: Don Newton & Bob Smith.
A golden
age character is treated with dignity and respect – Haney must be chained to
the hot water heater again!
A dead cop
accused of taking bribes from a drug lord turns the Gotham City PD (including
Commissioner Gordon) into thieves and murderers! Batman must find evidence to clear the cop,
while Dr. Fate battles the demon inhabiting the late cop’s spirit.
#157: … & Kamandi
(ties into Kamandi #59), “Time … My Dark Destiny”
Extortion,
Inc. has a new Enforcer: Kamandi! How is that possible? Seems he was flung back
in time, lost his memory and imbued with invulnerability and super
strength! Can Batman stop his crime
wave?
Levitz
announces in the letter column that it is time for B&B to grow and as a
result Haney is leaving as of this issue to allow him time for more projects.
And that’s it, no great goodbye, no mention of the tremendous effort he put
into Brave & Bold for the last 24
years, nothing! Was it amicable? Maybe I shouldn’t have made so much fun of
him. Nah…
1980
#158: … & Wonder
Woman, “Yesterday Never Dies”, Writer: Gerry Conway.
The first
issue without Haney features something Haney rarely used: a supervillain, and a
new one at that! Flashback, whose
chemical gas makes his victims relive their worst life experiences, vows to
kill the members of a French-US business conglomerate. Can Batman and Wonder
Woman overcome the traumas of the deaths of Batman’s parents and Steve Trevor
in time to stop him?
#159: … & Ra’s Al
Ghul, “The Crystal Armageddon”, Writer: Denny O’Neil.
Super
villains are coming out of the woodwork!
Ra’s is the second bad guy to co-star in a team-up! The Joker (#111) is
the other.
A single
drop of Professor Hatter’s formula could turn the ocean into crystal! Imagine what a bottle-full would do! The League of Assassins kidnaps the
professor, and Batman and Ra’s try to find him before either he or the League
spills/breaks the bottle!
#160: … &
Supergirl, “The Brimstone Connection”, Writer: Cary
Burkett.
Colonel Sulfur
kidnaps Supergirl’s adopted father who knows the third part of a new rocket
fuel formula.
#161: … & Adam
Strange, “A Tale of Two Heroes”, Writer: Gerry Conway.
As with the
Special and issue #200, Batman never
meets his costar in this issue.
A Zeta Beam
switches Adam Strange and (an unknowing) Batman. Batman is sent to Rann to help clear Adam who
was framed for murder. That leaves Adam Strange to capture Gotham ’s
serial killer before he strikes again! Well done story!
#162: … & Sgt.
Rock, “Operation Time Bomb”, Writer: Bill Kelly.
Featuring
the Earth-Two Batman. World War II sabotage: bombs are planted on a new
squadron of tanks financed by Wayne Enterprises. Now Batman and Sgt. Rock must
disarm the tanks, discover the Nazi’s attack plans, and defeat the man behind
it all – the Iron Major!
#163: … & Black Lightning,
“Oil, Oil, Nowhere”, Writer: Paul Kupperberg, Art: Dick Giordano.
Black
Lightning won a reader’s poll for most requested team-up. After a delay (BL was
to appear in DC Comics Presents and
the editors didn’t want to compete with their sister magazine), he finally
debuts in B&B. Other than Mal appearing with the Teen Titans in #102, this
is the first African American character to co-star with Batman in Brave & Bold. Not that DC had a lot of black characters to
choose from…
Someone is
stealing oil tanker trucks from Gotham and Metropolis.
Enter Batman. One of the stolen trucks runs over an old lady in Metropolis’
suicide slum. Enter Black Lightning.
They both find the missing gasoline. Enter the general-turned-senator and his
private army ready to take over the US .
Buncha jive turkeys!
#164: … &
Hawkman, “The Mystery of the Mobile Museum
Batman and
Hawkman deliver “The Mysterious Ones” – two pre-Cambrian statuettes – to the Midway
City Museum
#165: … & Man Bat,
“Prescription for Tragedy”, Writer: Marty Pasko, Art: Don Newton & Dan
Adkins.
South
American drugs, smuggled into the US ,
may be the only thing to save Man-bat’s daughter. Unfortunately, this
batch has a deadly viral strain in it! Can Batman stop the lethal injection in
time? Old Batman cast member Jason Bard appears in a panel. Bard is an obscure member of the Batman
Family. He was Batgirl’s detective boyfriend and was given his own feature
(e.g. Detective Comics #425, July
1972). Around this time he was a regular cast member of the Manbat feature in Detective.
#166: … & Black
Canary, “Requiem for Four Canaries”, Writer: Michael Fleisher, Art: Dick
Giordano and Terry Austin.
Fifty
cents? Again!? Well, they added eight pages…
The Penguin
(his first appearance in B&B since #68 14 years before) vows to kill his four
former henchmen who testified against him.
The story’s been done before (most
notably with the Joker), but the art by Giordano is beautiful! The story seems
to focus more on the flirtation between Canary and Batman. This potential
romance was also hinted at years before in an issue of JLA.
This issue
was roundly panned in the later letter columns. It wasn’t that bad!
For the
first time in fifteen years (since the debut of the never-seen-since Bat
Squad), a new hero is featured. “Nemesis” by Cary Burkett (writer) and Dan
Spiegle (art). To atone for a murder committed by his brother, Thomas Tresser
becomes the master-of-disguise Nemesis. In his debut outing he captures crime
lord J. R. Ogden and his hired gun, George Peal.
#167 … (Earth Two)
& Blackhawk, “Ice Station Alpha!”, Writer: Marv Wolfman, Artist: Dave
Cockrum & Dan Adkins.
Another
long-time B&B requested team-up finally comes to pass. The golden age
(Earth Two to the purists) Batman and the Blackhawks each discover the Nazi’s
ultimate weapon: a machine that will melt the polar ice cap and drown the
entire eastern seaboard!
Nemesis: “A
Name Writ in Blood” by Burkett & Spiegle.
More of Nemesis’ origin it revealed: When their widowed father dies, Tom
& Craig Tresser are raised by Ben & Marjorie Marshall, their father’s
best friends. When they grow to
adulthood, the boys begin working for Marshall
as government agents. Craig, mysteriously, shoots and kills Ben and is himself
killed. Tom, now always under suspicion, removes his name from the government
roles, takes his experiments (disguise techniques, bullets that shoot only
non-lethal paralyzing toxins, etc.) and becomes the Dark Herald of Justice,
Nemesis.
#168: … & Green
Arrow, “Shackles of the Mind”, Writer: Cary
Burkett. Jim Aparo is back after a six
issue absence. Hmm, six issues missed to draw a three-issue mini-series Untold Legend of Batman. His “vacation”
seems to have paid off; his artwork in this issue is more marvelous than ever.
Green Arrow
coaxes Batman into appearing at a charity benefit featuring a
thief-turned-escape-artist reformed by Green Arrow. Meanwhile, Batman tries to
hunt down a museum thief who makes nearly impossible escapes. Hmm. Could Green
Arrow’s friend be behind it all? Or is he just a patsy for a real stage-magician-turned-thief?
This issue shows more escape tricks
and techniques than all of Mr. Miracle’s past appearances put together!
Nemesis:
“Swift Wing of Recompense”; Burkett & Spiegle. Picking up his brother’s investigation where
it left off, Nemesis find his brother’s undercover work was discovered by a mob
boss named Kingston . Craig was
brought before the “Council” and brainwashed, is that why he killed Ben
Marshall? During his investigation,
Nemesis also stops a drug smuggling ring.
#169: … & Zatanna,
“Angel of Mercy, Angel of Death!” Writer: Mike W. Barr.
I’m honored
to have Zatanna herself describe the plot of this comic. “A retsgnag sllik a htiaf relaeh ohw t’ndluoc
eruc sih kaew traeh. Fi eht htiaf
s’relaeh dewodiw efiw t’nac eruc mih, ll’ehs eb dellik oot, sselnu Namtab dna I
pots mih tsrif!”
Thank you,
Zatanna. That was wonderful… … …
Is she
gone? Between you and me, Zatanna has
never been a character I liked very much.
Mostly because, for the reader, her spell-casting method is a pain in
the ass, or as she would say, a “niap ni eht ssa”! Thank you, but I don’t want to read
what Zatanna says backwards. Besides, her spells are usually explained in the
next panel. Here, she stops a criminal
by saying, “Snug otni sag!” That is, “Guns
into gas!” In the very next panel the criminal says (and we are shown), “My gun
has turned into gas!” Thanks, I just
spent five minutes of my life trying to figure that out for myself! Well, not
five minutes, as anytime Zatanna appears I always try to keep a mirror handy.
But I shouldn’t have to read a comic book holding a compact! (Besides, isn’t “Guns into gas!” backwards
really “!sag otni snuG”?) Why can’t she
just say something silly like Dr. Strange and be just as effective; “I shall
turn the guns into gas by using my Amulet of Amaretto!” Just as dramatic, and
makes me feel less dyslexic!
Nemesis: “The Council Calls for
Death”; Burkett & Spiegle. Kingston
calls a meeting of the Council, a federation of all mob bosses under the
leadership of “The Head”. Kingston
updates the Council on Nemesis’ search for more details of Craig’s brainwashing
(Nemesis finds out the brainwashing was done on the orders of The Head by a
former Nazi scientist). Nemesis is at the meeting disguised as the Council’s
security chief (all through the story the reader was left guessing who could
have been Nemesis – he had to be in the meeting somewhere!). His next move is
obviously to find The Head at his base of operations, which is in … (cue
exciting music) Gotham City
Copyright (c) 2012 Michael G Curry
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