Batman: The Brave and the Bold #2 – Tom King, Ed Brisson, Christopher Cantwell, Joelle Jones, Artists; Mitch Gerards, Jeff Spokes, Javier Rodriguez, Joelle Jones, Artists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: With three continuing stories this month and one new installment, the plots in this anthology are in full swing—starting with the second chapter of King and Gerads’ “The Winning Card.” This reinvention of Joker’s first attack on Gotham City is some of the most pitch-black material these two have ever worked with, casting Joker as a sadistic criminal genius who treats every massacre as the punchline to a joke. Batman leveraging his Bruce Wayne identity to lure Joker out is clever, but the Clown Prince seems to be able to get the drop on just about everyone here. The tension of the final chase segment is the perfect setup to what’s going to be a decades-long battle between these two.
The other full-length story, the second chapter of “Stormwatch: Down With the Kings” by Brisson and Stokes, jacks up the action as our crew of antiheroes and villains goes in search of a deadly virus. That takes them into uncharted waters—literally—as they battle a cult of undersea squid demons spreading a deadly plague. The action is a lot of fun, but the most interesting thing here is the behind-the-scenes skullduggery as Director Bones always seems to be ten steps ahead. It maybe has too many characters to really connect to anyone, but it works as a fun spin-off of Batman Incorporated.
Christopher Cantwell and Javier Rodriguez’s “Order of the Black Lamp” takes Superman into a mystery dating back decades, as he explores a retro-pulp mystery that seems to have ties to a decoder ring he had as a child. This issue, with Superman “on temporary assignment for the Daily Planet,” he traces the source of the signal to a mysterious mountain and infiltrates it—something he’s never been comfortable with—before revealing a surprising figure behind the mystery. This is pretty far from your average Superman story, but the deliberate pace and brilliant art work really well.
Finally, Joelle Jones’ “All Things Considered” is a mostly silent story that finds Bruce staggering back into the Batcave wounded and bleeding, talking himself into believing that it’s not that bad “all things considered” before flashing back to the causes of the many, many scars he’s received over the years. The art is brilliant, but the story really gets strong on the last page as there’s more dialogue between Bruce and Alfred. These final black-and-white stories are a great way to wrap up each issue.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
