Batman: The Brave and the Bold #9 is a book of endings including the fourth and final chapter of the Tom King Joker story that opened the series. Are they able to stick all of the landings?
Title: Batman: The Brave and the Bold #9
Writer: Tom King, Kyle Starks, Gabriel Hardman, Bruno Redondo
Artists: Mitch Gerads, Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Wade Von Grawbadger, Gabriel Hardman, Bruno Redondo
Color Artists: Mitch Gerads, Matt Herms, Matt Hollingsworth
Letters: Clayton Cowles, Rob Leigh, Simon Bowland, Wes Abbott
Cover Artist: Simone Di Meo
Variant Cover Artists: Bruno Redondo, Francesco Mattina, Taurin Clarke
Release Date: January 23, 2024
This comic book review contains spoilers
“Batman: The Winning Card Part 4”
Writer: Tom King
Art and Colors: Mitch Gerads
Letters: Clayton Cowles
After several off-months, Tom King finally closes out his dramatic re-telling of Batman and the Joker’s first confrontation in “The Winning Card Part 4.” Last issue ended with a near-mortally injured Bruce pursuing the Joker in a stolen cop car. He has just committed a string of ten murders, and Batman, acting purely on rage, ignores Alfred’s pleas to return home. Batman’s ready to die as long as he can make sure Joker never hurts anyone ever again. However, unbeknownst to him, that’s not how this story goes. And the Joker has little interest in seeing Batman dead.
The Batmobile shoots out a spike strip causing Joker to hit a tree, but his car is empty when Batman checks. The Joker gets the jump on him and stabs him in the abdomen. Batman passes out. Once we fade back in, Joker has dragged Batman deeper into the woods. There’s a golden glow to this scene, reminiscent of the infamous Joker post-credits scene from Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Batman stands, barely conscious from the injuries, and chokes out a classic Tom King parable about his father baiting his own fishing line. Then The Killing Joke influence becomes undeniable as Batman tells a corny joke, starts laughing maniacally, and may or may not stab the Joker to death. The tables are fully turned with the Joker’s final line to Bats: “you’re insane.”
The story ends with Bruce recounting the incident to Alfred while they fish on a golden lake. The colors from the previous scene seem to bleed in here. At Wayne Manor, Brute Nelson (only suffering a knife to the hand rather than a bullet like his Golden Age counterpart) encourages Bruce to stay away from the Joker. Finally, Batman visits Joker in Arkham Asylum where they speak through fogged glass. Joker critiques Batman’s comedic material from before and fantasizes about all the “fun” they’ll have together.
Now that the story is complete, we can get a full sense of what Tom King was going for. I think this can most succinctly be described as a revamp of the original Joker appearance from Batman #1 (1940), infused with the modern characterization and thematic elements from The Killing Joke. King doesn’t seem to have anything new to say about the Batman/Joker relationship, so he recycles the best elements to give the elevated aura that the first meeting between the two really needs.
The worm-on-the-hook motif that returns this issue, and it’s just sort of inane Tom King spiel, in my opinion. It is like he wanted some deep, metaphorical parable and just worked backwards to create one. There’s nothing inherently interesting about Thomas Wayne wanting to bait his own hook, and King is trying to wring way too much from it. It’s an eye roller. But it’s King’s characterizations that really irk me.
Like many modern Joker writers, King relies heavily on The Killing Joke, particularly its provocative ending where Batman and the Joker share a laugh, as well as the bizarre fan theory popularized by Grant Morrison that Batman actually kills the Joker. It works in that story because the Joker and Batman have a long history together, so they’re almost like old friends in a twisted sort of way. Batman cracking up and telling horrible bat-jokes while pretending to stab the Joker requires far too much of a suspension of disbelief for an early day’s story. This is supposed to take place directly after Frank Miller’s Batman: Year One, but Batman is acting like he just walked out of Chip Zdarsky’s current ‘psychological torment’ run on Batman. Meeting Joker for the first time should definitely change him, but he shouldn’t completely snap. We’ve got the next thirty years of comics history for that.
On a related note, why is Alfred pushing the idea that Batman and the Joker are similar so hard? Alfred has never met the Joker by this point; all he knows about him is that he is a serial killer dressed like a clown. This happens twice, but in their final conversation, Alfred again goads Bruce to admit that he sees something familiar in the Joker’s eyes. Not only is this a cliche, but it doesn’t even make sense! Plus, it makes Alfred seem psychotic. That said, not even Jim Gordon is safe from King’s characterization. He comes across like a bitter jerk, which is a huge bummer following his redemptive arc in Year One. At least there’s not too much of him.
By this part, King has almost entirely diverted from the original comic he’s pulling from (save the short Brute appearance), so the fun of seeing familiar moments re-interpreted is gone, and it’s a mostly dower affair. Even the silent movie title cards almost seem like an after-thought, consisting exclusively of “HAHAHA”s.
Pretty much everything I like about this story is thanks to Mitch Gerads. His panels are stark and full of implied movement, giving the whole thing a cinematic gravity. Joker looks as threatening as ever with his glowing White Walker-eyes, and Bruce bears a striking resemblance to popular fan-cast: Jon Hamm. The final Batman-Joker conversation at Arkham visually recalls Silence of the Lambs, and more directly that deleted Joker scene from The Batman. The smiley on chilled glass is such a striking image that one wishes they had gone with something similar in that version.
And for a laugh, anyone unfamiliar with the original blink-and-you-miss-it appearance of Brute Nelson from Batman #1 should compare his depiction with Gerads’ here. It’s a great example of taking his odd features (intentional or not) and really running with them. King should get some credit for fleshing out his character in an entertaining way as well. There, I said something nice.
Batman: the Brave and the Bold #9 variant cover by Bruno Redondo
“Wild Dog: Here Comes Trouble! Part 3”
Writer: Kyle Starks
Pencils: Fernando Pasarin
Inks: Oclair Albert and Wade Von Grawbadger
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Rob Leigh
Wild Dog’s story also comes to a close with a strong outro from writer Kyle Starks and artist Fernando Pasarin, who have saved the best for last. Jack Wheeler, plagued by self-doubt after his failed confrontation with Gizmo, decides to retire the Wild Dog persona. While informing his friend Andy at Quad City stadium before a game, Gizmo flies in to hold the crowd (along with two university presidents and a mayor) for ransom. After a healthy amount of inner torment, Wild Dog decides he is a worthy superhero and vanquishes Gizmo in a cloud of smoke. The story ends with a mirrored scene from the last two parts: Wild Dog chatting with Max, the recovering food truck owner. He brags about intimidating one of the university presidents into letting him wear the Red Dogs logo on his superhero costume as everything comes full circle.
I wasn’t a big fan of last month’s Wild Dog entry in Batman: The Brave and the Bold #8, largely due to a cheap villain appearance. Luckily, that issue is quelled this time with a larger focus on the series’ titular character and his identity struggle. The art balances observational mundanity alongside larger action beats, with ease. Pasarin seems fully comfortable in both arenas. This is aided by the splashy primary colors from Matt Herms and the deep inks from Oclair Albert and Wade Von Grawbadger, which work to give the visuals a Warholian pop-art energy. All in all, it’s a very solid ending for this story.
“Aquaman: Communion Part 3”
Writer & Artist: Gabriel Hardman
Colors: Matt Hollingsworth
Letters: Simon Bowland
Aquaman has been transported to Gorilla City and must convince King Solovar to help him defeat the Dominators before they can enslave the entire race. Initially unconvinced, Solovar does a Vulcan-gorilla mindmeld and sees that Aquaman is telling the truth. Together, they are able to destroy the Dominators’ underwater vessel and free the kidnapped apes.
Much like its preceding two-parts, this is an absolute blast if you love aliens, talking apes, and evil secret underwater bases as much as I do. This round is especially heavy on action and light on story to the point that the overall narrative feels stretched a little thin over the three parts. Maybe it would’ve worked better as a two-parter? But even so, it’s so much fun I hate complaining.
Gabriel Hardman handles the action scenes effortlessly. Even with so much going on, the pages never seem too busy and there are plenty of fun moments like Aquaman socking a Dominator in the face or the base explosion. Matt Hollingsworth utilizes a muted color palette to great effect, which helps to contrast the glowing ape vessels with the darkness of the ocean floor.
It’s wacky Silver Age sci-fi fluff. No more, no less.
Batman: the Brave and the Bold #9 variant cover by Francesco Mattina
“Nor is The Batman”
Story & Art: Bruno Redondo
Letters: Wes Abbott
The issue closes with a very creative black-and-white short story from DC artist Bruno Redondo. This is another early days tale, narrated by Alfred. Batman meets up with Commissioner Gordon, who discusses the rising crime rate, including a passing reference to the Condiment King (who gained some recent attention during Rob Pattinson’s media circuit). We are shown how Batman sneaks up on Gordon and how he disappears with sort-of instructional panels, showing Gordon’s eyeline and Batman’s relation to it. It reminds me of those DK Eyewitness books for kids that show the mechanics of how things work. Batman uses the architecture of the GCPD building to his advantage. Then, after Batman experiences a life-threatening fall while fighting the Joker, Lucious Fox presents him with a new cutting-edge Waynetech invention: the grappling gun.
Here’s another fun story with a visual sensibility that is completely different from what we normally get in a Batman comic. With all the clever instructional elements, such as the aforementioned GCPD scene and step-by-step panels of Alfred making tea, I could see a toned down version of this story working great in a younger-skewing Batman collection. Redondo’s Alfred is a breath of fresh air compared to King’s characterization: “I see a child. My child. I wish he could find a better way to deal with his pain. But I accept that the monster is actually part of him.”
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advanced copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by purchasing this issue digitally on Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
