Batman: The Brave and the Bold #9 – Tom King, Kyle Starks, Gabriel Hardman, Bruno Redondo, Artists; Mitch Gerads, Fernando Pasarin/Oclair Albert/Wade Von Grawbadger, Gabriel Hardman, Bruno Redondo, Artists; Matt Herms, Matt Hollingsworth, Colorists
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: It’s been a long road to get here, but while this issue only has one new story, it has one clear headliner—the conclusion of “The Winning Card” by Tom King and Mitch Gerads. The untold story of Batman and Joker’s first meeting, it’s been a brutal ride and it all ends here with the two combatants increasingly desperate and bleeding out. With a despairing Alfred on the other side of the comm, Batman pursues Joker into the woods for a brutal beat-down with moments that call back to some of their most famous—and infamous showdowns. This is far more psychologically intense than most Batman-Joker face-offs, because the stakes are lower. It’s just these two unstable men, with only each other to harm, and the beginning of a cycle that hasn’t ended yet. I’m usually not a fan of takes that portray Bruce as on the verge of insanity, but King’s take always rings true in a genuinely unsettling way.
The other full-length story is the third part of “Wild Dog: Here Comes Trouble,” which sees Starks and Pasarin pit the hockey-masked vigilante against… Gizmo, the pint-sized Teen Titans villain, who has taken advantage of a vacuum to become a crime kingpin. Wild Dog is on the verge of hanging it up when Gizmo escalates—taking the entire stadium hostage with explosives and demanding a hefty ransom. So Wild Dog unleashes the beast in a hilariously over-the-top action segment that brings this story to a satisfying, if slightly rushed wrap-up. Much like Starks’ Peacemaker, it’s the perfect mix of violent and hilarious.
The third chapter of Hardman’s “Aquaman: Communion” sees the king of Atlantis teaming up with Solovar of Gorilla City, now that Konar is in the hands of the Dominators. The combo of Aquaman, talking gorillas, and evil aliens is an odd one for a character who is usually based in the sea, but Hardman has done an effective job of creating a concept that could bring all these odd elements together. And the art, of course, is amazing—Hardman is always a great one-man show when he writes and draws.
Finally, Bruno Redondo does his second solo story with “Nor Is The Batman,” a black-and-white tale set early in Batman’s career. Narrated by Alfred and featuring Jim Gordon and Lucius Fox in supporting roles, it focuses on Batman at his least healthy and least prepared for his mission, and the key role these three older men played in keeping him alive and building him into the healthier crimefighter he is today. This might not feature Nightwing, but it definitely feels like it works in the world of Taylor and Redondo’s run.
Overall, this is one of the best issues of the series, especially due to the first and last stories.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
