Like the last issue of the Brave and the Bold I reviewed, this comic was written by J.Michael Straczynski and the art and cover was by Jesus Saiz.
Before I go on and talk about this book, am going to fill you in on the character Brother Power the Geek. From what I learned from Wikipedia, Brother Power the Geek is a character created in the 60’s. The character was inspired by Frankenstein. He was a dummy in a tailor shop owned by Hippies in the 60’s, who decide to dress up the dummy in their clothes. The dummy got hit by lighting and was given powers. The comic only lasted two issues.
So on to this issue. It starts with Bruce as a child watching TV with his parents. It talks about how his dad would let him stay up late every now and then to watch horror films despite his mother getting angry. His dad said it would prepare Bruce to face his fears when the time came. Bruce wouldn’t be scared and too used to a life of luxury. It then shows Thomas and Martha being killed. Bruce then explains why Frankenstein was his favorite movie and the movies now are different the classic one because they don’t know how to end monster movie. We then see Brother Power the Geek climbing out of the remains of a burnt down building. Batman sees Brother Power walking down a dark alleyway looking like he is lost. Batman recognizes him from one of his case files and goes down to talk to him. But Brother Power just keeps repeating a phrase from the 60’s, “Make love not war, flower power.” Then Brother Power asks Batman what year it is and Batman proceeds to tell him that it’s the year 2009. Brother Power seems to be confused. Batman feels sorry for him and lets him go. Batman tells him that he will check up on him in a couple of days to see how he is doing.
There is a flashback to the 60’s when Gotham was a bright place and people are having fun. Brother Power is shown with some friends talking about a riot that’s going to happen. It then flashes forward back to 2009. Brother Power is wondering what happened to all of the trees. We then see Batman fighting some thugs with guns. While he is taking them down, all he can think about is Brother Power and why he is in Gotham. The thought is bothering him, but he can’t figure why. It then makes him remember one night when he was watching Frankenstein. Young Bruce overhears his parents talking about their friends who are going through some problems. Thomas tells Martha the reason why they are having problems is because it is easier to get mad and blame someone else when you are the one who screwed up. Then we see a split screen of Frankenstein and Brother Power calling themselves monsters. Brother Power is patrolling the streets protecting innocent people like he use to do. Batman starts to think about the burnt down building that Brother Power was found crawling out of. Batman leaves a few cameras in part of the building. When Batman leaves, a man and a woman walk in to the building, who we find out are actually living there with their baby.
Then we see Brother Power searching through a charity clothes bin and picks himself up some new threads. He puts on some make-up to make himself look less like a zombie. He remembers that in the 60’s he would go to a free clinic and get his makeup done by a nurse called Cindy. I don’t know if she was in his comics or that she is even important. During this flashback he is in the clinic with his friends and they hear on TV that President Kennedy has been shot. So he and his friends decide that you have to fight fire with fire and start a riot in downtown Gotham. Brother Power and two of his friends manage to not get arrested. Brother Power is not happy about what happened and tells his friends that he wants no part of this violence. Then it flashes back to 2009 and Brother Power is looking out of a window seeming sad and lost. He then he sees a fire. An alarm goes off in the Batcave and Batman rushes to the Bat-Computer only to find out that the building burning is one that he placed the camera in. He sees a man pouring gasoline inside the building and sees the couple tied up. Batman jumps into the Batmobile and races to the scene. At the building, Brother Power climbs up the fire escape and jumps through a window to get in to the building. Batman speeds to the scene and runs into the building. He starts to search for the couple, only to find Brother Power talking to himself. He tells Batman that the world is a much different place from the one he left in the sixties. He tells Batman "This isn’t my time… Maybe it’ll never be my time.” Batman leaves him and finds the couple. The woman tells Batman that their baby is upstairs. Then Batman hears “But maybe it’s not over.” Then Brother Power comes out of the flames and hands their baby over saying “For some of us.” He tells Batman to “Have a nice day” and is engulfed by the flames. Batman grabs the entire family and grapple guns out of the building. Batman’s footage helped the police catch the man who burnt down the building. Later Batman went back to the burnt down building. He looks to see if he could find anything left of Brother Power and finds it strange that there is nothing. Batman knows he is still alive and he is out there somewhere waiting to be reborn. Batman finds this thought strangely comforting.
This issue is pretty cool. At first the cover of this issue kinda put me off, but the story itself is really good. You get a to know Brother Power and you start to feel sorry for him right from the start. This is one thing that Straczynski is really good at. The art work is different and takes to some getting used to, but overall it is good. One thing that I have noticed about Straczynski is that he likes end an issue with something emotional, like a character dying and the other character commenting on their life. I find that pretty cool and different. I would say pick it up because it’s a pretty good read.
The Brave and the Bold #29:
Reviewed by Johnny Impulse
November 2009-Batman and Dial H for Hero
Just in case you don’t know what Dial H for Hero is, he is kinda like the cartoon Ben 10. Instead of having a watch which turns the wearer into different aliens, the Hero Dial turns the wearer in to different heroes with different powers. So this issue is basically Ben 10 meets Batman.
This issue starts with the Hero Dial’s current owner, a teenage boy called Robby Reed, and his Grandfather checking in to a hotel in Gotham City for an Army reunion. While they are checking in, the desk clerk tells them to be careful while they are outside in Gotham since it is a dangerous place. The Grandpa replies to the clerk that it’s not his first time in Gotham. Meanwhile, Robby is looking out of the lobby’s window at a down and out man sitting on the steps of building across the street. We then learn that this man used to work at a local steel mill. He is upset because he got hurt and then was laid off. Then we see The Joker (looking kind different then I’m use to, but hey), talking to his henchmen and telling them that he finally wants to kill Batman and how he has an awesome plan to finally end the Bat.
A few hours later, Robby is watching the news with his Grandpa. He doesn’t understand how there is so much crime in Gotham City with Batman around, so his Grandpa tries to explain to Robby that Batman can’t be in four places at once, let alone two places. Soon afterward, Robby can’t sleep and decides to use his Hero Dial to help Batman. The dial turns him into a hero called Mental Man, who is meant to be “The Greatest Psychic who ever lived.” I think every time he transforms he gives a brief description of the hero’s powers. I could be making that all up or confusing it with Digimon. Well back to the story. Mental Man then use his powers to see into the future and gets scared at what he sees. He then turns back to Robby and goes to bed.
The next morning Robby and his Grandpa leave the hotel. But as soon as they leave, the guy that caught Robby’s eye the day before, breaks in to their hotel room and steals some of their things including the Hero Dial. After leaving the hotel room, he goes to an alley and takes a look at the stuff his stole. He starts to think if it was really worth it until a friend of his comes along and tells him that somebody is offering him and other lowlifes a $100 for tripping alarms to keep the police busy. This is where we learn that his name is Travers. So Travers tells his friend that he will think about it. While he is thinking he takes a look at the Hero Dial and makes a joke about how the analog dial is dead and wonders if the person who made the dial ever heard of digital. He then pushes one of the buttons which results in him turning in to a hero called The Star (who looks a lot like the Sentry from the Marvel comics) who is super-strong and can fly. Travers hears somebody crying for help and he saw a window cleaner falling, so he quickly flies up and save him before he falls to his death. After bringing the window cleaner to safety , Travers gets a hero's welcome from the public. While he is introducing himself, he see Batman watching from the corner of his eye and decides to go and talk to him. Well, The Star and Batman exchange words. Batman gives the usual speech, “This is my city. And if you mess up, I will hunt you down and beat you down.” So The Star tells Batman about the plan he heard about. Batman thanks him for the information and they shake hands. But while they shake hands, Batman somehow gets his fingerprints.
The Star goes back to the hotel room of Robby, while they are talking to the Police about what has been stolen. He flies away before he is seen. So now he is flying around saving people. Then the next couple of pages are pretty cool, with lots of cool fighting and action scenes. We later see Batman breaking into a warehouse with hostages tied up. Batman goes to save them, but before he can he hears The Joker and his plan to kill Batman. If Batman saves the hostages, he has a few seconds to untie them and leave the building before it blows up, which is impossible and if he walks away the building with still blow up. So either way Batman dies. So Batman leaps forth to save the hostages, but before he does the Star flies in and grabs the C-4. He flies through the window and then the C-4 blows up killing him.
The next morning, Robby is sitting outside of a building where his Grandpa's army reunion is being held. He is reading a newspaper article talking about the death of The Star. Batman appears out of nowhere and hands him back the Hero Dial. Robby then says that he doesn’t deserve the dial and tells Batman that he left the Hero Dial out to get stolen. When he was looking in to the future, he saw The Star die. He didn’t want to die and calls himself a coward. Batman gives him a pep talk and tells him about Travers. He says that Travers always wanted to do something with his life and by stealing the Hero Dial, he got his chance to die as a hero.
This issue was written by J. Michael Straczynski. This is the first comic I have ever come across written by him, but I have heard that he has written a lot of The Brave and the Bold. He is a pretty good writer, but am not too sure on how he writes Batman. The story felt rather short, but I guess that's how The Brave and the Bold comics work. The artist was Jesus Saiz, whose art is pretty good, but a lot of his male characters look girlie. But his take on Batman and The Joker is pretty cool, despite The Joker looking kind of girlie in some panels. But besides that its a pretty good comic.
The Brave and the Bold #27:
Reviewed by Johnny Impulse
Editor's Note: That's right. You did not read the title incorrect. We are going to start trying to review other books that we normally do not review on the comic cast. These books would fall into the catergory of books that are not main Batman titles, but feature Batman characters in them. If you are interested in helping review more DCU books that feature the Bat-family, email us at tbu@thebatmanuniverse.net. And now on with the review-Dustin
The Brave and the Bold is one of DC’s most underrated titles that are currently being published. J. Michael Straczynski’s run on the title has been some of the best superhero team-ups that you will ever read. JMS has truly perfected the one and done storytelling method. Issue number thirty-one is one of the most interesting stories that JMS has written thus far. In this issue, he brings together two unlikely characters, the Atom and the Joker.
If you haven’t been reading the Brave and the Bold, you should start. While the stories do not always involve Batman or Batman related characters, the title has been fun superhero comics at its finest. The basic premise is the Joker is dying from some sort of neurological problems. The doctors at Arkham Asylum come to the conclusion that only the Atom can save him by shrinking down and entering the Joker’s brain to disperse some sort of canister that contains chemicals that could save the Joker just as easily kill him. The Atom reluctantly agrees with hopes that the procedure will kill the Joker rather then save him. However, there’s a catch; the doctors explain that there is a chance that some of the Joker’s memories and behaviors could spill-over into the Atom’s own brain if he is hit by a bioelectrical surge that houses any memories, which would leave the Atom with these horrible memories. The Atom quickly makes his way to the Joker’s brain but is struck by one of the surges. During a memory we learn that the Joker has always felt like an outcast, ever since his early childhood. We also learn that he would often act out through violence which would make life for his parents extremely stressful. We also see during a memory that as a teenager, he barricades the doors of his parent’s home and lights the house on fire while they are in it. After the Atom regains his himself, he is yet again struck by another surge. During these memories, we see the beginning of the Joker’s career and some of his most sinister crimes and murders. We also learn that the Joker feels he is a victim of society and he will not stop until everyone is a killer just like him. After the Atom awakes from these memories he decides to save the Joker. He believes that the Joker is better off being a prisoner of his own mind rather than being dead. The procedure is a success and the Atom questions the doctors; he asks if the memories could be long-term. The doctors do not believe so but are not one-hundred percent sure. The Joker awakes and finds it amusing that the Atom saved his life rather then letting him die. The Atom explains that the Joker is a prisoner of his own mind. The Joker calls the Atom, “Weird”, which leads to the Atom remembering something the Joker, said as a child. This sends the Joker into a livid laughter in which he replies, “Happy Dreams”.
After reading the issue summary, you probably are thinking, “What a ridiculous concept” and, “How many times have they told this kind of story”, and you are exactly right. However, JMS keeps you excited and this issue is just good comic book fun. JMS is one of my favorite writers and I thought he did an excellent job in bringing these two characters together. While we may find this to be an illogical concept, this should not shy you away from picking up this book.
Issue number thirty-one also marks the first issue of JMS’ run that the artist, Jesus Saiz did not do the penciling for. If you are familiar with Saiz’s work, than you are aware of how polished and well-rounded he is. Chad Hardin and Justiniano are solid artists in their own respects, but are not the caliber of Saiz. There are slight inconsistencies throughout the issues that I think these two will work out as they continue to do more work in comics. The artwork isn’t fantastic, but is respectable and doesn’t take anything away from the story.
I have always enjoyed superhero team-up books, but I have felt that this method of storytelling has declined in recent years. JMS has reinvigorated this concept and continues to provide us with good fun. I strongly suggest going and checking out issue number thirty one and check out some of JMS’ previous issues. You will not be disappointed.
The Brave and the Bold #31:
Reviewed by Zfactor