{"id":3187,"date":"2009-03-14T06:00:28","date_gmt":"2009-03-14T06:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=3187"},"modified":"2009-03-13T23:44:56","modified_gmt":"2009-03-13T23:44:56","slug":"showcase-presents-brave-and-the-bold-batman-team-ups-volume-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2009\/03\/14\/showcase-presents-brave-and-the-bold-batman-team-ups-volume-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Showcase Presents Brave and the Bold Batman Team-ups Volume 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Bob Haney<\/strong> & Jim Aparo, <\/strong>with John Calnan<\/strong> (DC Comics)
\nISBN13: 978-1-84856-117-5<\/p>\n

With this third collection of Batman’s pairing with other luminaries of the DC universe (collecting in splendid black and white The Brave and the Bold<\/strong> issues #109-134) we find a creative team that had gelled into a perfect machine producing top-notch yarns aimed at the general readership – which would often annoy and appal the dedicated fans and continuity-obsessed reader.<\/p>\n

Leading off is the superb supernatural thriller ‘Gotham Bay be my Grave!’<\/em> wherein the Caped Crusader and Jack Kirby’s then newest sensation the Demon battled an unquiet spirit determined to avenge his own execution after nearly a century, followed by a canny cold War adventure starring semi-regular Wildcat in his civilian guise as retired heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Although the veteran Justice Society hero was usually stationed on the alternate Earth 2 at this time no explanation was ever given for his presence on “our” planet. It used to drive the continuity-conscious fans utterly nuts!<\/p>\n

Issue #111 boasted “the strangest team-up in history” as Batman joined forces with his greatest enemy, the Joker, for a brilliantly complex tale of cross and double cross in ‘Death has the Last Laugh!’<\/em> which may have lead to the Harlequin of Hate’s own short-run series a year later. With the next bimonthly issue B&B<\/strong> became a 100 Page Super Spectacular title: a much missed high-value experiment which offered an expanded page count of new material supplemented by classic reprints that turned many contemporary purchasers into avid fans of “the good old days”.<\/p>\n

First to co-star in this new format was Kirby’s super escape artist Mister Miracle who joined the Gotham Guardian (himself regarded as the world’s greatest escapologist until the introduction of Jolly Jack’s Fourth World) in a tale of aliens and Ancient Egyptians entitled ‘The Impossible Escape!’<\/em> Issue #113 saw the return of the robotic Metal Men in a tense siege situation thriller ‘The 50-Story Killer!’<\/em> whilst Aquaman helped save the city from atomic annihilation in the gripping terrorist saga ‘Last Jet to <\/em>Gotham<\/em>‘<\/em> in #114.<\/p>\n

‘The Corpse that wouldn’t Die!’<\/em> was a different kind of drama as the Batman was declared brain-dead after an assault, and size-shifting superhero the Atom was forced to occupy his skull to complete the Caped Crusader’s “last case”. Needless to say the Gotham Gangbuster recovered in time for another continuity-crunching supernatural team-up with the Spectre in #116’s ‘Grasp of the Killer Cult’<\/em> before embarking on a ‘Nightmare Without End’<\/em> – a brilliant espionage thriller guest-starring the aging World War II legend Sgt. Rock and the survivors of Easy Company, a fitting end to the 100 page experiment.<\/p>\n

The Brave and the Bold<\/strong> #118 returned to standard comic book format, if not content, as both Wildcat and the Joker joined Batman in the rugged fight game drama ‘May the Best Man Die!’.<\/em> Sometime villain Man-Bat also had his own short-lived series and he impressively guested in #119’s exotic tale of despots and bounty-hunters ‘Bring Back Killer Krag’. <\/em><\/p>\n

Possibly the most remarkable, if not uncomfortable, pairing in this volume occurred in B&B<\/strong> #120. Jack Kirby’s biggest hit at DC in the 1970s was Kamandi, Last Boy on Earth. Set in a post-disaster world where animals talked and hunted dumb human brutes, it proved the perfect vehicle for the King’s uncanny imagination, and ‘This Earth is Mine!’<\/em> saw Batman mystically sucked into that bestial dystopia to save a band of still-sentient human shamans in a tale more akin to the filmic “Planet of the Apes” quintet than anything found in comic-books.<\/p>\n

The Metal Men bounced back in #121’s heist-on-rails thriller ‘The Doomsday Express’<\/em>, an early advocacy of Native American rights with as much mayhem as message to it, and ‘The Hour of the Beast’<\/em> saw the Swamp Thing return to Gotham City to save it from a monstrous vegetable infestation. B&B<\/strong> #123 brought back Plastic Man and Metamorpho in ‘How to Make a Super-Hero’<\/em> as well as featuring a rare incidence of a returning villain: ruthless billionairess Ruby Ryder, once again playing her seductive mind-games with the pliable, gullible Elastic Ace.<\/p>\n

Always looking for a solid narrative hook Haney spectacularly broke the fourth wall in ‘Small War of the Super Rifles’<\/em> when Batman and Sgt. Rock needed the help of artist Jim Aparo and editor Murray Boltinoff to stop a gang of ruthless terrorists. This is another one that drove some fans batty…<\/p>\n

‘Streets of Poison’<\/em> in #125 was a solid drug-smuggler yarn with exotic locales and a lovely hostage for Batman and the Flash to deal with, and John Calnan stepped in to ink #126’s Aquaman team-up to solve the sinister mystery of ‘What Lurks Below Buoy 13?’<\/em><\/p>\n

It was back to basics next issue as Wildcat returned to help quash a people-smuggling racket in the ‘Dead Man’s Quadrangle’<\/em> whilst #128’s ‘Death by the Ounce’<\/em> found the Caped Crusader recruiting Mister Miracle and Big Barda to help him rescue a kidnapped Shah and save a global peace treaty.<\/p>\n

Ever keen to push the envelope, the next yarn was actually a jam-packed two-parter as #129’s ‘Claws of the Emperor Eagle’<\/em> pitting Batman, Green Arrow and the Atom against the Joker, Two-Face and a host of bandits in a race to possess a statue that had doomed every great conqueror in history. The epic, globe-trotting saga concluded with an ironic bang in ‘Death at Rainbow’s End.’<\/em><\/p>\n

The last time Wonder Woman appeared (#105 if you recall) she was a merely mortal martial artist but in Brave and the Bold #131 she retuned in all her super-powered glory to help Batman fight Catwoman and ‘Take 7 Steps to… Wipe-Out!’<\/em><\/p>\n

DC cautiously dipped its editorial toe in the Martial Arts craze and #132 found Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter joining ‘Batman… Dragon Slayer??’,<\/em> as Denny O’Neil succeeded editor Boltinoff in a rather forced and silly tale of dueling stylists and purloined historical treasures.<\/p>\n

Normal service resumed when Deadman stepped in to deliver ‘Another Kind of Justice!’<\/em> to rum-runner Turk Bannion when his heir and murderer turns to a more modern form of smuggling. This book concludes with ‘Demolishment!’<\/em> from #134, wherein Green Lantern defects to the soviets, a la<\/em> “the Manchurian Candidate” and Batman’s rescue attempt goes bad…<\/p>\n

By taking his cues from news headlines, popular films and proven genre-sources Bob Haney continually produced gripping adventures that thrilled and enticed with no need for more than a cursory nod to an ever-more onerous continuity. Anybody could pick up an issue and be sucked into a world of wonder. Consequently these tales are just as fresh and welcoming today, their themes and premises are just as immediate now as then and Jim Aparo’s magnificent art is still as compelling and engrossing as it always was. This is a Bat-book literally everybody can enjoy.<\/p>\n