Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Vol. 2: The Fearsome Fangs Strikes Again!

Collecting issues 7-12 of the DC Comics series based on the Cartoon Network animated series of the same name. The very same team-up series I wished never ended. It did take me a couple of episodes to really appreciate the show. I was hesitant to accept the comical Diedrich Bader to do justice as the voice of Batman. But as I came to realize that the writers, artists and actors involved in Batman: The Brave and the Bold were fans of classic DC and really wanted to do a series that paid tribute to all eras of DC Comics, I was hooked!

In the 6 issues reprinted here, we get several guest stars that had at one point or another appeared on the cartoon. The original line-up of the Doom Partol, along with Beast Boy, Garfield Logan, a clean shaven Green Arrow, Black Canary, The Atom (though not sure if it's Ray Palmer or Ryan Choi version), and Adam Strange return for a lot of fun. The character of Catman makes his first appearance in this series. Although, I think Catman does pop up a couple of times on the show. And the there's the team that really has got me scratching my head...

3 of the members of the Great Ten, a Chinese superhero team that first appeared in the pages of Grant Morrison's 52 appear in issue #8. The August General in Armor (name really says it all), the highly accurate Celestial Archer, and the musically inclined Accomplished Perfect Physician meet up with Batman who is in Tibet investigating the sighting of a Yeti. The Asian heroes claim that the Yeti is really a Great Ten reservist who allowed his beastly side to accidentally overtake his civilized side during one of his heroic transformations. 

Most of you are going, 'why is all that a head scratcher?' Well, the choice of the Great Ten is an odd one. They're not really characters that kids would know. To be honest, they're not really characters a ton of adult readers of DC Comics would know. After a brief appearance in 2019's Doomsday Clock, the Great Ten have been pretty much MIA from the DCU. And then there's where this story takes place.

Batman meets up with the heroes from the Great Ten in Tibet. Now Tibet is known for being the home of the fabled Abominable Snowman, AKA the Yeti. But in the story, the Chinese heroes call Tibet, well, uh, they call it Tibet. But these heroes are also government employees. Shouldn't they be referring to Tibet as China as that nation lays claim to Tibet as a part of their territory? Or at least call it the Autonomous Zone or Region? 

That story was printed in 2009. I'm surprised that DC was willing to publish an issue with subject matter that controversial. In the past decade, movie studios have gotten in trouble with China and other countries for not calling certain regions or territories by the proper internationally recognized titles. Heck, just this year, Vietnam refused to show the mega-hit Barbie movie in their theaters because of a single scene that uses an outdated map for a sight gag. Maybe we just weren't so sensitive in 2009 as we are today. If that's the case, man do I miss those days...

A great read. There's over a dozen issues out there for me to get my hands on. So The Brave and the Bold fun doesn't have to end yet. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.