Batman: The Brave and the Bold #18 – Christian Ward, Zipporah Smith, Jeremy Adams, Marguerite Sauvage, Brendan Hay, Writers; Patric Reynolds, Mike Norton, Laura Braga, Marguerite Sauvage, Marco Santucci, Artists; Luis NCT, John Kalisz, Arif Prianto, Luis Guerrero, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: This anthology always manages to surprise, and this issue has four new tales alongside with one very strange continuing one. So how do they all shake out?
Christian Ward is quickly rising as one of the best writers in the industry, in addition to being a top artist, and I think this might be his writing debut for DC aside from his Black Label mini. “Doubt” with Patric Reynolds is a great done-in-one tale that finds Batman in the thrall of a mysterious new villain named Doubt – who has low-level psychic powers that allow him to brainwash people. He’s been using it to scam banks and defraud people, but he has a secret weapon against Batman – a taped message designed to undermine all the years of work he’s spent building himself up as a hero. As Batman’s mind starts to slowly unravel, he falls back on a surprising source – Alfred, who gave him key advice at a vulnerable moment ages ago. It’s a powerful story that really cuts to the core of what makes Batman tick.
The second chapter of “Petsurrection” by Smith and Norton continues to be one of the funniest stories DC has done in some time – teaming John Constantine and Streaky the Super-Cat to take on an army of zombie pets. The culprit turns out to actually have a surprisingly emotional reason for wanting this, and there are some pretty dramatic moments, but the core of this is the hilariously caustic cat-mage team-up.
“Reflections” by Jeremy Adams and Laura Braga begins the process of setting up Adams’ upcoming Aquaman run, and it focuses on Miss Martian and Jackson Hyde as they team up for a rescue, only to be trapped in a whirlpool and sucked to Mars, where a mad Martian priest seeks to resurrect the planet through the sacrifice of Earth. It’s a really packed story with a lot of info in only a short term, but the two leads are very well-written and Adams seems to have a great handle for this corner of the DCU.
Marguerite Sauvage goes solo on “Swipe Left on Scans”, a four-page Harley story that finds the Clown Princess in the aftermath of another breakdown, only to be sucked into the world of social media. She discovers how shady it is, and promptly decides to take the fight back to the creepy social media executive behind it all. It’s funny, frantic action with some great one-liners and fantastic art.
The first chapter of “Robin Season” by Hay and Santucci finds Tim Drake and Damian Wayne investigating a mystery – kids showing up in Robin costumes and being set up for death by a mysterious villain. There’s a good case here, but the real fun comes from how Damian and Tim still can’t particularly stand each other. Their caustic dynamic dates back to Damian’s first appearance, but it’s evolved into a competitive streak that actually might bring out the best in them. Very intrigued by this ongoing mystery.
Overall, four strong new stories to add to this title’s roster.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
