{"id":27832,"date":"2023-05-03T09:00:59","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T09:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=27832"},"modified":"2023-04-19T11:31:29","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T11:31:29","slug":"team-ups-of-the-brave-and-the-bold-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/05\/03\/team-ups-of-the-brave-and-the-bold-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Team-Ups of the Brave and the Bold"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy J. Michael Straczynski<\/strong>, Jesus Saiz<\/strong>, Chad Hardin<\/strong>, Justiniano<\/strong>, Cliff Chiang<\/strong> & various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-4012-2793-7 (HB) 978-1-4012-2809-5 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

The Brave and the Bold<\/strong> premiered in 1955; an anthology adventure comic featuring short complete tales starring a variety of period heroes and a format mirroring and cashing in on that era\u2019s filmic fascination with historical dramas.<\/p>\n

Devised and written by Robert Kanigher, issue #1 led with Roman epic Golden Gladiator<\/strong>, medieval mystery-man The Silent Knight<\/strong> and Joe Kubert\u2019s now legendary Viking Prince<\/strong>. The Gladiator was soon replaced by National Periodicals\/DC Comics\u2019 iteration of Robin Hood<\/strong>, and the high adventure theme carried the title until the end of the decade when a burgeoning superhero revival saw B&B<\/strong> remodelled as a try-out vehicle like the astounding successful Showcase<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Deployed to launch enterprising concepts and characters such as Task Force X: The Suicide Squad<\/strong>, Cave Carson<\/strong>, Strange Sports Stories<\/strong>, Hawkman<\/strong> and the epochal Justice League of America<\/strong>, the title then evolved to create a whole sub-genre – although barely anybody noticed at the time\u2026<\/p>\n

That innovation was Superhero Team-Ups.<\/p>\n

For almost a decade DC had enjoyed great success pairing Superman<\/strong> with Batman<\/strong> and Robin<\/strong> in World\u2019s Finest Comics<\/strong>, and in 1963 sought to create another top-selling combo from their growing pantheon of masked mystery men. It didn\u2019t hurt that the timing also allowed extra exposure for characters imminently graduating to their own starring vehicles after years as back-up features\u2026<\/p>\n

This was during a period when almost no costumed heroes acknowledged the jurisdiction or (usually) existence of other costumed champions. When B&B<\/strong> offered this succession of power pairings, they were unknowingly laying foundations for DC\u2019s future close-knit comics continuity. Nowadays, there\u2019s something wrong with any superstar who doesn\u2019t regularly join every other cape or mask on-planet every five minutes or so\u2026<\/p>\n

The short-lived experiment eventually calcified as \u201cBatman and\u2026<\/strong>\u201d but, for a while, readers were treated to some truly inspired pairings such as Flash and the Doom Patrol<\/strong>, Metal Men<\/strong> and Metamorpho<\/strong>, Flash<\/strong> and The Spectre<\/strong> or Supergirl<\/strong> and Wonder Woman<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The editors even achieved their aim after Robin, Kid Flash<\/strong> and Aqualad<\/strong> remained together after their initial foray and expanded into the ever-popular Teen Titans<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

That theme of heroes united together for a specific time and purpose was revived in 2007 for the third volume of The Brave and the Bold<\/strong>, resulting in many exceedingly fine modern Fights \u2018n\u2019 Tights classics, and this compilation collects issues #27-33 (November 2009 – June 2010): the first seven issues scripted by TV\/comics star scribe J. Michael Straczynski.<\/p>\n

The run of easily accessible, stand-alone tales delved into some of the strangest nooks and crannies of the DCU and opens here with \u2018Death of a Hero\u2019<\/em>, illustrated by Jes\u00fas Sa\u00edz, wherein teenager Robby Reed<\/em> visits Gotham City and decides to help out a Batman<\/strong> sorely pressed by the machinations of The Joker<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

The child prodigy had his own series in the 1960s as a kid who found a strange rotary device dotted with alien hieroglyphics that could temporarily transform him into a veritable army of super-beings when he dialled the English equivalents of H, E, R and O\u2026<\/p>\n

Here, however, after the lad dials up futuristic clairvoyant Mental Man<\/em>, the visions he experiences force him to quit immediately and take to his bed\u2026<\/p>\n

He even forgets the Dial when he leaves, and it is soon picked up by down-&-out Travers Milton<\/em> who also falls under its influence and is soon saving lives and battling beside the Dark Knight as The Star<\/em>. What follows is a meteoric and tragic tale of a rise and fall\u2026<\/p>\n

Again limned by Sa\u00edz, B&B<\/strong> #28 takes us a wild trip to the \u2018Firing Line\u2019 <\/em>as the Flash (Barry Allen<\/em>) falls foul of a scientific experiment and winds up stranded in the middle of World War II. Injured and unable to properly use his powers, the diminished speedster is taken under the wing of legendary paramilitary aviator squadron The Blackhawks<\/strong>, but finds himself torn when his scruples against taking life crash into the hellish cauldron of the Battle of Bastogne and his manly, martial love of his new brothers in arms\u2026<\/p>\n

Brother Power, The Geek<\/strong> was a short-lived experimental title developed by legendary figure Joe Simon at the height of the hippy-dippy 1960s (or just last week if you\u2019re a baby booming duffer like me).<\/p>\n

He\/it was a tailor\u2019s mannequin mysteriously brought to life through extraordinary circumstances, just seeking his place in the world: a bizarre commentator and ultimate outsider philosophising on a world he could not understand.<\/p>\n

That cerebral angst is tapped in \u2018Lost Stories of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow\u2019 <\/em>when the elemental outcast crawls out of wreckage in Gotham City and clashes with Batman as they both strive to save homeless people from authoritarian brutality and greedy arsonists.<\/p>\n

Like the times it references, this story is one you have to experience rather than read about\u2026<\/p>\n

Straczynski & Sa\u00edz play fast and loose with time travel in \u2018The Green and the Gold\u2019 <\/em>as mystic Lord of Order Doctor Fate<\/strong> is helped through an emotional rough patch by Green Lantern<\/strong> Hal Jordan<\/em>. As a result of that unnecessary kindness, the mage gets to return the favour long after his own demise at the moment the Emerald Warrior most needs a helping hand\u2026<\/p>\n

Illustrated by Chad Hardin & Walden Wong and Justiniano, The Brave and the Bold<\/strong> #31 describes \u2018Small Problems\u2019 <\/em>encountered by The Atom<\/strong> after Ray Palmer<\/em> is asked to shrink into the synapse-disrupted brain of The Joker<\/strong> to perform life-saving surgery. Despite his better judgement, the physicist eventually agrees but nobody could have predicted that he would be assimilated into the maniac\u2019s memories and forcibly relive the Killer Clown\u2019s life\u2026<\/p>\n

Straczynski & Sa\u00edz reunite as sea king Aquaman<\/strong> and hellish warrior Etrigan the Demon<\/strong> combine forces in a long-standing pact to thwart a revolting Cthonic invasion of \u2018Night Gods\u2019 <\/em>from a hole in the bottom of the ocean before this mesmerising tome concludes with a bittersweet \u2018Ladies Night\u2019 <\/em>from times recently passed, illustrated by Cliff Chiang.<\/p>\n

When sorceress Zatanna<\/strong> experiences a shocking dream, she contacts Wonder Woman<\/strong> and Batgirl<\/strong> Barbara Gordon<\/em>, insisting that they should join her on an evening of hedonistic excess and sisterly sharing. Only Babs is left out of one moment of revelation: what Zatanna foresaw would inescapably occur to her the next day at the hands of the Joker\u2026<\/p>\n

Smart, moving and potently engaging, these heroic alliances are a true treat for fans of more sophisticated costumed capers, and skilfully prepared in such a way that no great knowledge of backstory is required. Team-ups are all about finding new readers and this terrific tome is a splendid example of the trick done right\u2026
\n\u00a9 2009, 2010 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By J. Michael Straczynski, Jesus Saiz, Chad Hardin, Justiniano, Cliff Chiang & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-4012-2793-7 (HB) 978-1-4012-2809-5 (TPB\/Digital edition) The Brave and the Bold premiered in 1955; an anthology adventure comic featuring short complete tales starring a variety of period heroes and a format mirroring and cashing in on that era\u2019s filmic fascination … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Team-Ups of the Brave and the Bold”<\/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":[133,211,92,10,295,76,91,82,298,48,268],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aquaman","category-atom","category-batgirl","category-batman","category-blackhawks","category-dc-superhero","category-flash","category-green-lantern","category-the-demon","category-wonder-woman","category-zatanna"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7eU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27832","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=27832"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27836,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27832\/revisions\/27836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}