{"id":9013,"date":"2012-10-22T08:00:57","date_gmt":"2012-10-22T08:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=9013"},"modified":"2012-10-20T15:49:24","modified_gmt":"2012-10-20T15:49:24","slug":"batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-volume-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2012\/10\/22\/batman-the-brave-and-the-bold-volume-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Batman: the Brave and the Bold volume 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\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: 978-1-4012-2878-1<\/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<\/em>. Soon the Gladiator was increasingly alternated with Robin Hood<\/em>, but the 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 like Showcase<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Used to premiere concepts and characters such as Task Force X: the Suicide Squad<\/em>, Cave Carson<\/em>, Hawkman<\/em> and Strange Sports Stories<\/em> and the epochal Justice League of America<\/em>, 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<\/em> & Martian Manhunter<\/em> – in a one-off team-up, as did succeeding ones: Aquaman<\/em> and Hawkman<\/em> in #51, WWII Battle Stars Sgt Rock<\/em>, Captain Cloud<\/em>, Mme. Marie<\/em> & the Haunted Tank<\/em> in #52 and Atom<\/em> & Flash<\/em> in #53. The next team-up, Robin<\/em>, Aqualad<\/em> & Kid Flash<\/em>, evolved into the Teen Titans<\/strong> and after Metal Men<\/em>\/the Atom<\/em> and Flash<\/em>\/Martian Manhunter<\/em> appeared a new hero; Metamorpho, the Element Man<\/em> debuted in #57-58.<\/p>\n

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

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

Within two issues, following Flash<\/em>\/Doom Patrol<\/em> and Metamorpho<\/em>\/Metal Men<\/em>, 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<\/em>\/the<\/em> Flash<\/em> and Aquaman<\/em>\/Atom<\/em>) 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 seventy-year publishing history with the creation of the spin-off print title.<\/p>\n

With constant funnybook 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

The most 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 comicbook full of fun, verve and swashbuckling dash, cunningly crafted to appeal as much to the parents and grandparents as those fresh-faced neophyte kids…<\/p>\n

This stellar premier collection re-presents the first 6 issues in a hip and 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<\/em> putting paid to robotic rogue Carapax<\/em>. This fed into main feature ‘The Panic of the Composite Creature’ <\/em>(by Matt Wayne, Andy Suriano & Dan Davis) wherein Batman and the pulchritudinous Power Girl<\/em> saved London from Lex Luthor<\/em>‘s latest monster-making mechanism.<\/p>\n

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

After an introductory battle between Wonder Woman<\/em>, 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. Then, in the full-length ‘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<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

J. Torres, Carlo Barberi & Terry Beatty stepped in for both the chilling vignette wherein the nefarious Key<\/em> was caught by Batman and a Haunted Tank whilst ‘The Case of the Fractured Fairy Tale’<\/em> began when the awesome Queen of Fables<\/em> started stealing children for her Enchanted Forest and the Caped Crusader needed the help of both Billy Batson<\/em> and his adult alter ego Captain Marvel<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This first compilation 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 the villainous General Immortus<\/em> at the mercy of his own army of time-lost warriors and bandits and desperately seeking the help of the Gotham Gangbuster and ghostly Guardian Kid Eternity<\/em>.<\/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

DC’s Cartoon Network imprint is arguably the last bastion of all-ages children’s comics in Americaand has produced some truly magical homespun material (such as Tiny Titans <\/strong>or Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!<\/strong>) as well as stunning interpretations of such television landmarks as Scooby Doo<\/strong>, Powerpuff Girls<\/strong>, Ben 10<\/strong>, Dexter’s Laboratory <\/strong>and others.<\/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 mini-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: 978-1-4012-2878-1 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. Devised … <\/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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,10,76,97,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adaptations","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-2ln","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9013","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=9013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}