In this review of Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12, the anthology series continues its stories spearheaded by Batman’s adventures with Maps at Gotham Academy.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold main cover by Simone Di Meo (Credit: DC Comics)
Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12
Writer: Karl Kerschl, Rob Levin, Delilah S. Dawson, Zipporah Smith, Herik Hanna
Artists: Karl Kerschl, Mike Norton, Serg Acuña, Karl Mostert, Charlie Adlard
Colors: Msassyk, John Kalisz, Matt Herms, Mike Spicer
Letters: Steve Wands, Troy Peteri, Dave Sharpe, Tom Napolitano
Cover Artist: Simone Di Meo
Variant Cover Artists: Charlie Adlard, Francesco Mattina
Release Date: April 23, 2024
This comic book review contains spoilers
“Batman: Mother’s Day Part 3”
Writer and Artist: Karl Kerschl
Colors: Msassyk
Letters: Steve Wands
Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12 begins as Karl Kerschl’s Gotham Academy throwback comes to a close this week in its third and final installment. A Man-Bat infected Bruce Wayne returns to Isla MacPerson’s house to spread the infection but Maps Mizoguchi arrives just in time to administer an antiserum. Back at the cave, Bruce and Maps determine that “Mother,” the latin speaking serpentine woman that Bruce encountered at the Mackenzie club is behind everything. Maps believes this is a “varcolac” who are undead creatures from Slavic countries with a taste for human livers. The duo tracks the creature down at its club hideout and after a brief fight, Batman hooks it to the Batplane and flings it into the Harbor. The story ends with Bruce taking a Yacht cruise with a famous actress, hoping that Isla MacPerson will see it on the news and get the message that their relationship is over. So at their last meeting he drop-kicked her dog and tried to kill her, and then instead of apologizing he goes on a Yacht trip with another woman as a means of dumping her. Classy, Bruce.
This arc was fun enough, especially if you’re a fan of Gotham Academy. Kerschl’s artistic style doesn’t miss a beat perfectly capturing the light natured feel of that original run. Msassyk’s smart use of color gives an added dynamism specifically in the final battle when bursts of fire cast characters in stark lighting against the chaotic backdrop.
The story remains consistently inconsistent. The character of “Mother” is perfectly indicative of a villain created by a comic book artist. It’s the definition of style without substance. It’s like she was ripped out of the pages of City of Madness, but with less rationale. (It’s just a cool design) Personally, I would’ve preferred it if the kids had just been independently experimenting with Mat-Bat serum ala that old “Splicers” episode of Batman Beyond. Maps is a fun character though. She’s got some Carrie Karrie energy, especially when she’s caring for an injured Bruce.
Bruce stalks a victim in Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12…
“Left Unsaid”
Writer: Rob Levin
Artist: Mike Norton
Colors: John Kalisz
Letters: Troy Peteri
One of the best aspects of The Brave and the Bold’s anthology conceit is that it gives DC the opportunity to highlight underutilized characters like False Face and Gentlemen Ghost. These characters are seldom used in other comics, let alone given titles of their own, so it’s great to see them here especially when the stories are as strong as this one.
A remorseful and grief-stricken old woman hires False Face to impersonate her deceased son and apologize to the daughter he had abused and then abandoned. He accepts and apologizes to the daughter (Margot Kirk) under these false pretenses. They tearfully embrace and all is forgiven. Or is it? That night, False Face is attacked in his own bed by Gentleman Ghost! Ghost reveals that he was once loosely related to the Kirks and insists that the man Face impersonated showed no remorse for his actions before he was killed by Ghost himself.
In order to set the record straight, Ghost hires False Face to impersonate the woman who originally hired him and tell Margot that the original apology was a phony. Finally, False Face confronts the old woman still in costume so that she appears to come face to face with herself. He tells the woman that her son never asked for clemency nor did he deserve it, before walking off stoically into the night.
This is just a great story with a very interesting central idea. While Kirk’s mother and False Face initially seek healing through dishonesty, Ghost insists that the truth is more important, and that even a painful truth is preferable to a pleasant lie. It’s an interesting conflict that exists in life, whether to alter or withhold information to shield someone from pain. False Face and Gentleman Ghost explore this moral quandary through dialogue when Face states “when I apologized to her, she seemed happy. You think maybe it’s better this way, that she thinks he’s not all bad?” Ghost concludes: “Not if it’s a lie!”
The story looks great with Mike Norton and John Kalisz providing the art and colors respectively. I liked seeing the old school False Face look although at a glance he looks like the modern Black Mask without the teeth in some panels.
“Artemis: The Poison Within Part 3”
Writer: Delilah S. Dawson
Artist: Serg Acuña
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Dave Sharpe
We get the third part of what is going to be at least a tetralogy for Artemis, and things are finally starting to get rolling. A faction of powerdrunk American soldiers capture Artemis in the desert and use the Amazon Extradition Entity (A.X.E. recently introduced in Wonder Woman #1) as a pretext to demand information about Wonder Woman’s whereabouts. When Artemis insists that she’s not on American soil and therefore not subject to the Entity, a xenophobic general throws dirt into her face stating it’s from a land where certain decisions have been made about “[her] kind.”
This ongoing Artemis narrative has been my least favorite story three months running now, but to this issues’ credit, while the last two were about Artemis’ experiencing a kind of embryonic internal reflection, this one at least gives us some action. I like the final confrontation between Artemis and the presumed general. And while I am not fully caught up with Wonder Woman, the weaponization of A.X.E. as xenophobic vindication is both smart and very topical. Serg Acuña and Matt Herms continue their great work with the identic A.X.E. military looming like black stormtroopers. I’m now curious to see where this goes.
“A Parting Gift”
Writer: Zipporah Smith
Artist: Karl Mostert
Colors: Mike Spicer
Letters: Dave Sharpe
As if this wasn’t a great issue already, we get a surprise Swamp Thing story with: “A Parting Gift.” This is such a simple tale that it’s more like a fable. After Freddie, a low level employee at an energy company discovers that the local swamp is being used as a chemical disposal, he is killed and his body is deposited in that very same swamp. He is discovered by Swamp Thing who uses the Green to help him briefly regain consciousness, re-experience his memories of life, and teach him to view death as a mere transformation rather than an ending.
This is just great. The story is poetic if a bit slight, but the art is remarkable. From the opening page where Karl Mostert uses a POV perspective as Freddie sinks, to the use of negative space to build tension before his body is retrieved by the vines, it’s expert stuff. Add to that the faded beauty Mike Spicer contributes to each page with his wonderful color choice and you’ve just got a great story elevated momentously by its art.
“Henchman”
Writer: Herik Hanna
Artist: Charlie Adlard
Letters: Tom Napolitano
Last but not least, we get one of the better black & white Batman tales that have come out of this series with beautiful rain splattered art from Charlie Adlard.
On a rainy night, Batman reminisces with a former criminal. It’s revealed that this criminal had assisted Batman with taking down Two-Face in the past as an inside agent. Batman provides him with the opportunity to do it again during The Penguin’s planned dock heist tomorrow night. The final panel shows the ex-con donning the Penguin henchman regalia, leaving the ending ambiguous if he’s going to help Batman or relapse into a life of crime.
There’s a thematic throughline of regret and redemption running through these stories. “Left Unsaid,” “A Parting Gift,” and “Henchman,” all deal with it to varying degrees with this last story providing the most hopeful thesis that perhaps people can change at their core. Sometimes we don’t even need a headless ghost or a green vine-covered swamp monster to help us do it.
Final Thoughts
Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12 is one of the strongest collections of stories yet. This issue shows exactly what the series can do at its best: provide a core thematic framework (such as dealing with regret and redemption) using a variety of eclectic DC comics characters. Or to put it another way: all killer, no filler.
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.
