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The Brave & The Bold Index Part 14

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The Brave & The Bold Index Part 14
Team-ups: Coasting Part 3
March 1972 – May 1979

Continuing my index/history of the greatest comic magazine! 😉

1977
#132:   … & Richard Dragon – Kung Fu Fighter, “Batman – Dragon Slayer”
            With this issue Joe Orlando takes over as managing editor and Denny O’Neil is the story editor. Cary Burkett handles the letter column. They promise some new blood in B&B and not the same old team-ups again and again! They start with one of only ten new team-ups in this era.
            Carlos Esteban hires the Stylist, a kung fu killer, to assassinate Richard Dragon.  Why? Esteban was once the partner of Calvin Curtis, deceased eccentric billionaire.  Dragon once helped Curtis – he fixed his bike and gave him a quarter for a cup of coffee.  In return, Dragon may have inherited Curtis’ billions!
#133:   … & Deadman, “Another Kind of Justice”
            Batman enlists Deadman’s help to lure drug lord Achille Lazlo back onto USjurisdiction by reviving a ghost from his past – the former drug lord Lazlo killed years before!
#134:   … & Green Lantern, “Demolishment”
Green Lantern defects to the “other side’s” People Republic! Batman attempts to kidnap GL and bring him back, but is captured instead and put through the brainwashing technique known as Demolishment!  It ends up GL’s defection is a rouse to reveal the Demolishment technique by having it used against the one person who might withstand it – Batman! Too bad it did brainwash Batman into trying to kill Green Lantern! Let’s hope GL finds his lost ring in time!
The editors admit in the letter column that Wildcat and Sgt. Rock might have been overused in the past few years. “Hell factory” is used – arguably a swear word, but they’re still pushing it!
#135:   … & Metal Men, “More than Human”
            Prince hikes to thirty-five cents.
            A robot (created in the 1800s) claims legal right to the land on which sits Bruce Wayne’s tower. The judge agrees, thus ruining Bruce’s empire. Could his rival Ruby Ryder be involved?  Continues in the next issue.
#136:   … & Green Arrow, Metal Men, “Legacy of the Doomed”
            This is the third multiple-issue story (second with Green Arrow) and the fourth multi-guest issue (third with Green Arrow).
            Batman and the Metal Men are enjoined by court order from interfering in Ruby Ryder’s shenanigans, but Green Arrow is not!
#137:   … & Demon, “Hour of the Serpent”, Artist: John Calnan.
            This is a “sequel” to #76, as the evil Shahn-Zi returns.  Teenage gangsters in Chinatown disguised as Shahn-Zi terrorize citizens.  But their actions summon the real Shahn-Zi who seeks revenge against Gotham City and Batman!
#138:   … & Mister Miracle, “Mile-High Tombstone”
            Trond-Hag, “the Tombstone”, is a volcanic island riddles with caves. Geologist Steve Lang goes missing while exploring the mountain, and Batman and Mister Miracle go to the rescue. They find Steve, as well as the villainous escape artists Cosimo (sent to kill Lang), and Kraken – the computer running an international crime cartel!
1978
#139:   … & Hawkman, “Requiem for a Top Cop”.
            Back to bi-monthly!!? Noooo!!!  Hawkman’s first appearance in B&B since #70 (over ten years).  This has always been one of my personal favorite stories. One time fan – now DC boss – Paul Levitz takes over from Denny O’Neil as story editor. Since Paul does his own letter column, Cary Burkett leaves for other pastures. Paul mentions that Bob Rozakis has had 135 letters published in his fan career. So in which four issues of Brave & Bold did he not write a letter? J
            In the late 1930s, Commissioner Gordon killed an alien accidentally. Although Batman and Hawkman agree it was in self-defense (Gordon thought the alien was about to fire at him), an alien mercenary disagrees, and tries to bring Gordon in for trial per intergalactic law.  Gordon, a fellow adherer to the Rule of Law, agrees!
1978 B&B Special (DC Special Series #8):     …Sgt. Rock and Deadman.  “Hell is for Heroes”
            Ric Estrada and Dick Giordano artists.  Paul Levitz, editor.
DC had “annuals” (larger editions of existing comics published once per year) throughout the 1960s with mostly reprinted material.  Marvel Comics had since developed the Annual into an art form. DC Comics in the late 1970s, in an attempt to boost a sagging market, tried bringing back the annuals. Not wanting to be accused of copying Marvel, DC instead referred to their annuals as Specials and Spectaculars. Every comic from Wonder Woman and Superman to the Secret Society of Super Villains had their own specials. Unlike the annuals of old, these were all new stories and art. The issues were not published as an edition of their parent comic, but instead published under the umbrella title DC Special Series. Brave & Bold was given its own special in 1978 as DC Special Series #8.
            To celebrate the uniqueness of this Special (that is, to differentiate it from a “usual” issue of Brave & Bold), Batman never meets his partners – Sgt. Rock and Easy Company along with Deadman appear together in one storyline linked with the Batman storyline.  This was the fourth time more than one star (other than as an established team – the Teen Titans, for example) appeared with Batman – #100 and the two-parters in  #129-130 and 135-136– and would be the last. Too bad, it is an interesting plot device and would satisfy readers who clamored for more stars.
            Batman tracks down Lucifer, a mad bomber. Meanwhile Sgt. Rock searches for a Batman statue stolen by Scottish Nationalists. But whatever harm comes to the statue, will also be wrought on Batman! Ouch! The statue is rammed by an army truck, set it on fire by gypsies, attacked by the Loch Ness Monster and flung from a clock tower … you get the idea. Who’s behind all this voodoo? Lucifer himself (the fallen angel, not the mad bomber) with the aid of the ghosts of Hitler, Guy Fawkes, Benedict Arnold, Bluebeard, Nero and Jack the Ripper! Rama Kushna sends Deadman to a mysterious stranger for clues, and Deadman and Rock recover the statue just in time for Batman’s final battle with Lucifer (the mad bomber, not the prince of darkness). Rama Kushna herself takes care of Lucifer (the vile spinner of lies, not the mad bomber) and his ghostly ilk!  Deadman eventually discovers the identity of the mysterious stranger to reveal this Special’s fourth star – the spirit of Sherlock Holmes!
#140:   … & Wonder Woman, “Dastardly Events Aboard the Hellship” (spell out the first letters of the title – get it?)
            There’s that aitch-eee-double-hockey-sticks word again.  Swear words or appropriate?  Hmm…
            The CEO of Belmont Technologies offers Batman one million dollars to charity if he will rescue his daughter Esmeralda from the clutches of evil industrial spy Dimetrious (because she knows the secret of the new energy-crisis-ending solar cell). The UN’s Crisis Bureau asks Wonder Woman to capture Dimetrious for his crimes. Actually, Dimetrious kidnapped the scientist who created the solar cell and Esmeralda and Belmont trick Batman and Dimetrious into revealing where the solar cell is by Esmeralda stating she loves Dimetrious and was neverkidnapped!  Dimetrious’ simian guards capture Batman and Wonder Woman, who are drugged into performing as circus animals…
            Whew!  Anyone for an index of Richie Rich and Casper instead?
#141:   … & Black Canary, “Pay or Die”
            Lots of “Jaws” references in this issue, as the Joker is back and now in the loan-sharking business. Those who can’t pay mysteriously explode! Batman sets a trap using Alfred as bait to catch the Joker. Batman and Black Canary must track down the Joker to discover how his victims explode or, for Alfred, it’s so long old chum (chum, sharks, get it? Never mind…!)
            Haney must have learned a new word – vigorish: underworld slang for loan interest – as it is used about every third page. This issue also contains a rare thing for B&B up until now – recognition of continuity of other DC comics! It is recalled that Joker was supposedly killed the last time he and Batman fought in Detective Comics, and that the Joker was once in love with Dinah Lance (that is why Joker saved her from an exploding lendee)!
#142:   … & Aquaman, “Enigma of the Death Ship”
            The logbook of the sunken Alhambracontains the name of a stowaway who later becomes Gotham’s drug kingpin.  The book may also contain incriminating evidence against Aquaman’s father, the lighthouse keeper who may have caused the wreck!  Batman must fight the drug lord’s scuba squad and Aquaman himself to get the log book!  He does get it eventually, and absolves Aquaman’s father from blame.  And the name of the drug lord is …
#143:   … & Creeper, “Cast the First Stone”
            …Montgomery Walcott, TV’s most respected and trustworthy newsman!
            Unique to B&B is this continued storyline without necessarily being a continued story – something at which Marvel’s team-up books excelled!
            With this issue begins the DC Explosion!  Increasing the price to fifty cents and increasing the page count to 44, with all new material throughout the DC line!  The beginning of a new era in comicdom! The greatest thing to happen to comics since Superman! Why are you giggling?
            The ripple effect of the DC Explosion hits Brave & Bold as a new feature debuts: Christopher Chance, the Human Target. “The Cat and the Canary Contract” by Len Wein (story) and Dick Giordano (art). Chance impersonates people marked for murder, betting he can stop the killers before they stop him!  Here Chance must protect the mob witness who years earlier had Chance’s father killed for failing to pay a debt!
#144:   … & Green Arrow, “The Arrow of Eternity”
            Monthly!  At long last!  After twenty-three years Brave & Bold goes monthly!
            While searching for Merlin’s invincible arrow, Batman and Green Arrow are magically whisked to the Battle of Agincourt to face the old Teen Titan’s foe the Gargoyle!
            Aparo’s art is fantastic: a rare venture into the sword and sorcery genre. He could have excelled in the Blazing Adventures years of B&B. While we’re on the subject: with a little rewrite this could have been a book-length story, reset in King Arthur’s time and also co-starring the Silent Knight! Why not? We will have to be satisfied with the Silent Knight having a small cameo in a battle scene being killed by an arrow! Boo!
            Human Target: “The Symphony for the Devil Contract”, Len Wein (writer) and Dick Giordano (art).  The Human Target impersonates a famous symphony conductor, protecting him from a religious fanatic.  Everyone’s a critic…
            “Dammit!” Brave & Bold’s first blatant and undisputed swear word appears!
#145:   … & Phantom Stranger, “Choice of Dooms”
            The only member of Gotham’s diamond-smuggling ring willing to testify suddenly becomes paralyzed! You see, the head of the ring is also a voodoo priest!
            Back to seventeen pages and now forty cents, as the “DC Implosion” hits the comic giant, making them cancel many of their new books and reeling back their much-hyped back-up features.
1979
#146 :  … (Earth Two) & Unknown Soldier, “The Secret that Saved the World”
            Artist: Romeo Tanghal.  #84 was partly set during World War II and told in flashback. This is the first B&B story (during the team-up years) set during the war.
            A defecting German nuclear scientist is murdered and his secret designs for an atomic bomb will be smuggled back to Germanyunless Batman and the Unknown Soldier can catch the Nazi killer!
#147:   … & Supergirl, “Death Scream from the Sky”, Writer: CaryBurkett.
            The Children of Light, a terrorist-cult, gets control of a communications satellite complete with a killer laser aimed at Gotham!  Batman and Supergirl finally discover an old JLA foe is behind it all.  It seems the “father” of the Children of Light is a certain Doctor…
            Mohammed comes to the mountain: some issues back, Paul Levitz admitted he was having trouble convincing Bob Haney to do a Supergirl team-up.  The solution was simple: Haney got the boot and former letter column editor Cary Burkett wrote the much-demanded story!  This is only the fifth issue of Brave & Bold since #50 Haney did notwrite!
#148:   … & Plastic Man, “The Night the Mob Stole Christmas”, (Artist: Jim Aparo and Joe Staton).
            Haney returns and takes his frustrations out on his favorite whipping boy, Plastic Man , the last of Plas’ four appearances in B&B. Plas is (of course) still shown as a lone loser (see the commentary of #123 for Haney’s dislike of Plas.). A Florida mobster smuggles in illegal (untaxed) cigarettes into Gotham City and smuggles out the city’s Main Street Christmas decorations to lure his competitors into a Christmas party trap.  Too bad they also kidnapped Santa – it was Plastic Man trying to make a buck!
            The combination of Aparo and Staton works here despite their divergent styles – Staton’s heroes are drawn thickly and muscular, Aparo’s are wiry and thin.
#149:   … & Teen Titans, “Look Homeward, Runaway”
            This is the last appearance of the Teen Titans in Brave & Bold, the magazine in which they debuted nearly fifteen years before.
            Haney’s temper tantrum over, it’s back to B&B business. Batman asks the Teen Titans to reunite to infiltrate the Runaways – an organized teen crime gang of (who else) runaways – to break up the gang and find their leader.
#150:   … & ?, “Today Gotham, Tomorrow the World”
            Terrorists called the Battalion of Doom threaten Gotham City with an atomic devise. They also kidnap Bruce Wayne and is guarded by Keeper Karnes. Bruce discovers Karnes is super-powered!  He knows Wayne’s Batman identity, is super fast (faster, even, than a speeding bullet), is very strong (more powerful than a locomotive)…
            You get the idea, the terrorists have also kidnapped Jimmy Olsen. Superman hoped to be assigned as Jimmy’s bodyguard, but got Bruce Wayne instead.
            In the past fans screamed for Superman to guest in B&B. Those requests were (rightly) ignored: if you want to see Supes and Bats together, go buy World’s Finest. In fact it was clearly stated in #120 Superman will never appear in B&B.
            How times change. Letters in later issues panned the choice for this anniversary issue, saying it was nothing more than a warmed-over World’s Finest story.  I disagree.  If this was a story from WF, there certainly wouldn’t have been any “surprise”.  However, I expected a more special guest for #150. Superman could have easily been Martian Manhunter. Throw in Green Arrow (like Haney and company needed an excuse to bring himinto a story) and you would have Batman teaming up with B&B’s first team from #50! That would have been a good anniversary team-up. Still, it was an interesting story and well done, if not up to hype. The letter column lists all the team-ups in B&B starting with #50. Unfortunately it also lists #150 as starring Superman, ruining the surprise for anyone reading the letter column first (including yours truly…).
***
            The issues in this era of B&B weren’t all stinkers.  In fact, it contained some of the most interesting plots.  And Aparo’s art is brilliant. But the comic wasn’t cutting edge anymore; it wasn’t leading the field.
            Although the letter columns promised new team-ups, you could almost hear the arguments behind the door – Levitz admitting to all that Haney does not want Supergirl in B&B is a good example. Was he trying to coax readers into pleading for her appearance?
            And Batman, for all his different interpretations, was turning into nothing more than a super-cop. He did fight some name supervillains, but the Joker as a loan shark?  Dr. Light as a terrorist leader? What was the point of that? There were no new super-bad guys introduced in these fifty issues (like Hellgrammite or Bork), no new versions of old heroes (like Green Arrow), just Batman and … whoever.
            And because of that, Brave & Bold was no longer the best and brightest star at DC. Then again, it didn’t need to be. It was no longer challenging and exciting. Instead of asking, “Who knows what the next issue will hold,” readers said, “I don’t know who will be here next issue, but the writing will be good and the art will be great and that’s all right with me!”
            Instead of leading the field, Brave & Bold ran in place.  Naturally and inevitably that meant it started to fall behind.  Its momentum has kept it going after its prime for eight years now. In only half that time it will be gone.

Next: The Long Goodbye…

Copyright (c) 2012 Michael G Curry

The Brave & The Bold Index Part 13

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The Brave & The Bold Index Part 13
Team-ups: Coasting Part 2
March 1972 – May 1979

1974
#110:   … & Wildcat, “A Very Special Spy”
            Rozakis again is named in the letter column, as well as the first request for a Swamp Thing team-up and a Black Orchid team-up. One reader suggested Plop! Now thatwould be interesting!
            Ted Grant (Wildcat) takes the job as a vice president of an energy corporation for the sake of publicity.  Too bad the company is involved in corporate theft and murder!
#111:   … & Joker, “Death has the Last Laugh”
            This is the best selling issue of (and one of the most sought after) Brave & Bold in this period.  Features letters by Rozakis (does he slip twenty dollar bills in with his letters?) and Bob Rodi.
            Someone is framing the Joker for murder! To prevent an underworld massacre, Batman makes a deal with the Clown Prince of Crime to bring in the real killer – together!
#112:   … & Mister Miracle, “The Impossible Escape”
            Sixty cents!  Sixty cents!!  What am I, made outta money?  Well, it is 100 pages of comics.  Most of it reprints, but tripling the price for over triple the pages – well, okay for now!  This issue also features reprints from issue #s 59 (Batman and Green Lantern), #52 (Aquaman and Hawkman) and the Silent Knight story from #15.  A letter from Keith Griffin is published (who apologizes for his “nasty letters” to B&B).  Uh-oh, where’s Rozakis? Is he sick? Twelve mentions in the letter column in a row – a DiMaggio-like run!
            Another milestone:  for the first time in 16 years the Silent Knight appears on the cover of a comic book!
            Another Kirby creation debuts in B&B (the first being the Demon two issues ago)! And the only character from Kirby’s “Fourth World” series of comics to appear in B&B.
            To investigate possible museum fraud, Batman searches for the tomb of Atun, first pharaoh of Egypt. Accepting the challenge of an archeologist, Mr. Miracle does the same. Will they find the secret of eternal life! Or be trapped forever in the tomb?

 

#113:   … & Metal Men, “50 Story Killer”
            The new mayor of Gotham fires Commissioner Gordon and forces Batman to retire. A new commissioner and the Metal Men will continue the fight against crime.  Good thing – terrorists have just “hi-jacked” the Wayne Enterprises Building, with Bruce Wayne and hundreds of employees inside!
            Also features reprints of a B&B Viking Prince story and Hawkman’s debut tale; a Green Arrow story from 1958’s World’s Finest, and a Challengers of the Unknown tale from #14 of their magazine.
            Bob Rodi and regular contributor Joe Peluso are mentioned in the letter column that also features full page biographies of Bob Haney and Jim Aparo.  Bob Rozakis created a puzzle page, now being on National’s payroll.
#114:   … & Aquaman, “Last Jet to Gotham”
            Batman and Gordon wait for a jet to land in Gotham holding a mafia boss.  Unfortunately it also holds a nuclear bomb, set to go off when the plane lands!  Batman and Aquaman try to rescue the passengers as mafia lieutenants try to rescue their chief.
            This 100 page giant features a solo Aquaman story from 1961, a Teen Titans reprint, as well as the first team-up from B&B #50 – Green Arrow and the Martian Manhunter.
#115:   … & Atom, “The Corpse that Wouldn’t Die”
            Okay, I’ll explain it again if need be. Batman is electrocuted when searching for a kidnapped girl. The Atom microscopically enters Batman’s brain to stimulatehis neurons to simulate movement to again try to rescue the girl. Atom is pretty good at it!  He makes Batman walk, punch and do a backflip! Oh yes, Batman comes back to life after so much cerebral excitement.
            This issue also features reprints of the Challengers of the Unknown, a solo Atom story, one of the Viking Prince tales from B&B #23 and a reprint of Showcase #55 starring Dr. Fate, Hourman and the golden age Green Lantern fighting Solomon Grundy – the best tale of the issue!
            Bob Rodi again appears in the letter column, how close is he to tying Rozakis’ number of entries (13)?  #118’s letter column swore on a stack of DC’s that they received hundreds of positive letters on the recent Atom team-up and only two negative letters.  Wow!
1975
#116:   … & Spectre, “Grasp of the Killer Cult”
            Army veterans turn into strangling thugs.  No, they really do, literally: they are possessed by the spirits of nineteenth-century Kali-worshipping Thugs from Burma!
            Good issue:  reprints of a Teen Titan adventure from #16 of their comic, a Silent Knight reprint from B&B #2(!) and the Batman-Wonder-Woman-Batgirl team-up from #78.
            Letter column: another letter by Bob Rodi, and someone asks who designs the puzzles in B&B? Bob Rozakis! Sorry, Bob, a mention in the letter column doesn’t count if you work for the company! More seriously, the letter column shows some revealing things this time around: The editor laughs at a Krypto suggestion for a team-up.  Actually, it might make for a fun story!  He certainly would have fit better than Wildcat (again) in #118!
            Why do they take such pains to laugh at some suggestions? And belittle the remarks of some letter-writers? One writer in #119 called Haney and Boltinoff smug.  This kind of criticism was usually shrugged off with a smirk by saying if they were why’d they publish the letter? Well, from reading nearly thirty issues of editorial comments, they were smug and arrogant! Stop talking down to us!
Great example: in this issue when more golden age characters are suggested, the editor makes a point to say, “What is it that makes these tarnished heroes so popular?”  Well, I don’t know, but they obviously are popular. Apparently, the only people who do not want golden age heroes to team up with Batman are the people in charge of selecting the team-ups. Every issue begs for Dr. Mid-Nite, the Crimson Avenger, or some other golden great. So why drag out Wildcat – again!? Considering how they treat Wildcat in every issue (“Pardon me, can you help a fellow superhero who’s down on his luck?”), do they really think it would satisfy a golden age fan?
Do they think reprinting the Dr. Fate-Hourman team-up from Showcasewill satisfy demands?  Will running Challengers of the Unknown reprints instead of teaming them in a new adventure with Batman stop the flood of requests? No, it didn’t! Some readers took the editors to task for that question in the upcoming letter columns.
#117:   … & Sgt. Rock, “Nightmare Without End”
            The last of the 100 page giants, with reprints of a Viking Prince story from #24; the first issue of Secret Six, a Mission: Impossible-style group of “normal” people fighting international crime; a Blackhawk reprint from 1965 with Dick Dillin art and a Green Arrow Adventure Comics reprint from 1952.
            Rock participated in the execution of a soldier for cowardice during WWII. And the soldier’s been haunting Rock ever since. Or is he really still alive and spying for the US all this time?
#118:   … & Wildcat with Joker, “May the Best Man Die”
            Twenty-Five cents!  This is better!  Twenty-five cents for a comic book.  Beats sixty! Well, it’s not a hundred pages anymore, but I can accept that …wait a minute!  It’s only 18 pages of comics!  That’s three pages less than when it cost 20 cents!
            Well, as of this issue it is going from bi-monthly to eight-issues-a-year!  So I get less pages per issue, but two more issues per year!  (Still, sounds like a rip-off!)
            To hush up a stoolie, the Joker poisons the drinking water of a prison. All 600 inmates will die unless Batman and Wildcat can rush the antidote to the prison before the Joker gets to it first. The trouble is the “antidote” are antibodies inside a small dog named Spot. And Spot has run off and is hiding somewhere in Gotham…
            Does this count as a second team-up for the Joker? He is given credit on the cover, obviously to boost sales in an otherwise silly story.
            For your consideration: Batman’s B&B stories always seemed geared toward the guest (how many times did Batman fight evil robots when the Metal Men weren’tfeatured?). Since this story involved a dog, why would a Krypto team-up seem so far fetched?
#119:   … & Man-Bat, “Bring Back Killer Krag”
            A Mafioso widow puts a contract on the bounty hunter who killed her husband.  The killer is living in a country ruled by a US-hating dictator. Three sets of hunters go after the killer: two ex-CIA agents, Man-Bat, who is desperate for money, and Batman!
#120:   … & Kamandi, “This World is Mine”
            Batman is magically brought into earth’s future after the Great Disaster to lead a group of humans hiding in Mt. Rushmoreto safety.  Trouble is, Kamandi shows up – being pursued by gorilla slavers and bear rangers!
Two new team-ups in a row! This issue features a reprint from Secret Six#2.  Letter pages features Bob Rodi and future comics scribe Jo Duffy and Justice League’s Dan Jurgens. The price of the comic hikes to 50 cents for 64 pages this issue only, ala Superman Family, Tarzan Family, etc.
#121:   … & Metal Men, “The Doomsday Express”
            B&B quickly converts back to 18 pages for twenty-five cents. Why so soon?  Sales were very good for #120. Maybe the powers-that-be decided against a bigger format for B&B.
            A train bearing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution is hijacked by Native American terrorists! Twist: foreign terrorists have hidden a bomb on the train!
#122:   … & Swamp Thing, “The Hour of the Beast”
            A plane-load of experimental biochemicals crashes into Gotham’s reservoir, causing killer vines to spring throughout the city – crushing all in its path. Elsewhere in Gotham City, a P. T. Barnum-like huckster has captured Swamp Thing and is displaying him in his sideshow. Guess who the citizens blame for the plant attacks?
            The letter column thanked a reader for a nice letter, explained a continuity flaw and asked if it helped improve the reader’s enjoyment and thanked readers for their team-up requests. Oh, yeah, and whole letters are printed, not printed “sound bites”. What gives? Ah, Jack C. Harris is now the assistant editor, taking over the letter column!  I guess Boltinoff was too busy strangling puppies for profit and touring orphanages presenting his “Surprise, Brats, There Ain’t No Santa Claus” lecture to do B&B’s letter column anymore. He remains the editor though…
#123:   … & Plastic Man & Metamorpho, “How to Make a Super-Hero”
            A rare three-teamer, and a sequel to #95.  Batman finds Plastic Man out of work and panhandling as a bum.  He asks Plas to guard Gothamas Batman while he is away.  However, Plastic Man is then put under the sway once again of Rudy Ryder – who 1) brainwashes Plas into thinking he is the real Batman and 2) frames Bruce Wayne for murder! Coincidentally, Bruce Wayne is in competition with Ryder over the purchase of an ancient African statue.  Metamorpho springs Wayne and together they hunt down Ryder and Plas!
            Long-lost letter writer Joe Peluso contributes to the letter column.

 

            Bob Haney created Metamorpho, who has powers similar to Plastic Man (as they each admit during their battle). So guess which hero is called a freak (twice), a fool and an idiot? Plas gets a similar treatment in his last appearance in B&B #148. C’mon Bob, don’t be so petty! Cosmic justice: for a time, Plastic Man was one of the primary members of the JLAcomic, while Metamorpho was killed off in JLAcomic in its first story arc. See Bob?  I told you not to be so petty…
1976
#124:   … & Sgt. Rock, “Small War of the Super-Rifles”
            Joe Peluso contributes to the letter column again.
            Top secret infantry rifles are stolen by terrorists. Rock, assigned to find them, ends up tracking the terrorists to Gotham. But the terrorists have managed to also steal the script to Brave and Bold #124, and hunt down Jim Aparo and Bob Haney to stop them from completing the comic and thus halting their defeat!
            Jim Aparo “appears” in this story as an actual character.  Jim Aparo from Comic Book Artist#9: “That was corny. I didn’t live near the water as they had me in the story. I climbed out of my studio in the basement and climbed into a boat and went to a lighthouse or something. It was just written that way. I guess the readers believed it. I was just a joke. They [Haney and Boltinoff] wanted to fool around.”
#125:   … & Flash, “Streets of Poison”
            Batman and Flash go to Rangoon to stop a poppy farm/heroin factory.  While there they meet a female aviator missing for many months. Only later do they discover she has been in on the heroin trafficking the whole time!
#126:   … & Aquaman, “What Lurks Beneath Bouy 13?”, Artist: John Calnan (Aparo inks).  Joe Peluso is again in the letter column; the price hikes to thirty cents for eighteen pages.
            Atlantis, America, the USSRand terrorists play keep-away with an Atlantean satellite that can track nuclear submarines.
#127:   … & Wildcat, “Deadman’s Quadrangle”
            Illegal aliens are smuggled to the USvia Ted Grant’s island resort. Is he somehow involved? No, but after five appearances with Batman in only 39 issues, fans have had enough. Wildcat appearing became something of a joke to letter-writers and future editors (including Mike W. Barr’s text in the “Best of Brave & Bold” mini-series); this is his last appearance. Wildcat does later become intertwined with the Batman mythos: he taught Batman how to box and had a fling (and a mini-series) with Catwoman.
#128:   … & Mister Miracle, “Death by the Ounce”
            This is B&B’s “DC Salutes the Bicentennial” issue.  Joe Peluso again writes a letter.
            In exchange for one ounce of a youth-restoring potion, Apokolypsian Granny Goodness kidnaps the world’s richest ruler – the Shah of Kirkan – to prevent him from signing a USpeace treaty.

 

#129:   … & Green Arrow, Atom, “The Claws of the Emperor Eagle”
            Only the third multi-guest issue, and the first multi-issue storyline since #25 and 26 with the Suicide Squad seventeen years before!
            Okay, I’ll explain it again if need be: The people of Pathanistan created the Emperor Eagle to appease Alexander the Great. All who have since owned it are cursed and doomed. Oliver Queen, believing he can beat the curse, buys it. The plane carrying the Eagle is skyjacked by the Joker and Two-Face, who have been hired to return the Eagle to Pathanistan. Queen is put on trial in Pathanistan for “stealing” their national treasure, but Batman and the Atom rescue Queen before his execution.
            Later, Joker and Two-Face steal the Eagle for themselves, and with Batman as a hostage, head for high ground, with Green Arrow and Atom and the whole Pathanistan army in pursuit!
#130:   … & Green Arrow, Atom, Joker, Two-Face, “Death at Rainbow’s End”
            The cover boasts “Four Famous Co-Stars” in the same manner as the 100th issue.
            Our heroes find the ancient city of Pathan, where the Emperor Eagle was created.  Green Arrow convinces the citizens to make a duplicate and switch it with the real Eagle being held by Joker and Two-Face. During this time, Batman supposedly is killed in a landslide, but he pops up in the nick of time at the end of the story. The ruler of Pathanistan recovers the Eagle but plummets with it (we discover that the Eagle is filled with gold, rubies and diamonds) down a chasm where it is lost forever.
            Joker and Two-Face, meanwhile, now own a large, hollow iron statue of an Eagle!
#131:   … & Wonder Woman, “Take Seven Steps to Wipe Out”
            Bad: the African country of Sudaria smuggles drugs into the USvia diplomatic attaches. Worse: they are smuggling out the blueprints of the most top secret encoding devise ever created in the United States. Worst: they’re latest diplomat is … eek! … Catwoman!
Copyright (c) 2012 Michael G Curry

The Brave & The Bold Index Part 12

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The Brave & The Bold Index Part 12
Team-ups: Coasting Part 1
March 1972 – May 1979

            For the rest of the 1970s, Brave & Bold seemed to rely on its popularity.
            This was the lowest point in Brave & Bold history, if only because it was its least creative.  Sales were still good and solid (it went monthly in this period as did many DC comics), and the stories and art were sometimes fantastic. But as a reflection of the superhero comics industry at the time, Brave & Bold seemed tired and in need of some fresh ideas. Batman met only ten new characters (that is, they never appeared before in B&B) in this fifty-issue run, and one of them was Superman.  That averages one new team-up every two years.
Most of the new team-ups were exciting in idea if not in application.  Some of Batman’s most bizarre partners were in this time period – the Demon, Manbat, Kamandi, Swamp Thing, the Unknown Soldier and Richard Dragon Kung Fu Fighter!  Mr. Miracle appeared – the only nod to Kirby’s Fourth World series going on elsewhere at National.
These new heroes reflected National’s attempt to refresh their line in the 1970s.  Kirby’s work (including the aforementioned Kamandi), gave a shot of excitement at National. The horror genre was at its peak with DC’s mystery magazines such as Phantom Stranger and Swamp Thing putting out excellent stories and art.  Sword and sorcery magazines came back – harkening to B&B’s earliest days only with a more modern twist (read: more sex and violence) – Warlord, Claw, Stalker.  DC even tried pulp heroes (the Shadowand the Avenger in Justice Inc.) and gave villains their own comics – Kobra, the Secret Society of Supervillains and the Joker!
            While these comics were wonderful and exciting in themselves, the superhero genre was stagnating.  At one time the two biggest selling comics at National, both Justice League of Americaand Brave & Bold were at their lowest ebb.  Even turning the comics into 100 page giants packed with new material and wonderful reprints couldn’t help boost sales in a faltering economy.
            The price of comics going from ten to twelve to fifteen, twenty-five, fifty cents hurt sales; a lot.
            Maybe it was also partly the fault of the editor, Murray Boltinoff, and his choice of guests. He insisted B&B feature “real” heroes – no more ubermensch in underwear with impossible and inexplicable powers.  Reprints in the 100 page giants consisted of Viking Prince, Silent Knight, Green Arrow, Secret Six, Teen Titans and Blackhawk stories.  While this idea worked for Charleton comics (this was one of Dick Giordano’s favorite mantras), at B&B it made for boring team-ups.  Wildcat appeared on average every eight issues.  Green Arrow appeared annually.
Plus the guests seemed interchangable – Metamorpho could have been Plastic Man could have been the Metal Men.  Green Arrow could have been Wildcat could have been Black Canary.  Batman needed someone to investigate a health spa who could not be seen. He called Deadman. Why not the Martian Manhunter? Come to think of it, why not Element Girl instead of Metamorpho?  Why not Black Orchid instead of Wonder Woman? Dolphin instead of Aquaman? They did it once – with Supergirl instead of Superman, and it worked!  They didn’t take the hint…
            Imagine Batman meeting the New Gods or the Forever People (Mr. Miracle’s appearances hardly mentioned the Fourth World: there was one appearance by Granny Goodness and a mention of Darkseid but otherwise Miracle’s three team-ups added nothing to the mythos).  Or imagine his teaming with the Avenger, Travis Morgan the Warlord, Captain Comet, Code Name: Assassin or Kirby’s Sandman.
            Meanwhile, Marvel was once again beating DC at its own game:  The Thing in Marvel Two-in-One, introduced new characters such as Spiderwoman and teamed with Doc Savage.  Spiderman’s Marvel Team-Up guest-starred Howard the Duck and the cast of Saturday Night Live.  It had continuing story lines with more than one guest (Thor and Havok in one, Dr. Strange and Ms. Marvel in another, Hulk, Woodgod and Warlock in yet another!).  How can B&B top that?
            Ironically, Batman was having more exciting team-ups elsewhere other than in his own team-up magazine.  Walt Simonson’s Manhunter fought Batman in Detective Comics; the Shadow out-spooked Batman in both Batman and Detective Comics, where he also “met” the ghost of Enemy Ace. On television he met Scooby Doo for goodness’ sake!
Twice!
This is why the stranger team-ups (Swamp Thing, Kamandi, Manbat) seemed sostrange and brought a lot of response, positive or not. Swamp Thing? I gotta buy that!  Kamandi and Batman together? How? Good or bad, the powers-that-be didn’t look at sales figures, only what they thought would “work”.  For that matter, however, when the stories worked, they worked.  The Joker team-up is one of the best selling comics of this era. But then they wondered why the fourth Wildcat story in as many years didn’t sell as well. Even adding the Joker as the titled villain to a Wildcat story didn’t help sales.  And the editors asked, “Why?”
Still, it wasn’t all that bad: experiments were made – three of B&B’s four three-person team-up (the fourth being the 100th anniversary issue) and two of its five multi-part story lines appeared in this era (both with Green Arrow {sigh} well, their hearts were in the right place). The villainous Ruby Ryder appears in several issues to taunt Batman and Bruce Wayne – a small attempt to make B&B truly a third Batman book?  But as is the danger of team-up books, continuity and characterization must take a back seat to getting our heroes together to beat the bad guys in about twenty pages (not counting the unnecessary splash).
But such attempts were fleeting and (apparently) unnecessary.  B&B still had good sales and loyal readers from years past (the sales drop was proportionate to the industry as a whole), and the marvelous Aparo art was always spectacular, giving B&B its distinct look. This was the time when Aparo made his nitch as the Batman artist. As influential to Batman as Wayne Boring or Curt Swan were to Superman.
It wasn’t the best, but it was still good!  And that’s all that matters!
Isn’t it?
(Unless otherwise stated, Bob Haney wrote and Jim Aparo drew the issues)
May 1972
#101:   … & Metamorpho, “Cold Blood, Hot Gun”
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Jim Aparo.
            A Gothammansion is being sold via sealed-bid auction.  A hired killer named Bounty Hunter is trying to eliminate everyone who submitting a bid, including Bruce Wayne and Metamorpho’s girlfriend Sapphire Stagg!  Who hired him and why? Ends up being one of the brothers selling the mansion.
            This issue features a blurb for the return of a Metamorpho strip in Action Comics, a reprint of a B&B Viking Prince story and a third letter by Bob Rozakis is published.
#102:   … & Teen Titans, “Commune of Defiance”
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Jim Aparo and Neal Adams.  These masters working together result in one of the best artwork in comics!  Wondergirl never looked prettier (in all of three panels she was in!  Boo! Hiss!)
            Barcleyville is Gotham’s oldest city, but now it’s a crime-ridden slum and set for demolition.  The Young Aquarians (a good-natured youth gang) can prevent the town’s demolition if in 30 days they can roust out all the muggers and pushers and clean up the town. It works, until the mob boss brings in his hired goons during the victory block party! The plot is somewhat reminiscent of issue #84 (ghetto teens clean up their town), but this was executed better, almost as if it were a rewrite.
            This is Aparo’s second visit to Barcleyville, the town was featured in Phantom Stranger #4, which he also drew.
            Also features a silver age Robotman story, also featuring his fellow Doom Patroller, the Chief. Rozakis and uber-comics-fan (the late) Robert Morrisey have letters.
#103:   … & Metal Men, “A Traitor Lurks Inside Earth”
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Bob Brown.  Twenty cents?  That’s better!  Well, they did cut the page count in half, but we’re paying five cents less than last issue for the same number of pages before the price hike when it was fifteen cen – HEY!!  Bob Rozakis’ name is again mentioned in the letter column applauding #101.
            John Doe, the robot in charge of all USnuclear missiles goes insane.  Batman asked the help of the newly-reformed Metal Men, until they decide to join John Doe’s side! As with #101 (Metamorpho), this issue picks up the threads to the guests’ canceled magazine.
#104:   … & Deadman: “Second Chance for a Deadman”
             Deadman helps Batman infiltrate and gather evidence on a Florida spa that also changes the identities of fugitive criminals!  Only one problem: Deadman falls in love with the woman in charge!
            Bob Rozakis’ and Mark Gruenwald’s letters are published.
1973
#105:   … & Wonder Woman, “Pay Now – Die Later”
            Another Bob Rozakis letter (anyone keeping track?  Seven so far, six in a row) appears. This issue features superb art by Aparo – a shining star among a galaxy of great performances in Brave & Bold by “Jaunty Jim”!
            A senorita and her revolutionary brother ask Bruce Wayne to pay their father’s ransom before he reveals the location of his country’s exiled treasure trove. Waynesuspects a scam and enlists Wonder Woman’s help to expose it all. Trouble is, Batman finds out it isn’t a scam after all!  Is it too late?
#106:   … & Green Arrow, “Double Your Money or Die”
            Eighth Rozakis letter.  And a letter by professional fan-boy, the late Rich Morrisey from Framingham, Mass. also contributes.
            There are “five little shareholders” who will cash in a ten million dollar dividend.  Unfortunately, someone is killing them off – the sole survivor is Oliver Queen!  If all shareholders die, the money goes to a Swiss clinic dedicated to new plastic surgery techniques.  Ah, thatexplains Two Face’s murderous intent.
            This is the first appearance of a major Batman villain in seven years – since the Joker-Penguin-Riddler team in #66.
            It is a greatstoryline!! Full of twists and turns! A blatant Haney-ism though:  Queen is no longer destitute and collects the ten million in dividends at the end of the story! This is explained later – either the story took place before Queen lost his fortune, or Queen is the type to “… gain a million, lose a million”. Or Haney goofed.
#107:   … & Black Canary, “The 3 Million Dollar Sky”
            Another Rozakis mention, as well as regular letter contributer Joe Rusnak.  Note that B&B’s letter columns read more like movie posters than actual letters – “Fantastic,” says Bob Rozakis of Elmont, NY; “Fair,” Keith Griffin of Mobile, Ala. Writes; “Blows!” Mike Curry of St. Louis, MOshouts. This way the editors can mention twenty or more letter-writers in one issue. Every few issues someone complains about publishing complete letters and addresses so they can contact fellow fans, but the editors continually refuse to do so. Too bad, it would help establish a stronger fan base if they could contact each other and discuss their favorite issues.
            A skyjacker demands three million dollars, the release of a drug kingpin and a trip to San Pedro. Batman and Black Canary disguise as an aviator and a stewardess (you are left to you own devises as to who disguised as whom!) to foil the plot.
#108:   … & Sgt. Rock, “The Night Batman Sold his Soul”
            No Batman didn’t sign on to be the commercial spokesmen for Pepsi, he shouted that he’d give his soul to be rescued after being trapped in a well during a manhunt. Now the old man who rescued him claims to have his soul! Batman thinks he is the devil, Rock thinks he’s an alive-and-well Adolph Hitler (there’s a difference?).
            Letters? Yep, Rozakis again – ten times so far, ninth in a row.
            B&B’s first swear word – “hell” – is used three times, but in context (“we’ve gone into the bowels of Hell”) rather than cursing.  They are fighting the devil after all! So I guess that’s all right…
#109:   … & Demon, “Gotham Be My Grave”
            The first Kirby-created character to appear with Batman!  And discounting the Bat Squad (who weren’t established characters) and the House of Mystery (that was more of a style than a team-up), this is the first new team-up since Adam Strange in #90 – three years ago!  “Hell” is mentioned twice in this story, but still not used as swear words. Still … they’re pushing it!  Rozakis, Keith Griffen and Richard Morrisay all contribute to the letter page.
            A sailor condemned to death in 1883 returns to haunt Gothamkilling all sailors and seamen in its path.
Copyright (c) 2012 Michael G. Curry

The Brave & The Bold Index Part 11

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The Brave & The Bold Index Part 11
Team-ups: Lo, there shall come a Dark Knight! Part 2
January 1968 – January 1972

 
1970
#87:     … & Wonder Woman, “The Widowmaker”,
Writer and Artist: Mike Sekowsky and inked by Dick Giordano.
Issue #150 lists the writer as Bob Haney, but this issue and #88 state Sekowsky wrote the tale of Bruce Wayne racing at Monte Carlo.  Wonder Woman discovers that Bruce’s car is sabotaged by his racing adversary Willi Van Dort.
Batman appearance here is almost token. Could this have been a Wonder Woman tale revamped for inclusion in Brave & Bold? Sekowsky wrote and drew Wonder Woman’s comic at the time, and with the artwork of Neal Adams being so much in demand could this be a “rush job” to meet a deadline?
            Part One of a text page summarizing the first 24 issues of Brave & Bold debuts, written by Marv Wolfman!
#88:     … & Wildcat, “Count Ten & Die”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Irv Novick (his first work on Brave & Bold in 66 issues – just short of eleven years).  Future DC scribe Marty Pasko has a line published in the letter column (one of the few slams on the Green Arrow remake – “Where’s Speedy?”)
Washed-up has-been Ted Grant lives on skid row, but is convinced by Bruce Wayne to coach the boxing team for the World Youth Games in Vienna.  Batman goes too, to capture an iron curtain spy!
            Part Two of a text page summarizing the issues of Brave & Bold that presented the new characters introduced in B&B that went on to their own comics (JLA, Hawkman, Teen Titans and Metamorpho).
Wildcat appears in costume in only five panels!  Was this a Batman story originally featuring a “normal” ex-boxing champ and rewritten – substituting Wildcat to make it a B&B tale?  Good story (so was last issue), but what gives?  Were the editors at B&B caught so unawares?
Maybe it was done on purpose, as an experiment (a team-up in which the superheroes never actually meet except in their other identities).  Just as last issue was a Wonder Woman story with a Batman cameo, so this was a Batman story with a Wildcat cameo.
Regardless, it was well done, which was the whole point.
#89:     … & Phantom Stranger, “Arise Ye Ghosts of Gotham”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Ross Andru.  Part Three of a text page summarizing the first team-ups in Brave & Bold.
            Okay, stay with me.  150 years ago the Hellerite sect settles in Gotham.  Being different, their settlement was burned and they were run out of town.  Now a descendant of sect founder Joseph Heller and descendants of the Hellerite survivors settle in Gotham Park and demand reparations!  Their hatred summons forth the ghosts of the Hellerites and Joseph Heller!  Gothamstarts turning into salt and (Holy Charleton Heston!) every first born male child turns into warlocks!  Including Dick Grayson!  Will Batman side with Phantom Stranger who offers his assistance, or go with Doctor Thirteen, who believes the Stranger a charlatan?
            The idea of reciprocity (one sovereign state recognizing and obeying the laws of another) between Gotham’s family law/guardian statutes and the Laws of Divine Retribution is intriguing.  In other words, if the Cosmic Laws of Vengeance recognize Dick Grayson as being Bruce Wayne’s first born male child; then, under Full Faith and Credit provisions, it must also recognize the right to due process, illegal search and seizure and trial by jury.  Wouldn’t that put the Spectre, for example, out of business?  What hath Haney wrought?
#90:     … & Adam Strange, “You Only Die Twice”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Ross Andru.    Part Four of Marv Wolfman’s history of Brave & Bold team-ups continues.
            Adam Strange is accidentally whisked into the future and brings back Batman’s obituary!  Can they prevent his humiliating demise?
#91:     … & Black Canary, “Cold Corpse for the Collector”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Nick Cardy.  The fifth and final Chapter of the history of Brave & Bold team-ups is included.
            Black Canary falls in love with the Earth-One counterpart of her deceased husband Larry Lance. Unfortunately, Lance may be the mob boss Batman is currently hunting!
#92:     … & the Bat Squad, “Night Wears a Scarlet Shroud”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Nick Cardy.
            This is an attempt to create a group of sidekicks or aids for Batman ala the pulp heroes that inspired his creation – the Shadow, the Spider and Doc Savage. Just in case the point is missed, the girl was named Margo (however, they held back giving her the last name of Lane).  The Bat Squad consisted of the Major, retired Scotland Yard; Mick, reformed pick-pocket turned mod-rocker; and Margo, eye-candy (shades of the Suicide Squad and Cave Carson!).  They never appeared again, and were probably better suited for Detective Comics than as a team-up in Brave & Bold.  Was this an attempt to go back to B&B’s “try-out” days to test the water for a new group of “Bat-partners”?
            During a filming of “The Scarlet Strangler”, the star and the director disappear.  Batman and his Bat Squad track the clues and find themselves back in 1904 Londonand come face to face with the real Strangler!!  Or is it a giant ruse by a Strangler wannabe?
            Oddly, in #89 Batman did believe in ghosts and spooks, but in this issue he plays the skeptic.
            Nick Cardy’s art in his five-issue stint as “regular” artist is spectacular! Rather than Neal Adam’s lithe, lean Batman, Cardy’s caped crusader is beefier: strength versus agility. His style is similar to George Tuska, who has contributed a few one-page stories in the past few issues. He is a wonderful artist and continues to keep a sense of continuity in B&B.
1971
#93:     … in the House of Mystery, “Red Water, Crimson Death”,
            Writer: Denny O’Neal, Artist: Neal Adams.  Adamsis back as artist, in one of the best Batman stories, and for that matter one of the best comic book stories, ever.  This issue appeared in a “Best of DC’ tabloid in the late 1970s.  The art is perfect, the tale is suspenseful and moody!
            Cain, the House of Mystery’s host tells the tale: While on (what should be) a restful vacation voyage to Ireland, Bruce Wayne befriends Sean, a boy from the Aran Islands. Wayne stays with Sean’s family and discovers a plot to frighten the fisher folk off the island to ensure exclusive fishing rights for the villain behind it all – Alouysios Cabot. A typical tale, until Batman is helped by the ghost of King Hugh of Aran.
            Future Justice League and Legion of Superheroes author/artist Keith Griffin contributes a letter.
#94:     … & Teen Titans, “Rebels in the Streets”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Nick Cardy.  In the Titan’s own book, Robin had left the group.  Haney and Cardy (who also wrote and drew Teen Titans) used this issue to bring Robin back into the group.
            Ghetto teens make an atomic bomb and will detonate it unless their demands are met – jail all drug dealers, slum lords and (eep!) Commissioner Gordon and Batman!
#95:     … & ?, “Cold Corpse on Delivery”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Nick Cardy.  B&B Baddie Ruby Ryder, the world’s richest (and most ruthless) woman, makes her debut.  Outside of Haney’s work, though, Ruby is rarely seen.  Also, the tale ends with the “Read it Ever, Miss it Never” tag line at the end of the story.  This tag line hasn’t been seen in B&B in years (used mostly during the “Go-Go Checks” era), and will never be seen again!  Another tag line will debut next issue, with a bit more staying power!
            Ruby Ryder hires Batman to find her missing fiancé.  When he finds him in South America, Batman brings him back to Ruby, who shoots him dead!  Luckily it was Plastic Man in disguise and trying to establish a new life.  This starts Bob Haney’s apparent hatred of Plastic Man – hereafter portraying him as an unlovable loser, social pariah and washed-up hero.  Haney would have given Plas BO if it would get past the comics code.
            The first “mystery” guest in B&B – the reader is provided clues as to the guest’s identity.  This one’s a toughie!  The “clues” provided are merely vague shapes (a hand pushing Batman, etc.).  Once you know who the guest is, the clues are easy in retrospect.  The hand pushing Batman was next seen in a sewer grating.  How did he get down there so fast?  Easy – he stretched out of the grating!
#96:     … & Sgt. Rock, “The Striped Pants War”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Nick Cardy.  “B&B Seeing You” debuts as the tag line in the letter column – and used from here on.  Rock remembers Batman from issue #84.  He must have been debriefed after the adventure – Rock met Bruce Wayne, but was unaware of Batman’s participation!
            Bruce Wayne’s friend, the ambassador to an unnamed South American country is kidnapped (I would avoid being Bruce Wayne’s friend…).  Bruce is appointed interim ambassador and, as Batman, hunts for the terrorist-kidnappers.  The clues point to an insider helping the terrorists.  Clues that point to the thirty-year man – Sgt Rock!
#97:     … & Wildcat, “The Smile of Choclotan”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Bob Brown.  Twenty-five cents?  Twenty-five cents for a comic book!?  Hmmph, well, the page count did double to 52 pages.  Still, in my day you could buy a comic for a dime…
            Deadman’s debut /origin story from Strange Adventures is reprinted.  Future DC Answer Man Bob Rozakis asks questions in the letter column.  The editor claims there were only five dissenting letters received for #94 (Teen Titans) and only one dissenting letter for #93 (House of Mystery).  One … out of two hundred thousand readers wrote to say he didn’t like the issue. Hyperbole? Quite likely, but they were great issues!
            Amnesia strikes Wildcat (wildcat strike?) as he looks for the lost temple of an Aztec god. Can Batman help him regain his memory and re-find the temple before temple-raiders kill them both? This is the third issue in a row that takes place in Latin America.
#98:     … & Phantom Stranger, “Mansion of the Misbegotten”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Jim Aparo.  Two reprinted stories in this issue – a Challengers of the Unknown tale and a rare Phantom Stranger story from the 1950s.
            Batman’s friend Roger Birnam dies (another friend bites the dust…).  On his deathbed Roger makes Batman promise to care for his widowed wife and young son.  Ooo, too bad they are the ring leaders of a murderous satanic cult…
            This was Jim Aparo’s first attempt at drawing Batman, having been selected for this issue by his stunning work on Phantom Stranger.  It was a throwback to olden days where the regular artist of the guest star did the artwork in B&B. Comic fans to this day should be grateful for this decision!
            Dick Giordano brought Jim Aparo from Charleton Comics, where he worked on Nightshade, among other stories.  His style is more like Neal Adams than Nick Cardy – although his first few issues were Cardy-esque – beefy and stout characters.  His lean and lithe Batman will develop quickly.  While not the photographer that is Neal Adams, Aparo’s art is just as good – characters are alive – skinny, fat, curly hair, balding, every illustration is … well … different!  Angry characters are livid, happy characters are ecstatic, surprised characters are in shock!  When Batman lands a haymaker on the bad guys, the comic shudders!  Aparo’s portrayal of emotion and action is perfect.  Aparo’s Batman will be the template for the next twenty years.  He’s one of the best.
1972
#99:     … & Flash, “The Man Who Murdered the Past”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Nick Cardy (the index in issue #150 states this issue was drawn by Jim Aparo).  Viking Prince returns to B&B in a reprinted story.
            The ghost of a Satan-worshipping Portuguese whaler possesses Batman.  If Old Manuel can come back from the dead, can Batman use the same method to bring back his parents?  Well, no, but it’s suspenseful for a few panels!
#100:   … & Green Arrow, Black Canary, Green Lantern, Robin, “Warrior in a Wheelchair”, Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Jim Aparo.  History repeats itself – Aparo replaced Cardy as artist for Aquaman, and does so again now in Brave & Bold.
            A Deadman reprint rounds out the issue.  Bob Rozakis appears in the letter column again.
            Batman is temporarily disabled – the slightest shock could kill him!  So he enlists the aid of his friends to do his detective work for him.  Black Canary almost blows her mission – she would have ruined her hairdo standing in the rain!  After her last appearance (siding against the Batman in favor of her husband’s doppelganger), one wonders how Batman could have trusted her the next three times she appears!
***
            The artists and writers from this era would be inducted in any comic book hall of fame on the first ballot.  And these weren’t guests – these were the regular monthly artists!  Neal Adams, Nick Cardy, Jim Aparo.  Guest artists included Mike Sekowsky, Joe Kubert, Irv Novick.  Add writers Denny O’Neal and Bob Haney and Brave & Bold’s pedigree is complete.  Neal Adams was so popular that he was quickly moved to National juggernaut Justice League of America before settling into DC’s flagship Detective Comics.  He and Denny O’Neal worked together again in Green Lantern where they redefined what we think of as “funny books”.
            Chances were taken in this era – B&B introduced new characters, highlighted little-known or forgotten heroes.  Batman appeared in cameo in one issue (#87) and the guest barely appeared in another (#88).  If they were really willing to take a risk, #88 could have been done with the secret identities only – no long johns could have appeared at all and it still would have been a terrific story!
            It was uncanny – every story was well written, beautifully drawn and well received.  Few comic books in the past seventy years can claim such a flawless span of issues, and most of those comics making such a claim would be from DC’s main competitor!  As for Brave & Bold, the stories and art were tremendous and the sales of the magazine reflected it.  B&B was National’s pride and joy, one of DC’s very best comics.
            Brave & Bold was at the very top.  Unfortunately, once you’ve reached the top, there is only one place to go.
Next: Coasting
Copyright (c) 2012 Michael G. Curry

The Brave & The Bold Index Part 10

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The Brave & The Bold Index Part 10
Team-ups: Lo, there shall come a Dark Knight! Part 1
January 1968 – January 1972

            The next twenty-five issues of Brave & Boldare considered the best of the run during the team-up years. And rightly so: the issues from #79 through #86 inclusive are considered the best issues of the entire run; and among the best comics ever published!
            By this time Marvel had been regularly beating National comics in popularity (nowadays we could call it “buzz”), if not in sales.  Charleton was successfully publishing heroes like Captain Atom and the Blue Beetle.  There were more superhero comics being published than there had been in twenty years. Compared to all the Distinguished Competition, DC seemed staid, static and – worst of all – boring to the older reader. So National decided to fight back! Such strong competition helped DC grow rather than wither. National decided to change their style – introducing new and off-beat characters like the Creeper and Hawk & Dove. Comics such as Aquaman and Justice League of America and most notably Green Lantern/Green Arrowstarted to become – what’s the word? – relevant!  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.
            This was to be the “new-look” Brave & Bold: no longer will the adventures of the caped crusader be square and archaic, to use the words of a letter-writer, but real and important. Drug runners instead of petty crooks, terrorists and spies instead of monsters and aliens! Heavy; and deep, man, real deep.
            Chances were taken – team-ups were done (and done well) that would seem unlikely: Adam Strange, Sgt. Rock and Phantom Stranger met the Caped Crusader. DC’s most recent creation the Creeper starred. Experiments were done: The Bat Squad introduced a cast of assistants for Batman akin to the aids of pulp heroes Doc Savage and the Shadow. Batman entered the “House of Mystery”. And Green Arrow, the most frequent guest in the team-up years, was given a make-over: a new costume and character. That hadn’t been done in B&B since the Hawkman reboot in March 1961, 8½ years earlier.
            Neal Adams was the artist during the classic eight-issue span (#79-#86) and helped make these issues the comic book classics they are. Adams wasn’t a comic book artist – he was a photographer! The art in Brave & Bold never looked more realistic, and the stories were inspiring.
            Otherwise the artwork was excellently done by (mostly) Nick Cardy.  With #98, however, another artist took over most of the art chores. Dick Giordano brought him over from Charleton. His name was Jim Aparo. More on him later.
            Bob Haney was still in his own little continuity bubble – Bruce Wayne was a Senator, adopted a second ward and became a godfather to another youth, none of these facts have been acknowledged since – not even in Haney’s later stories.  Nonetheless, the stories written were still exciting. You never know what would happen on the next page!
            For the most part these twenty-five issues featured stories and art which were fun and admirable; entertaining and laudable.  It was a brave and bold step for the comic and it helped put it at the forefront of comics generally and National Comics specifically.  Comic book readers were starting to grow up, and Brave & Bold grew up with them.  It was the very best.
November 1967
#74:     Batman & Metal Men, “Rampant Run the Robots”, (since Batman stars in all remaining issues, only the guest – as indicated on the magazine’s cover – will be listed).
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Ross Andru.
Batman begins his run through the remainder of B&B as its star.  This is also the first meeting of many with the Metal Men. Robots run amuck and commit crimes aplenty during a robot exposition in Gotham. Are the Metal Men also affected and committing crimes?  Batman thinks so!
1968
#75:     … & Spectre, untitled tail, Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Ross Andru.  Wonderful cover by Neal Adams!  A typo has the editor being George Hasdan instead of Kasdan!
            On Chinese New Year (the Year of the Bat), the Lord of the Yellow River, Shahn-Zi traps the citizens of Gotham’s Chinatown until its mayor, Bill Woo, turns over his son to become the new Lord of the River.
#76:     … & Plastic Man, “Doom, What is thy Shape?”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: George Roussos.
The Molder and his plastic robots terrorize Gotham!  This issue also features a reprint of a Robin solo story, but the comic doesn’t tell us when and in which comic it was originally published.
#77:     … & Atom, “So Thunders the Cannoneer”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Ross Andru.  Artist and writer credits are starting to appear more regularly now.  Ross Andru has been drawing so many issues of B&B lately it almost, almostseems to establish a specific look of continuity for the book!  This idea of a certain look for B&B will be very important in future issues with Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Also in this issue, in the text page, the editor requests letters to the comic.  Instead of one-page texts regaling us with information on the Great Wall, ghosts, real-life tiny individuals, “real” proof of ghosts, etc., we will soon get correspondence from fellow fans!
The Cannoneer and his circus cronies steal the Brotherhood Train – featuring one car for every nation, a World’s Fair on a rail!
#78:     … & Wonder Woman (with Batgirl), “In the Coils of the Copperhead”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Bob Brown, Editor: Murray Boltinoff.
To lull the villainous Copperhead into the open, Wonder Woman and Batgirl pretend to be in love with Batman, distracting him from his battle against crime.  It seems to work, until they really fall for him!
Batgirl is the co-star, and is giving a mention on the cover, but it is more of a Batman-Wonder Woman team-up.  Batgirl’s presence is more to capture the TV fans.
This issue also introduces the villainy of the Copperhead, the last bad-guy of note to debut in B&B (others being Starro, Amazo, Matter Master, Shadow Thief, and the Manhawks).  Copperhead fought Hawkman in the fourth series of his magazine, teaming with the Shadow Thief – a Brave & Bold reunion that went unnoticed!
#79:     … & Deadman, “Track of the Hook”, August-September 1968.
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Neal Adams.
            Beginning the “classic” run of B&B through #86.  At the time this issue was phenomenally popular (still is in the back issue market).
            Deadman helps Batman identify “The King” – Gotham’s syndicate leader, in exchange for Batman helping track down Deadman’s killer, the Hook.  They break the syndicate, but fail to find the Hook. But we do meet Max Chill – the brother of the man who killed Batman’s parents.
            The first letter column appears in Brave & Boldsince issue #49, exactly five years before!
#80:     … & Creeper, “And Hellgramite is his Name”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Neal Adams.  Another new villain is introduced with some durability – Hellgramite tormented Green Arrow through the 1970s in World’s Finest Comics, but hasn’t been seen much in the past thirty years.  Future DC writer Tony Isabella has a letter in the letter column..
Hellgrammite captures three of Gotham’s gangland bosses.  Batman and Creeper fight Hellgrammite, Commissioner Gordon and each other to find out why!
1969
#81:     … & Flash, “But Bork Can Hurt You”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Neal Adams.
A two-bit hood suddenly becomes invulnerable and takes over Gotham City’s underworld!  Flash discovers Bork’s secret (island natives created a stone statue of Bork, imbuing him with invulnerability) just before Bork forces Gotham’s mayor from banishing Batman forever.  Flash runs in outer space and through the sun unharmed, a power he’s never shown before!
            Bork was revived by Kurt Busiek as a member of his “Power Company” series.
#82:     … & Aquaman, “Sleepwalker from the Sea”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Neal Adams.  This issue begins a new logo.  Gone is the waiving Brave & Bold banner seen since the first issue.  Now we have simple blocked script in capital letters announcing the comic name.  Small wonder – the banner logo has been shrinking for years and was almost invisible.  The plain logo belays the excellent material within!
Aquaman’s brother Orm, the Ocean Master, tricks Aquaman into being his “muscle” in a shady marine development deal.
#83:     … & Teen Titans, “Punish Not My Evil Son”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Neal Adams.
Robin is jealous when Batman adopts a second ward – the son of a deceased friend. But the second son of Batman is a bad seed. He finally turns from the dark side in time to save Batman.
#84:     … & Sgt. Rock, “The Angel, The Rock & The Cowl”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Neal Adams.  Joe Kubert assists an uncredited co-artist.  The combination of Adams and Kubert (who assists on the panels with Easy Company) is fantastic!  Adamsphotographic style and Kubert’s distinctive style gives the art a natural look – actions become realistic speed blurs!
            Another friend of Bruce Wayne is killed (two issues in a row now…), this time during WWII while spying on the Nazis.  Bruce Wayne takes over the case and interferes with Easy Company’s orders to blow up a bridge on D-minus-one-Day.  According to the Overstreet Price Guide (and others), this is the first appearance of the golden age (Earth-Two) Batman in the Silver Age (barring an earlier one-panel cameo in Justice League #82).  In the letter column to #86, one writer complains about the time-anomaly:  A 60-year old Rock and a still-young Bruce Wayne.
            A house ad for this issue appears on the last page – “how can it (this team-up) be possible?”
The blurb for the next issue asks, “How can we top this?” The answer: this is to prepare you for what’s coming next!  The beautiful thing about B&B in this era is … they’re right!
#85:     … & Green Arrow, “The Senator’s Been Shot”.
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Neal Adams. Fifteen cents?!  Fifteen cents!  For a comic book?  Outrageous!  This better be some story!
It is!  Although probably not to compensate us for the extra three cents, this is the most popular B&B of this era.  It is certainly the most reprinted, most recently as a Millenium Edition.  This issue introduced a “new look” for Green Arrow – new costume, blond goatee – but the radical attitude came later in Green Lantern’s comic.  Here B&B combines its team-ups with its old genre of introducing new characters (or newly remodeled characters) and is done excellently!
            The Senator was shot because he supported a crime bill that would eliminate the career of evil financier Miklos Minotaur.  Bruce Wayne is appointed interim senator.  Meanwhile, Minotaur must eliminate his competitor (Ollie Queen) from wining a multi-million dollar Gotham renovation plan.
            This is a prime example of Bob Haney’s isolated DC Continuity.  Bruce Wayne’s stint as a senator has never been elsewhere referenced, not even in Brave & Bold.
#86:     … & Deadman, “You Can’t Hide from a Deadman”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Neal Adams.  Tony Isabella again contributes to the letter page.
            In a story continued from Strange Adventures#216 (Deadman’s last issue in that magazine): Deadman is poisoned while in Namba Parbat (where he obtains corporeal form).  To save his life, Batman and Deadman’s brother Clevelandfight the Sensei’s Society of Assassins, one of whom has the antidote.
Copyright (c) 2012 Michael G. Curry

The Brave & The Bold Index Part 9

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The Brave & The Bold Index Part 9
Team-ups: The World’s Greatest Super Heroes Part 2
November 1963 – November 1967

1966
#63:     Supergirl & Wonder Woman, “Revolt of the Super Chicks”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: John Rosenberg.  George Kashdan is back as editor.  By this time the once proud Brave & Bold banner has been shrunk down to two inches.
A huge step back for the suffragette movement:  Supergirl renounces her heroic lifestyle to live with the jet set in Paris.  Wonder Woman, sent to convince Supergirl of the error of her ways, also falls into the sway of the jet set, and renounces her super-do-good lifestyle.  With their new boyfriends they head to the Ile D’Amour, not knowing the island is also the hide-out of the evil Multi-Face!  Will our girls go back to their super life or remain “frail and feminine” and keep their boyfriends happy?
A small tag line on the last panel warns us that “the Spectre is coming!”  Cool!

 

#64:     Batman vs. Eclipso, which was also the story title.  March 1966.
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Dick Giordano and Sal Trapani.  Hey, where’s the Spectre?  This issue (March 1965) begins National’s checkerboard design (“Go-Go Checks”) along the top of all their comic covers.
They get an “A” for a great idea: the first villain as a co-star! Batman’s greatest love and one-time crime-fighting companion, Marcia Monroe returns (Who!?  You probably won’t find her listed in any Batman sourcebook)!  But she frames Batman for the theft of the cat emerald.  While he sits in stir, Marcia, as the Queen Bee (not the JLA foe) and Eclipso take over Gotham’s crime cartel.
Saints preserve us! Chief O’Hara debuts in B&B, having been broadcasting his befuddlement of the most dastardly assortment of criminal minds the likes of which Gotham City has ever produced lo these past ninety days (translation: he had already been on the Batman TV show for three months).
#65:     Flash & Doom Patrol, “Alias Negative Man”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Bruno Premanini.  An ingenious idea: team up a new, lesser-known DC character with an established one – introducing fans to the Doom Patrol who might otherwise not buy their comic.  This was also done the previous issue, but more was made about the fact that is starred a villain rather than a newer more obscure DC character.
Negative Man is kidnapped by the Brotherhood of Evil (no, not Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, just Brotherhood of Evil.  Hey, give the Doom Patrol a break; they predated that other superhero group led by a man in a wheelchair by three months – June 1963 as opposed to September 1963)!  The Flash disguises himself as Neg Man and fills in, fooling the Brotherhood into thinking, “If that’s Negative Man, who’s in this lead-lined coffin?”  Creek!  Whoosh!  “Aargh!”
            Flash and Doom Patrol were a featured team-up in the revived B&B in 2007 as an obvious (and admitted) homage.
#66:     Metamorpho & Metal Men, “Wreck the Renegade Robot”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Mike Sekowsky, legendary JLA artist, who last appeared in these pages six years ago in issue #30 and does an excellent job in this story!  His artwork looks almost Kirby-esque.
Doc Magnus cures Metamorpho and turns him back into Rex Mason!  What a bad time for someone to take over the minds of the Metal Men and order them to destroy Simon Stagg!
#67:     Batman & Flash, “Death of the Flash”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Carmine Infantino, who last appeared in these pages three years earlier with his masterly work on Strange Sports Stories.  Here he does a very good job on the two superheroes for which he is best known.
The Flash discovers that his super speed skill is slowly killing him – he must stop running or he will die!  Bad time for the Speed Boys to start a super-speed crime spree in Gotham!

 

In January of 1966 the TV show “Batman” debuted on ABC.  By this issue (September 1966), the show is a runaway smash and anything with Batman’s image on the cover would become a huge seller!  Flash has starred in more issues of B&B than any other character (during the team-up or even try-out years).  Batman has starred in only three issues.  Flash’s reign as most popular B&B character will end shortly.
#68:     Batman & Metamorpho, “Alias the Bat-Hulk”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Mike Sekowsky, in another excellent job!  Why didn’t he do this well in Justice League of America?
The Joker, Penguin and Riddler all make their B&B debut.  Metamorpho appears for the second time in three issues.  Batman is the first character to star in two consecutive issues with different stars.  Ads in the comic explain why: the Batman TV show, the Batman movie, the Batman syndicated newspaper strip, Batman Aurora models and, oh yes, Batman comic books are advertised in this issue.  Metamorpho tells Batman in the final panel that he’ll see Batman “on the TV”.  Subtle, isn’t it?
The three dastardly bad guys spray Batman with a chemical that changes him into Bat-Hulk: a huge lumbering bad guy whose hands destroy everything they touch!  He can even throw chemical fireballs.  In a moment of lucidity, Batman goes to Simon Stagg and Metamorpho to try to find a cure.  Before they do, Metamorpho must stop Bat-Hulk and his three allies during their criminal rampage on Gotham.
            Unabashed plug department: This is Batman’s fourth starring appearance in B&B, and in the last three he mentions Robin being away at a Teen Titans meeting to explain his absence.
1967
#69:     Batman & Green Lantern, “War of the Cosmic Avenger”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Win Mortimer.
The Time Commander (from issue #54) returns and again tricks Green Lantern and Batman into giving him some of GL’s power.  Time Commander then uses the power to summon Cosmo: “A humanoid recalled from the limbo of the past …” but now imbued with cosmic “star power”.
#70:     Batman & Hawkman, “Cancelled: Two Super-Heroes”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Johnny Craig.
The Collector decides to start collecting super-hero secret identities.  When Batman realizes what is going on, he tricks the Collector into thinking Batman is Carter Hall and Hawkman is Bruce Wayne!
#71:     Batman & Green Arrow, “Wrath of the Thunderbird”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: George Pepp.  This is Green Arrow’s second appearance in B&B and his first team-up with Batman (of nine – the most frequent guest star in the series).
Batman and Green Arrow help train a friend to win the chiefdom of his Native American Kijawa tribe.  His opponent cheats to win and releases the Thunderbird, who attacks everyone in sight!  Native American slurs abound in this pre-politically correct story!
#72:     Spectre & Flash, “Phantom Flash, Cosmic Traitor”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Carmine Infantino, who we saw last in issue #67 also featuring the Scarlet Speedster.  This is the last issue starring the Flash without Batman.  Issue #63 told us that “The Spectre is coming!”  It’s about time!  Actually, they were talking about his silver age debut in Showcase.  This issue of B&B is the Spectre’s 4thsilver age appearance.
            The ghost of a World War One squadron fighter wreaks vengeance on his surviving comrades (he was the only fatality); and he’s brainwashed the Flash into aiding him!
            This issue mentions Earth Two, the alternative world in which the golden age heroes live, for the first time.  It sets up some strange scenes – One, the Flash from Earth One is there to visit the Spectre (who visits the Spectre?); and two, when crooks spot a crimson blur racing toward them they shout out, “It’s the Flash!”  What they don’t shout out is, “Wait, what’s with the different costume?”
#73:     Aquaman & Atom, “Galg the Destroyer”, Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Sal Trapani.
            Galg the Destroyer is out to conquer the universe.  The catch?  He lives in a microscopic world in a drop of ocean water!
            The Go-Go Checks are gone in this issue. So is Batman. As far as Brave & Bold is concerned, the Go-Go Checks will never return, and Batman will never leave.  Next issue, Batman will begin his 127-issue run as the star.
            These last two issues of Brave & Bold (#72 and #73) were the lowest-selling in some time.  The reason was obvious – they were the first issues in a nearly a year that did not feature Batman on the cover.  Issues before the Batman TV show were selling from 249,000 to 279,000.  Issue #69 (for example) sold 398,000 copies.  As the TV show would say, “Zap! Pow! Ka-Ching!!”  Seeing the dollar signs in front of their eyes (and the many zeroes before the period in their sales reports), the editors of Brave & Bold vowed never to make that mistake again!  World’s Finest aside (that was always considered a Superman book at worst and a comic co-starring Superman and Batman at best); from here on, Brave & Bold becomes the third Batman book.
            When did National finally decide this?  The comic itself doesn’t say.  Despite Batmania being in full bloom, #68 tells us that “we’ll be seeing more team-ups of DC’s fabulous heroes in the very next issue of The Brave and The Bold!”  But not Batman specifically!  Besides, limiting B&B to one star and a guest would limit its scope, wouldn’t it?  Hardly, the best was yet to come!
Next: Lo, There Shall Come a Dark Knight!
Copyright (c) 2012 Michael G. Curry

The Brave & The Bold Index Part 8

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The Brave & The Bold Index Part 8
Team-ups: The World’s Greatest Super Heroes Part 1
November 1963 – November 1967

            Why did National decide to turn Brave and Boldinto a team-up comic?  It had never been done before and there was no indication it would be a success. Sure, World’s Finest had featured Superman and Batman teaming up together for years (but by this time they were more team-matesthan a team-up). Flash and Green Lantern would pop up in each other’s magazines, but could continuous (seemingly) random encounters between superheroes sustain a series?
            The Justice League of America was hardly a team-up magazine.  Ditto All-Star Comics before it.  Still, Marvel has had wonderful success having characters crossing-over every few months, as the characters featured would get some publicity they wouldn’t otherwise get. And besides, who knows? National might strike gold with a team as popular as Superman-Batman. B&B’s days as a magazine of swashbuckling adventure had gone, and it did not want (or sales could not sustain) another Showcase-like anthology, maybe it can become another World’s Finest.
            As with a change in format in Brave & Bold #50 (November 1963), so there will be a change in format for this index.  Each issue shall be listed numerically, with issue number, guest stars, writer and artist, plot synopsis and other information (trivia, other features, letter page content, editorial comment, etc.).
November 1963
#50:     Green Arrow & Martian Manhunter, “Wanted – The Capsule Master”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: George Roussos.  Murray Boltinoff and George Kashdan take over as editors.
Martians land on earth and try to recover three pieces of a doomsday weapon, unless Green Arrow, Speedy and the Martian Manhunter stop them.  An editorial confirms the “World’s Finest”-style format and requests readers to write in and request characters to appear in the comic.
1964
#51:     Aquaman & Hawkman, “Fury of the Exiled Creature”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Howard Purcell.  Fish and Fowl!  This is Hawkman’s 8th appearance (the month before (11/1963) he started a solo stint in Mystery on Space).  He would get his own magazine in March of 1964 and join the Justice League in November 1964.
Tyros, an Atlantean exile, finds a ruby that turns him into a winged reptile with the ability to control birds and sea creatures.  Hawkgirl and Aqualad have as much action as the two stars, but do not appear on the cover at all!  The letter column states the next issue will feature the Flash and the Atom.

 

#52:     Sgt. Rock, Johnny Cloud, & The Haunted Tank (labeled as Three Battle Stars), “Suicide Mission”,
            Writer: Robert Kanigher, Artist: Joe Kubert (his last credited work for B&B).  Editor: Robert Kanigher.
            Three of DC’s World War Two stars team up to rescue a leader of the French underground.  The leader is locked in a suit of armor.  When released, the leader is revealed to be Mlle. Marie! A fourth Battle Star! Joe Kubert fans have been spoiled with B&B: now we can watch his mastery of the war genre. And we weren’t disappointed.  Superb art as usual.
            Where’s Flash and Atom?  Might have been deadline trouble.  Plus this story may have fit better in B&B than in a war comic. Each chapter featured one of the battle stars, which would have been awkward in a supposed Sgt. Rock “solo” story.  Kanigher is once again in the editorial seat and the text feature is Rock’s “Combat Corner”, which implies this was meant for one of National’s war comics rather than B&B.  But who’s complaining?  Good story, good art!
#53:     Atom & Flash, “Challenge of the Expanding World”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Alex Toth.  A golden age great for an artist!  Boltinoff and Kashdan are back as editors (giving more credence to the theory that #52 was a fill-in).
            A microscopic world begins to expand, threatening to destroy the earth.  Unfortunately, the microworld’s inhabitants don’t see a problem with this!
            The folks at National can learn!  Brave & Bold has never touted the magazines of its guests – other than stating the JLA will get its own magazine.  This issue, however, has house ads for both Flash and Atom’s magazines.
#54:     Robin, Kid Flash, & Aqualad, “1,001 Dooms of Mr. Twister”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Bruno Premanini (His first art in B&B since Cave Carson).  Fans have been clamoring for a Junior Justice League ever since there has been a Justice League. One such request was published in the letter column of Brave & Bold #30. The fans finally get their wish. This is touted as the first appearance of the Teen Titans, although they were never called by that name in this issue.
Teenagers of Hatton Corners are kidnapped by Mr. Twister, fulfilling a curse from colonial times!  Ironically, Robin stars in B&B before Batman!  (Batman makes his fourth cameo appearance in B&B here, after the three-issue Justice League try-out).
#55:     Metal Men & Atom, “Revenge of the Robot Renegade”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Ramona Fradon.
            Dr. Magnus’ first robot creation, Uranium, turned evil and was destroyed.  In this story he re-forms, creates a female sidekick – Agentha (silver) – and destroys the Metal Men. Ray Palmer intercepts Magnus’ laser SOS, re-forms the Metal Men, and all tackle Uranium!

 

#56:     Flash & Martian Manhunter, “Raid of the Mutant Marauders”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Bernard Bailey (another golden age great – the original artist for Hourman and the Spectre), George Kashdan is listed as the solo editor.
            Scientists from the planet Argon create a mutant with all the Justice League’s powers (I know, I know, that sort of technology is Amazo-ing) that raises havoc at the New York World’s Fair.  This issue should have been billed as featuring three DC stars, as Hawkgirl plays a crucial unbilled role.  Well, she is just a girl after all…
            A fair display of the Justice League members does not include Hawkman, although the mutant does sprout Hawkman’s wings.  Plus Flash and MM contact Hawkgirl through Hawkman’s JLA communicator.  This issue was published in November of 1964 – the month Hawkman joined the JLA.
1965
#57:     Metamorpho, “The Origin of Metamorpho”, February 1965
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Ramona Fradon.  B&B reverts back to its try-out days.  Why?  Who knows, but it’s another success!  The Element Man won his own series that summer and has popped up everywhere in the DC Universe since. He even appeared in the 2002 Justice League cartoon on Cartoon Network. He became a founding member of another B&B spin-off – the Outsiders.
Okay, keep up with me now.  Rex Mason loves Sapphire Stagg.  Her father, millionaire industrialist Simon Stagg hates Mason.  Simon Stagg will allow Mason to marry Sapphire if he will obtain the Orb of Ra.  Mason, accompanied by Stagg’s toady Java, finds the Orb.  Java takes the Orb and traps Mason in the pyramid.  Mason is bombarded by radiation from a meteorite inside the pyramid.  Nearing death, he takes a pill that Stagg gave him years ago in the event of imminent death.  The radiation and the pill combine to turn Mason into Metamorpho the Element Man – who can transform into any element!
Despite being “no whiz at chemistry” Mason becomes magnesium, sodium carbonate and fire foam (carbon, sodium and water) in this issue.  Just think what he could do if he was a whiz at chemistry!
#58:     Metamorpho, “The Junkyard of Doom”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Ramona Fradon.
            Metamorpho is kidnapped by ex-Nazi Maxwell Tremaine and battles his junkyard of doom – a repository of the world’s dud weaponry that Tremaine has repaired or improved.  This includes a robotic praying mantis and daddy long-legs, a missile with insect wings and a giant tank with a spiked drill.
#59:     Batman & Green Lantern, “Tick-Tock Traps of the Time Commander”,
            Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Ramona Fradon.  Batman’s first starring appearance in Brave & Bold, and fifth overall.
            The Time Commander uses Batman as bait to trap Green Lantern and absorb his powers.  Then he sends parts of Gotham City into different time periods for ever until his alter ego, John Starr, is pardoned of all crimes.
            In DC’s revival of Brave & Bold in 2007, Batman and Green Lantern were the first issue’s stars as an obvious honorara. One issue featured Superman and the Silent Knight.
#60:     The Teen Titans, “The Astounding Separated Man”,
Writer: Bob Haney, Artist: Bruno Premanini. Team-up or try-out?  You decide!  Regardless, this was another B&B try-out triumph! Fully one year after their unofficial “first appearance” in issue #54, now the youthful sidekicks of our favorite heroes are officially a group. Other than a lull in the late 1970s, there has been an incarnation of the Titans ever since they first appeared here. This issue debuts Wonder Girl – the last new character introduced in Brave & Bold until Nemesis some fifteen years later.
            After the events of #54, Robin and gang decide to form a group to help kids in trouble.  The teens of Midville (as well as everyone else) are menaced when a criminal steals a serum from the father of Midville’s Teen-Mayor-for-a-Day, turning him into the Separating Man: whose giant individual body parts attack the town!
#61:     Starman & Black Canary, “Mastermind of Menaces”,
            Writer: GardnerFox, Artist: Murphy Anderson, Julius Schwartz takes over as editor. For the first time in over 15 years Black Canary stars on the cover of a National Comic (as opposed to being one of many in a JLA-JSA meeting), almost twenty for Starman! Black Canary’s logo has never appeared on a cover before!
            National was likely testing the waters to see if any of the old JSA stalwarts could handle a solo series, as four months earlier Dr. Fate and Hourman teamed up in two issues of Showcase. Interesting role reversal: Showcase copying Brave & Bold!
            Murphy Anderson’s art is spectacular as our JSA team mates fight the Mist who is using Dinah Drake’s hypnotic flowers to force rich socialites to steal from themselves!
#62:     Starman & Black Canary (with Wildcat), “The Big Super-Hero Hunt”,
            Writer: GardnerFox, Artist: Murphy Anderson.
            For the first time in B&B a team-up returns!  This time to fight Mr. & Mrs. Menace – the Sportsmaster and the Huntress.  Here is it revealed that the two villains have married (the first marriage of super villains?).  Wildcat makes his silver age debut, and his first of many in Brave & Bold.

Copyright (c) 2012 Michael G. Curry

The Brave & The Bold Index Part 7

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The Brave and The Bold Index Part 7
Showcase: Of Strange Suicide Squad Stories Inside Earth, Part 4

Continuing the index/history of the greatest comic magazine ever! 😉 

Strange Sports Stories ran for an unprecedented five issues of Brave and Bold in 1963.  From #45 – 49 sports tales were told with a science fiction twist.  The best way to explain is to describe them:
1.                  (#45: Challenge of the Headless Baseball Team) The World’s Series championship pole contains an element needed by aliens to maintain their warp drive, so they challenge the Champion New York Jets to a Worlds’ Series!  This tale was selected by Infantino himself as one of his favorite tales included in DC Special #1.
2.                  A chemist raises huge berry bushes; eating berries turn the chemist into the “Goliath of the Gridiron (#45)”.  But within a week, the same chemicals that caused the enormous growth killed the plants. Uh-oh.
3.                  (#46: Hot Shot Hoopsters) 14-year old college geniuses use science and mathematics to defeat AlvaniaUniversity’s basketball team.
4.                  (#46: Danger on the Martian Links) John Broome wrote an excellent tale of Wale Marner, the greatest golfer in the solar system of 2372, who wins the Mars Nine-Planet Tournament.  Oh and defeats an alien invasion along the way!
5.                   (#47: The Phantom Prize Fighter) A Faustian tale: Boxer allows an alien to take over his body in six months so the alien can survive earth’s radiation belt in exchange for being invulnerable in the ring for half a year.
6.                  (#47: Saga of the Secret Sportsmen) John Broome’s tale of a time when sports and athletes are outlawed! And on top of that – Uranus attacks (stop giggling)! Interestingly, people participate in sports through what we would now call virtual reality – one wears special glasses and you see and can participate in various sporting events.  John Broome was thirty years ahead of his time on this one!
7.                  (#48: The Man Who Drove Through Time) A man drives an 1896 automobile so fast he goes forward in time to 1964 and competes in the Indianapolis 500.
8.                  (#48: Duel of the Star Champions) An Altairan kidnaps the earth representative of the intergalactic Olympics and steals his “will to win”.
9.                   (#49: Warrior of the Weightless World) Zero-gee basketball players are sent to destroy the evil alien Creon rocket-repair depot.
10.              (#49: Gorilla Wonders of the Diamond) Genetically engineered baseball-playing gorillas beat the Yankees, the Reds, The White Sox and the Dodgers then try to conquer the world!  Note that the story only said they played Chicago – I presume it was the White Sox and not the Cubs, because the story stated the crowd was surprised that the gorillas won. J
            Gardner Fox and John Broome gave us tales that could have come straight out of “Astounding” or “Asimov”.  The stories were incredible for their day.  In the more cynical 21stcentury, the storylines sound quaint. But taken in light of their times the stories are wonderful pieces of science fiction for pre-teens and older!
            The art was by Carmine Infantino.  His artwork was even more stylized than Joe Kubert’s, and is definitely an acquired taste.  I was never a big fan of his artwork – though I grew to like his work on Marvel’s Star Wars – his term on Spiderwoman and his last years on the Flash were just plain bad.
            But he’s such a giant in the industry and his interviews are so darn interesting how could you not like him personally?  Well, I will say this – his work on “Strange Sports Stories” was the best thing he ever did!
            Instead of angular and stiff, his characters looked almost realistic.  Add in the scientific machinery at which he excels and you have a very stylized comic. 
            His most unique contribution to the series was the silhouetted text box next to the artwork.  Nearly every panel in each story had a text box next to it describing the action, (“Suddenly a Venusian walked onto the basketball court” along with a silhouette describing the action – such as a Venusian walking, a man lighting a pipe, a basketball or baseball thrown, etc.).  It added a unique dimension to the stories.  So much so that Infantino still talks about the series as being among his favorites.  Mine too.
            The letter columns praised the series’ originality and requested more.  Unfortunately, there would only be the five issues.  In the early 1970s, National brought back Strange Sports Stories as a horror book rather than in the science fiction genre.  Instead of alien invaders, clawed hands sprang from the thirteenth hole, that sort of thing.  It lasted a few issues, enough to qualify “Strange Sports Stories” as a B&B feature that graduated to its own magazine.  A later DC Special titled “Strange Sports Stories” had superheroes vs. super-villains in a baseball game.
            By the way, Infantino said in an interview with Alter Ego that he hated drawing science fiction.  This from the man who made Adam Strange the beloved stylistic feature it was; the man whose only later work of quality was Marvel’s Star Wars; the man who helped make “Strange Sports Stories” one of the most truly unique series in
Brave & Bold and in comics altogether!
            And remember: “Strange Sports Stories” got its own comic book, something the Viking Prince never did.  So this series ranks up there with the Justice League, Hawkman and the Teen Titans.
            Strange indeed.
Although Brave & Bold was advertised in other comic books it never hyped itself.  The Justice League audience could have been enticed to buy the next issue featuring Cave Carson if it was hyped enough at the end of the Amazo story in #30.  Instead it was announced the JLA would get their own magazine.  Whoopie!  I’ll save up for that instead of Brave & Bold!  There was no mention of the return of the Suicide Squad after the first run of Hawkman.  Why not? Couldn’t it only have helped sales?  The first issue of Suicide Squad’s second run (#37) blurbed that they were back “because you demanded it!”  We did?  When?  If we did where were the accolades in the letter columns?
            The last Strange Sports Stories ran in September 1963.  B&B had an eight-year run of unimaginable successes and disappointing failures.  But in those eight years the market had changed beyond even Gardner Fox’s vast imagination.  What do they do now?
Imagine reading the notes from the late-night brainstorming sessions:  Superheroes seem to be the big thing again.  Do we continue our “Showcase”-style or leave that to Showcase and try something different?  We can increase sales by showing superheroes and other popular National characters, but which ones?  Maybe we can split the magazine between two characters, like Hawkman and Adam Strange in Mystery on Space.  Or we can go back to three features; with superheroes instead of Vikings, gladiators and knights!  Maybe we can recreate the magic of the Justice League by bringing back the Justice Society or revamp a new Seven Soldiers of Victory!  Gosh, the Justice League has been so successful even Timely is back in the superhero game with their version: the Fantastic Four.  It has an up-dated Human Torch and they brought back Namor the Submariner!  Timely, Atlas or Marvel, whatever it’s called this week, hmmph!  Who would have thought?  Remember those great Human Torch-Submariner battles?  Two great heroes together in one giant story…
            Two great heroes in one …
            Two …
            That’s it!!!
Next: The Team-Up Years Part One: The World’s Greatest Super Heroes
 
Copyright (c) 2012 Michael G. Curry

The Brave & The Bold Index Part 6

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The Brave and The Bold Index Part 6
Showcase: Of Strange Suicide Squad Stories Inside Earth, Part 3

Continuing the index/history of the greatest comic magazine ever! 😉 

Showcase was too busy with other things, so Schwartz and Fox invaded B&B for three more issues to see if lightning would strike four times.  With Flash, Green Lantern and the JLA proved rousing successes, there really was only one Golden Age giant left.
            Hawkman made his Silver Age debut in Brave & Bold #34 on March 1961.  He also appeared in issues #35, #36, and later in #42, #43 and #44.  The original Hawkman appeared twenty-one years earlier in Flash Comics #1 (January 1940) and co-starred in the magazine with the original Flash for over 100 issues.  Hawkman never received his own magazine – although he did appear in every adventure of the Justice Society in All-Star Comics.  Still, it had been thirteen years since there had been a solo Hawkman tale.
The revised Hawkman kept his 1940s name of Carter Hall, but his real name was Katar Hol from the planet Thanagar of the star system Polaris.  He and his wife Shayera were police officers on Thanagar, and the hawk costume was their official uniform. 
Unlike Flash and Green Lantern, the new Hawkman’s costume changed little from the original.  Hawkgirl’s mask was redesigned.  The new mask must have worked; the Hawkgirl from Cartoon Network’s “Justice League” cartoons still wears that same style forty years later!
            Although Hawkgirl also starred in these features, it is still considered a solo Hawkman-centered series!
            Three of his (their?) six Brave & Bold try-out issues were “novel-length” and three issues contained two stories:
1)                  (#34: Creature of a Thousand Shapes) Tracking a dangerous Thanagarian criminal named Byth, who can assume the shape of any creature; Katar and Sheyera Hol come to Earth.  After capturing Byth, they decide to stay on Earth to study police methods.  His powers: flight, can talk with birds, can live in the vacuum of space for five minutes.
2)                  (#35: Menace of the Matter Master) The Matter Master debuts!  Hawkman develops super-smell and can dive and swim for a short time.
3)                  (#35: Valley of the Vanishing Men) Carter’s assistant Mavis disappears while tracking the Abominable Snowman.  The Hawks investigate to find the Yeti are really aliens marooned on earth for eons and devolved back into savages.  This story has the debut of the Absorbiscon – Hawkman’s shortcut in lieu of investigation.  He has all of earth’s knowledge, so he knows the Yeti’s teleportation weapons are invulnerable to wood.  This saves a few pages of him finding this out for himself.  New powers:  can speak all languages (even Yeti) and can communicate with all creatures, not just birds.
4)                  (#36: Strange Spell of the Sorcerer) The Hawks defeat an archeologist who steals Babylonian and other artifacts to evoke sorcerous powers.  Hawkgirl defeats a medusa by removing her compact from her belt and using the mirror against it.  If the series were more enlightened, they’d still be stone statues by now. A letter writer requests they change her name to Hawkwoman, but Julie says that name is too awkward – they do it anyway years later.
5)                  (#36: Shadow Thief of MidwayCity) The debut of the Shadow Thief, one of Hawkman’s most enduring foes.  Forty-one years later, the two still battled in Hawkman’s fourth series.  This was selected for an all-Kubert issue of DC Special as one of Kubert’s best–drawn stories.
6)                  (#42: Menace of the Dragonfly Raiders) Resuming his police duties on Thanagar, Hawkman wins his helmet wings (making his helmet look more in line with his golden age counter-part) by again defeating the shape-changing Byth.
7)                  (#43: Masked Marauders of Earth) The deadly Manhawks debut!  Their attacks on Thanagar led to the formation of the hawk-winged police corps; now the Manhawks are on earth stealing Terran rubies to perfect laser weaponry to get their revenge against Thanagar.
8)                  (#44: Earth’s Impossible Day) “Earth’s” July 4thcelebrations coincide with Thanagar’s “Impossible Day”.  So after the traditional Impossible Day picnic, the Hawks perform three impossible tasks:  Make it rain up, throw lightning to capture an escaping convict and dodge invisible bullets from an invisible gun.  New powers: supersonic speed (enough to create a water spout), wings that can flap at hundreds of miles per hour to create hurricane-force winds (it was explained that the American Peregrine Falcon can dive at 160 miles per hour).
9)                  (#44: The Men Who Moved the World) Once Earth was in the same solar rotation with Venus.  The city of Lansimar ruled the planet.  When Earth was pulled to its present orbit by a huge planet-sized asteroid, Lansimar froze under the Arctic.  Three revived Lansanarians try to pull Earth back to its original rotation.  New powers:  Can see in the dark.
The series is a pleasant mix of superhero plots in the early sixties – from scientific mumbo jumbo to magical mumbo jumbo.  And the art … the art…
Joe Kubert’s work on Viking Prince (last seen in #24, thirty-two months before) is the best art B&B has ever produced.  Until now.  Only Kubert could top himself.  Average people looked real; the villains looked real; Hawkman’s muscles looked as hard as steel; and Hawkgirl was beautiful.  Oh that hair …
            The Viking Prince is what Kubert’s Prince Valiant or Tarzan would have looked like.  Hawkman is what his Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon would have looked like – high flying science fiction.  Kubert was really at his prime here and in the next few years.  The Shadow Thief has a thin beard, the Matter Master had a beatnik’s chin stubble, the police commissioner had a thick droopy mustache; everyone looked different!  His detail to the individuality of even the secondary characters was phenomenal – how did he stay on a deadline?
            Hawkman had a letter column in his first issue, including reaction to the rumors of a Hawkman revival and an interview with Gardner Fox (who requested that Hawkman join the JLA – he would in November of 1964 – come to think of it; Gardner, you write the JLA, youmake him join! Like Julie Schwartz would tell you no!).  The letter column also had a letter by Roy Thomas, applauding Hawkman’s revival – but only if Joe Kubert draws him and Hawkman’s helmet is a specific design.  Because of his foresight, the Rascally One got his letter published.
            A letter from Roy also appears in B&B#35 again discussing the new Hawkman’s helmet.  Forty years later in his All-Star Comics Companion (2002) Roy spends a whole page discussing the evolution of Hawkman’s helmet.  And you think I’m obsessive!  There was also a letter from well-known professional fan Jerry Bails and an autobiography of Joe Kubert!
            After the first try-out Hawkman and Hawkgirl left Earth to return to Thanagar.  To National’s credit, a blurb at the bottom of the last page requested fans to send in their letters if they want to see more of the Winged Wonders.  Apparently it worked! 
            The lesson of hyping themselves must have stuck – with Hawkman’s second go-round B&B was littered with house ads.  Even in the Viking Prince days, Batman and Superman magazines were advertised, so were Mystery in Space, My Greatest Adventures and the Flash.  But now we see ads for the Atom, Metal Men, Aquaman, even Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis’ comics!
            Hawkman didn’t launch into a solo series of his own for some time after his two B&B try-outs.  He did share the bill with Adam Strange in Mystery in Space for a while, but he was eventually awarded his own comic for the first time ever and did join the JLA.  Another Julie Schwartz-Gardner Fox success!  Lightning struck for the fourth time.  <Wheet!>
            In between Hawkman’s two three-issue stints B&B dusted off more Suicide Squad and Cave Carson try-outs.  Perhaps the publishers thought the previous low sales of these characters must have been a fluke!  It wasn’t.
So now what?  After Hawkman left Julie Schwartz remained as editor and allowed Gardner Fox to try an experiment – and create one of the most unusual series the comic book medium has ever produced.
 
Copyright (c) 2012 Michael G. Curry

The Brave & The Bold Index Part 5

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The Brave and The Bold Index Part 5
Showcase: Of Strange Suicide Squad Stories Inside Earth, Part 2

Continuing the index/history of the greatest comic magazine ever! 😉 
 
            The Brave & The Bold would never match the success or sales of issues #28, 29 & 30, featuring the first three adventures of the Justice League of America.  Since the debut of their own comic in late 1960, there has never been a month without at least some kind of version of the JLA published by National or DC.
            Superman*, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman joined together to fight evil.  These issues were written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Mike Sekowsky.  The editorial reigns of B&B were taken away from Kanigher and given to Julie Schwartz.  This was Schwartz’s third try at reviving Golden Age characters – updating them for a modern audience.  The Flash and Green Lantern were rousing successes (GL was very shortly to get his own comic), so he tried again!  This time he brought back the old Justice Society of America: changed the name to something “more exciting” (someone once said a Society makes them sound like they got together to have tea) and updated the roster with the few heroes available at the time.  There was really no one else around: Adam Strange?  He’s good, but harder to work into a plot than Aquaman, so instead he was a frequent guest.  Roy Raymond TV Detective and Rex the Wonder Dog wouldn’t work, Challengers of the Unknown and the Blackhawks would make things too crowded.  Superboy would be impossible!  Batwoman? Robin?  Nah! Green Arrow?  Oops, forgot about him – he’d join in Justice League #4. Robotman? Oops, well, hey you’re getting Green Arrow soon enough!
            I hate to say bad things about the art by Mike Sekowsky. Fans and critics of his artwork argue to the present day! In my opinion, he drew excellent solo Green Lantern and Wonder Woman stories later on, but his artwork in the first year or so with the JLA was poor.  Figures were either stiff and awkward or rubbery (the cover of #29 has the Flash running in a squatting position).  The stories more than made up for it.
            The plots of these issues are now part of DC’s mythos:
1.                  (#28) “Starro the Conqueror” takes over the minds of the citizens of HappyHarbor, except for resident teenage oaf Snapper Carr.  Why?  Flash presumes it was because Snapper was covered in lime while working in his yard.  I always thought it was because Snapper had no mind to control.    Because of Snapper’s lack of hygiene, he is made an honorary member of the JLA.  The Holy Grail of Silver Age comics – the most sought-after and the most reprinted, second only to Showcase #4.  Only one problem sticks in my mind:  the mighty Justice League is sent out to fight a giant starfish?  Was the Suicide Squad too busy?
2.                  (#29) “Challenge of the Weapons Master”, who comes from 10,000 years in the future, uses his robot-armor to go back in time to battle the JLA!  This has one of my favorite lines from, of all people, Batman:  “Zotar may be one of the most powerful foes we’ve has ever fought!”  Well, that’s true, considering this was the second foe they ever fought!  The first was a starfish for goodness’ sake!
3.                  (#30) “The Case of the Stolen Super Powers”: The robot Amazo absorbs the power of the JLA to give him the power to attain the formula for immortality for his maker, Professor Ivo.
            As opposed to the previous three issues, here the stories (while still aimed primarily at children and pre-teens) were simple without being simplistic.  By this time Fox had been sprinkling scientific facts in stories for twenty years and he was good at it!  Rather than showing off (as was the impression with the Suicide Squad), we were given useful information that fit into the storyline.  It made more sense for Snapper Carr to have bags of lime lying around than for the Suicide Squad to be carrying enough sodium manganate to douse Godzilla!
            The Justice League run in Brave and Bold had many historic moments.  Batman made his B&B debut in #28.  He didn’t see much action though – as with Superman, Batman was kept behind the scenes to allow readers access to the other heroes.  It was often explained that Superman and Batman appear in so many other comics they do not need the exposure.  That logic escapes us nowadays – if a character is successful, he or she should be crammed into as many comics as possible.  Batman in the late 1980s, Lobo in the early 1990s and Green Arrow in 2001 and 2002 appeared in every comic DC published at the time!  And how many X-Men comics have there been?  That way the character will saturate the market, everyone will get sick and tired of seeing his or her mug, and sales will plummet … oh … well, maybe Schwartz was on to something there.
            Also, #30 featured the first letter column in Brave & Bold, as the JLA was so successful the magazine was inundated with mail.  The letter column included information on the Justice Society (“my brother told me about a super hero group from twenty years ago…”); a request for a Junior Justice League featuring Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy, Supergirl and “the Boy from Atlantis”; and (a staple in the JLA mailroom) membership requests:  Green Arrow, Supergirl, Robin and Adam Strange.
            To say the JLA was successful is an understatement.  After a four-month lag from B&B#30, the JLA got their own comic and never looked back.  With Brave & Bold #31, Schwartz gave the magazine’s editorial seat to Jack Schiff for hopefully another successful try-out.
***
            Or maybe not.  Robert Kanigher was successful with the Sea Devils in Showcase starring underwater adventurers, how about a series of adventurers under the earth itself?
            Cave Carson, Adventures Inside Earth was the next try-out series for issues #31 (September 1960) through #33 and again for two issues in #40 and 41.  Cave Carson and his assistants Bulldozer Smith, professional sandhog and (more eye-candy) Christie Madison as geologist and romantic interest.  Maybe Kanigher learned his lesson from Suicide Squad and kept the silliness to a minimum.  The storylines here were just as silly-sounding as with the Squad, but somehow it worked:
1.                  In their first adventure, Cave and friends are attacked by a magnetic monster, a subterranean sea lizard, a lava creature and killer weed! (Killer weed indeed!) (#31: The Secret Beneath the Earth)
2.                  Evil scientists from an underground city attempt to invade the surface world. (#32: The City 100 Miles Down)
            3.         Cave tracks extra-terrestrial museum thieves under the earth and on to                           their own dimension! (#33: Alien Robots from Inner Earth)
            4.         Cave tries to stop the evil sorcerer Zenod from retrieving three magical                          crystals buried in subterranean caves. (#40: 3 Caverns of Doom)
            5.         Aliens with killer robots use an underground base to invade earth.                                              (#41: Raiders from the Secret World)
            The art was very well done by mostly Bruno Premanini and Mort Meskin.  One would think being underground would make the art limited, but instead the scenery was beautiful – with vast caves, and exotic plant and animal life.  The issue drawn by Joe Kubert (#40) was very well done, but seemed like just another assignment – as lauded as Kubert’s art should be this was a fairly canny effort.  He could draw stories like this in his sleep. In this case, he probably did.
            Cave Carson was given a third try-out in Showcase, indicating National’s strong push for this feature.  But except for brief cameos (e.g., in an early 1990s issue of Time Master and later in JSA); Cave Carson, along with the Silent Knight and the Golden Gladiator, have faded into comics’ history.
            Whether Cave Carson and/or the Suicide Squad appeared in the DC mini-series Crisis on Infinite Earths I will leave to those with magnifying glasses and even more time on their hands than I have!
            Brave and Bold’s nine issues of “Showcase”-style try-outs was definitely a mixed bag.  Two strikeouts and one phenomenal success.  Will their next try-out be a dud or soar like an eagle … or a hawk?
Copyright (c) 2012 Michael G. Curry

* Superman fans were very excited that year:  Superman appeared in a “new” comic and Supergirl made her debut in “Action” as well!