{"id":22420,"date":"2020-07-08T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T08:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=22420"},"modified":"2020-07-07T21:01:48","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T21:01:48","slug":"__trashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2020\/07\/08\/__trashed\/","title":{"rendered":"Batman: The Brave and the Bold volume 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Matt Wayne<\/strong>, J. Torres<\/strong>, Andy Suriano<\/strong>, Phil Moy<\/strong>, Carlo Barberi<\/strong>, Dan Davis <\/strong>& Terry Beatty <\/strong>(DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-4012-2650-3 (TPB)<\/p>\n

The Brave and the Bold<\/strong> began in 1955 as an anthology adventure comic featuring short complete tales about a variety of period heroes: a format which mirrored that era’s filmic fascination with historical dramas. Devised and written by Bob Kanigher, issue #1 led with Roman epic Golden Gladiator<\/em>, medieval mystery-man The Silent Knight<\/em> and Joe Kubert’s now-legendary Viking Prince<\/strong>. Soon, the Gladiator was increasingly alternated with Robin Hood<\/strong>, but the manly adventure theme carried the title until the end of the decade when the burgeoning costumed character revival saw B&B<\/strong> transform into a try-out vehicle in the manner of Showcase<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Used to premiere concepts and characters such as Task Force X: The Suicide Squad<\/strong>, Cave Carson<\/strong>, Hawkman<\/strong>, Strange Sports Stories<\/strong> and the epochal Justice League of America<\/strong>, the comic soldiered on until issue #50 when it provided another innovative new direction which once again truly caught the public’s imagination.<\/p>\n

That issue paired two superheroes – Green Arrow<\/strong> & Martian Manhunter<\/strong> – in a one-off team-up, as did succeeding ones: Aquaman<\/strong> with Hawkman<\/strong> in #51, WWII Battle Stars Sgt. Rock<\/strong>, Captain Cloud<\/em>, Mme. Marie<\/em> & the Haunted Tank<\/strong> in #52 and Atom<\/strong> & Flash<\/strong> in #53. The next team-up – Robin<\/strong>, Aqualad<\/em> & Kid Flash<\/em>, evolved after further try-outs into the Teen Titans<\/strong> and after, Metal Men\/the Atom<\/strong> and Flash\/Martian Manhunter<\/strong> appeared, brand new hero Metamorpho, the Element Man<\/strong> debuted in #57-58.<\/p>\n

From then it was back to the extremely popular superhero pairings with #59, and although no gone realised it at the time, this particular conjunction – Batman<\/strong> with Green Lantern<\/strong> – would be particularly significant\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.<\/p>\n

After a return engagement for the Teen Titans<\/strong>, two issues spotlighting Earth-2 champions Starman<\/strong> & Black Canary<\/strong> and Wonder Woman<\/strong> witth Supergirl<\/strong>, an indication of things to come materialised as Batman<\/strong> duelled hero\/villain Eclipso<\/strong> in #64: an acknowledgement of the brewing TV-induced mania mere months away\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Within two issues, following Flash\/Doom Patrol <\/strong>and Metamorpho\/Metal Men<\/strong>, Brave and the Bold <\/strong>#67 saw the Caped Crusader take de facto<\/em> control of the title and the lion’s share of the team-ups. With the exception of #72-73 Spectre<\/Flash<\/strong> and Aquaman\/Atom<\/strong>) the comic was henceforth a place where Batman invited the rest of company’s heroic pantheon to come and play\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Decades later, the Batman Animated<\/strong> TV series masterminded by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini in the 1990s revolutionised the Dark Knight and subsequently led to some of the absolute best comicbook adventures in his decades-long publishing history with the creation of the spin-off print title.<\/p>\n

With constant funny book iterations and tie-ins to a succession of TV cartoon series, Batman has remained popular and a sublime introducer of kids to the magical world of the printed page.<\/p>\n

One relatively recent incarnation was Batman: the Brave and the Bold<\/strong>, which gloriously teamed up the all-ages small-screen Dark Knight with a torrent and profusion of DC’s other heroic creations, and once again the show was supplemented by a cool kid’s comic book full of fun, verve and swashbuckling dash, cunningly crafted to appeal as much to the parents and grandparents as those fresh-faced neophyte kids\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This stellar premier collection (available in paperback but aggravatingly not in digital editions) gathers the first 6 issues in a hip, trendy, immensely entertaining package suitable for newcomers, fans and aficionados of all ages and, although not necessary to the reader’s enjoyment, a passing familiarity with the TV episodes will enhance the overall experience (and they’re pretty good too)\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Following the format of the TV show, each tale opens with a brief vignette adventure before telling a longer tale. Issue #1 has the Caped Crimebuster and Aquaman<\/strong> putting paid to robotic rogue Carapax<\/em>. This feeds into main feature ‘The Panic of the Composite Creature’ <\/em>(by Matt Wayne, Andy Suriano & Dan Davis) wherein Batman and the pulchritudinous Power Girl<\/strong> save London from Lex Luthor<\/strong>‘s latest monster-making mechanism.<\/p>\n

Phil Moy illustrates Superman<\/strong> and the Gotham Guardian mopping up the terrible Toyman<\/em> before ‘The Attack of the Virtual Villains’<\/em> finds the Bat and Blue Beetle<\/strong> in El Paso battling evil Artificial Intellect The Thinker<\/em>, in a compelling and extremely challenging computer-game world\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

After an introductory battle between Wonder Woman <\/strong>, Dark Knight and telepathic tyrant Dr. Psycho<\/em>‘s zombie villains, ‘President Batman!’<\/em> (Wayne, Suriano & Davis) sees the Great Detective substitute for the Commander-in-Chief, with Green Arrow as bodyguard when body-swapping mastermind Ultra-Humanite<\/em> attempts to seize control of the nation.<\/p>\n

Then, in full-length thriller ‘Menace of the Time Thief!’<\/em>, Aquaman and his bat-eared chum prevent well-intentioned Dr. Cyber<\/em> from catastrophically rewriting history, following a magical and too brief prologue wherein sorcerer Felix Faust<\/em> is foiled by a baby Batman and the glorious pushy terrible toddlers Sugar and Spike<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Torres, Carlo Barberi & Terry Beatty stepped in for both the chilling vignette wherein the nefarious Key<\/em> is caught by Batman and a Haunted Tank whilst ‘The Case of the Fractured Fairy Tale’<\/em> opens as the awesome Queen of Fables<\/em> starts stealing children for her Enchanted Forest and the Caped Crusader needs the help of both Billy Batson<\/em> and his Shazam!-shouting adult alter ego Captain Marvel<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This initial outing concludes with a preliminary clash between Hourman<\/em> and Batman against the crafty Calculator<\/em>, after which ‘Charge of the Army Eternal!’<\/em> (Torres, Suriano & Davis) finds villainous General Immortus<\/em> at the mercy of his own army of time-lost warrior bandits and desperately seeking the help of the Gotham Gangbuster and ghostly Guardian Kid Eternity<\/strong>..<\/p>\n

Although greatly outnumbered, the Kid’s ability to summon past heroes such as The Vigilante<\/em>, Shining Knight<\/em>, Viking Prince<\/em> and G.I. Robot<\/em> proves invaluable, especially once the General inevitably betrays his rescuers\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This fabulously fun rollercoaster ride also includes informative ‘Secret Bat Files’<\/em> on Luthor, Power Girl, Thinker, Blue Beetle, Ultra-Humanite, Green Arrow, Dr. Cyber, Aquaman, Queen of Fables, Captain Marvel, General Immortus and Kid Eternity, and the package is topped off with a spiffy cover gallery courtesy of James Tucker, Scott Jeralds & Hi-Fi.<\/p>\n

The links between kids’ animated features and comicbooks are long established and, I suspect, for young consumers, indistinguishable. After all, it’s just adventure entertainment in the end\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Despite being ostensibly aimed at TV viewing kids, these short, sweet sagas are also wonderful, traditional comics thrillers no self-respecting fun-fan should miss: accessible, entertaining, well-rendered yarns for the broadest range of excitement-seeking readers, making this terrific tome a perfect, old fashioned delight. What more do you need to know?
\n\u00c2\u00a9 2009 DC Comics. Compilation \u00c2\u00a9 2008, 2009 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Matt Wayne, J. Torres, Andy Suriano, Phil Moy, Carlo Barberi, Dan Davis & Terry Beatty (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-2650-3 (TPB) The Brave and the Bold began in 1955 as an anthology adventure comic featuring short complete tales about a variety of period heroes: a format which mirrored that era’s filmic fascination with historical dramas. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Batman: The Brave and the Bold volume 1”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,76,97,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-batman","category-dc-superhero","category-kids-all-ages","category-tv-adaptations"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-5PC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}