Batman: The Brave and the Bold #13 – Tim Seeley, Mark Russell, Delilah S. Dawson, Joshua Hale Fialkov, Jason Shawn Alexander/Rodney Barnes, Writers; Kelley Jones, Jon Mikel, Serg Acuna, Lisandro Estherren, Jason Shawn Alexander, Artists; Michelle Madsen, Mike Spicer, Matt Herms, Patricio Delpeche, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: After the conclusion of last issue’s Gotham Academy story, it’s time for four new stories to debut along with one continuing one.
First up is “Down the Road,” a Nightwing and Deadman story by iconic creative team Tim Seeley and Kelley Jones, both of whom have extensive Bat-history. This story finds Nightwing haunted by a vision of a young woman who seems to commit suicide by jumping off the Gotham Bridge—only to disappear when he grabs her, vanishing without a trace. After nearly dying in the daring “rescue,” Dick seeks out supernatural help, striking out with his first few attempts only to have Deadman find him (in an unexpected body). The two embark on a mission across the rails, tracing the paths of travelers like Nightwing. I like that this story digs into a lot of things, including Dick’s Romani heritage and the shared circus link these two have. But the real star here is Kelly Jones’ eerie, haunting art—as great as it was thirty years ago.
“Time Jerks” by Mark Russell and Jon Mikel takes Booster Gold and his ship back in time—about 65 million years back. That’s right, it’s time for the return of the Jurassic League, the most bizarre team in the multiverse. Booster crash-lands on their world, meets these heroic dinosaurs, gets their help to escape—and accidentally causes a butterfly effect that rewrites his own world’s future. If this first issue is any indication, I’m thinking that this story will be a hilarious pastiche of one of the best Simpsons stories of all time.
The fourth part of “Artemis: The Poison Within” by Dawson and Acuna has Artemis recovered from the poison, but now facing down a military platoon of vicious soldiers looking to enforce the U.S.’s anti-Amazon decrees. This issue is fast-paced, with Artemis dismantling an entire military force with just her sword—but that’s really all there is. It’s a quick, satisfying story of some jackasses having their heads handed to them, followed by Artemis reuniting with the Amazon to take the fight back to the main title.
“The Invader” by Fialkov and Estherren continues the writer’s resurgence at DC, with this story kicking off a new sci-fi tale that sees an alien ship crash into Gotham—but not any alien ship. It’s a retro sci-fi ship straight out of Roswell, and Batman’s investigations reveal that the alien has already escaped, but is likely wounded. Guy Gardner is deputized to help investigate, and the two get along about as well as you’d expect. But it’s not long before more bizarre phenomena hint at the true nature of this mysterious creature.
Finally, “Killadelphia” creators Rodney Barnes and Jason Shawn Alexander bring it home with “Perp Walk,” a black-and-white tale that sees the death of the Joker—at the hands of a random man who sees himself as a fan of Batman, and believes the Joker was holding him back. This… really didn’t work for me. It delves into the idea that Batman and Joker are codependent, and has a really weird take on how Batman would deal with this. When it began, I thought it might be a victim of Joker taking his revenge for his family.
That last odd story aside, this was another fantastic issue with every new multi-part story being fantastic.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
