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.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #12 (A Madman Re-Read?)

I know. I've already read a Batman book for Christmas this year. Well, I did it again. It's true; I've got a bunch of holiday themed Batman stories. But I don't have enough to read for an entire holiday season. Maybe 8 nights of Hanukkah. But definitely not enough for Christmas.

I also know in my heart that I've read this issue before. Yet I cannot find evidence of that in either this archive nor in my collection database. And a quick perusal through this book didn't really trigger any memories. Being such a fan of this great series (both as a cartoon and comic), I heartily gave this issue a possible re-read.

It's Christmas Eve and Batman is on the trail of the C-list villain known as Calendar Man. Just as the Dark Knight is about to apprehend his foe, a Zeta Beam whisks the hero to the distant world of Rann. Only this isn't the Rann that Batman is used to. Instead of a near tropical paradise, Rann has been transformed into a frigid wasteland!

Meeting up with Rann's greatest defender, the human Adam Strange, Batman learns that a rogue scientist from Qward has unleashed an anti-matter weapon that has destroyed neighboring planets like Thanagar and yes, even planet Earth! With one chance to stop the Qwardian fiend and reverse the damage, Batman and Strange team up or else this will be the last Christmas for everyone!

This was a very good issue. It almost followed the formula of the TV series. Only real difference is that nobody is around to help Batman during the opening caper against Calendar Man. Typically, this version of Brave and the Bold would have Batman doing a small opening team-up with someone and then a main story collaboration with a different hero. Writer Landry Q. Walker (Star Wars Adventures) doesn't stick to that blueprint and as a result it led to a very telegraphed ending. But it's the penultimate ending that I had trouble with. 

This issue was originally published in 2009. That was 13 years ago and hopefully enough time has passed to keep what I am about to gripe about from being a spoiler. As Adam Strange and Batman are saving the universe from the evil scientist, the pair go through some changes. Batman devolves into this craggy looking elf thing while Adam gets old and grows a white beard. Unwilling to let this stop them, the heroes reboot the universe, in turn creating the legend of Santa Claus and his Elves into the very fabric of all creation. 

Once the day is saved, Batman states that he can't believe that he created Christmas. Uh, no. Sorry, Detective. Your name isn't Jesus Christ. Remember him? He put the word 'Christ' in Christmas... Through their actions, Batman and Adam Strange might have created the legend of Santa. I'll even grant them as the originators of Saturnalia. But neither one of them created Christmas. 

Like I said, this was a good issue. It was festive. But it was not an accurate representation of what Christmas is all about. It appears Batman needs a team-up with Linus and Charlie Brown to unravel that mystery.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Vol.1

This is another book that I could have finished a month or two ago. But it had a holiday issue inside and I just couldn't pass up the chance to feel the intended yule tide feelings inside. 

The Christmas themed story has Billy Batson taking a shopping trip to Gotham City. Billy is expecting something out of the ordinary since Gotham is the playground of Batman's rogues gallery. But when Billy and Tawky Tawny step off their bus they are faced with the citizens of Gotham trying to kill each other! It's all due to the Psycho Pirate! Turning into SHAZAM!- The REAL Captain Marvel, it's up to the visiting superhero to find Batman and bring back that holiday spirit!

Along with the SHAZAM story, there's several more very fun team-ups. First, Batman heads to the bottle city of Kandor with Superman to solve the motive behind a break-in in a society that hasn't faced crime in centuries. Then Batman and the Flash are sent through the looking glass by the combined efforts of The Mirror Master and The Mad Hatter. J'onn J'onzz, The Martian Manhunter challenges Batman into helping the extra-terrestrial become a better detective. Plus Batman joins forces with Guy Gardner to help a troubled alien on the lamb from those dreaded Manhunters!

Those were all great stories. But besides the holiday story, the best adventure was an epic crossover that puts Wonder Woman in the arms of the Caped Crusader. The gods have paired the two unlikely lovers together on a sort of bet. In what becomes the wedding of the century, countless heroes arrive to witness the nuptials. But then a near unlimited line-up of villains crash the blessed event! If you thought Fantastic Four Annual #3 was the ultimate wedding day battle royale- think again! They've got nothing on the exploits of the Brave and the Bold.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold was a feel good TV series. Though it may be long cancelled, I get to relive that magic in the pages of this amazing volume comics based on the Cartoon Network hit. 

Total fun for the whole family. Full of a nostalgic cast of characters, this book didn't feel old at all. Sholly Fisch (Scooby-Doo Team-Up) has that magic touch in his writings drawing upon the stories I grew up reading as a kid but adding original twists and turns that keep the book from ever feeling stale.

The only thing I hated about this book is that it ended!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Volume 2: Help Wanted

I don't seem to have good luck with team-up titles. I find one I like and then BAM! Cancelled!

It happened with Scooby-Doo Team-Up and it happened with this amazing series based on the Cartoon Network series of the same name. The Caped Crusader joins forces with well established characters such as Superman as well as more obscure heroes such as the Alan Scott Green Lantern from the JSA. 

This book was my official entry into my 2020 Halloween comics readings due to the final story of this volume. It stars magician Zatanna joining with Batman on Halloween in order to solve the puzzle behind just who broke into the House of Mystery. It's a delightful romp that features some of the most evil as well as mischievous characters to occupy the DC Universe.

Scooby-Doo Team-Up's Sholly Fisch is the scribe behind these gems. He's a proven master at
all-ages storytelling that is rooted deeply in the 80 year plus history of DC Comics. The House that Superman Built really needs to give Fisch a monthly legacy title for all generations of readers. His being greatly underused in his bi-monthly offerings of DC's lone pair of all-ages titles (Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and Looney Tunes.)

A great read that I hated to see end. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

Scooby-Doo & Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Way back in the 1970s, the detectives of Mystery Inc. teamed up with Batman and Robin: The Boy Wonder. Not once but twice, the combined teams would defeat Batman's most fiercest foes The Joker and The Penguin. 

Those team-ups became the thing of legend. It was such an important moment in my life that I paid ridiculous amounts of money for those episodes on VHS. It also influenced my purchasing of comic books as team-ups and crossovers are one of my favorite genres of comics to buy.

Unfortunately, except for a very brief cameo in the final episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Scooby and the gang would not re-team with the Dark Knight until now!!!

Before I go into the review of this made-for-DVD movie, let's back up a second. I mentioned Batman: The Brave and the Bold a second ago. For those of you not familiar, this animated series ran on cartoon network from 2008-2011. It was based on the 70s comic book of the same name in which the Caped Crusader would team with some of the more popular as well as extremely obscure residents of the DC Universe. The show was a massive hit but it was cancelled because DC wanted to do a Batman cartoon that was more serious in tone. 

Needless to say, that experiment- Beware The Batman was a massive flop. 

Scooby-Coo & Batman: The Brave and the Bold brings back Diedrich Bader as the voice of Batman, along with most of the original voice talents from the late 2000s series. Voice-over legend Frank Welker once again provides the voices of Fred and Scooby; whereas live-action version of Shaggy, Matthew Lillard takes over the role made famous by Casey Kasem. 

The film involves Batman inducting the Mystery Inc. gang into the Gotham Society of Detectives. When Batman's lone unsolved case comes back to haunt him in the form of a ghost called The Crimson Cloak, Scooby and friends agree to help the superhero close the book on the mystery. However, it also results in the detectives getting framed for the theft of a rare isotope.

This movie was pretty funny. It was great to see Batman done as a Scooby cartoon (again!) and the Mystery Inc. crew playing superhero as in the Brave and the Bold episodes. There's tons of cameos from some of the best characters of the defunct Batman series as well appearances from just about every Batman villain ever created.

The Scooby-Doo franchise isn't in danger of evaporating if this crossover film is a bomb. But in terms of getting more Batman: The Brave and the Bold adventures, this movie is going to need all of it's fans to check this film out. I for one was thrilled when this movie was announced and I hope to see more B&B soon! Reboot! Reboot!

A thrilling mystery with a lot of twists, turns and laughs, Scooby-Doo & Batman: The Brave and the Bold is available on DVD and digitally now!

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Volume 1

 

  When Batman: The Brave and the Bold aired on Cartoon Network from 2008-2011, the series maintained the already mentioned title throughout the entire run. Now, this might seem like an odd statement to make but it's gotten to be a trend in cartoons for each season to have a new title. A big example of this is Disney XD's Ultimate Spider-Man. The show is called 'Web Warriors' in season three and in  2016, season 4 will be titled Spider-Man Vs. the Sinister Six. BBB lasted 3 seasons without a single name change.  So why did DC cancel the original Batman: The Brave and the Bold comic and replace it with the All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold?

   This mystery is an easy one to solve. Each episode of Brave and the Bold started with a 2-5 minute long opening sequence called a 'cold open.'  In that scene, Batman would be paired with a partner different from the one the Caped Crusader would be teamed with in the main story. The first Brave and the Bold series followed that format. But when the series was relaunched, DC decided to omit that formula in order to devote more pages to the overall story. However, this was not why the first series was canceled!

    The reason for the reboot was due to fan complaints. The villains used were considered weak and uninteresting. The stylization of some characters such as Katana and the Doom Patrol looked nothing like the TV show or even the comics on which they were based and the storylines didn't follow the old-school style of the Cartoon Network show. Thus, fans stayed away from the book in droves.

   Now, I've read a handful of issues from the original Brave and the Bold and I never noticed any of these problems. But, I do think that the 'All-New' version was a little more superior. First of all, the great kids comics writer Sholly Fisch was brought in as series writer. Fisch, along with new title artist Rick Burchett managed to produce a series that was heavy on villains and classic DC lore. It was like reading a print version of the celebrated cartoon.

   So let's take a brief look at the adventures contained in this premiere volume. In the first issue, Superman seeks Batman's assistance in solving a series of crimes in the bottle city of Kandor. Then Billy Batson and Talky Tawny arrive in Gotham and find that the city isn't in the Holiday Spirit. It's up to Captain Marvel to help Batman overcome the mental effects of the Psycho Pirate and save Christmas.

   Did somebody mention that there weren't enough villains? Issue three has Batman and the Flash stuck in a bizarre mirror world of the creation of the dastardly duo of Mirror Master and the Mad Hatter. Then the number of baddies is turned up to 11 when Talia Al Ghul rounds up an assortment of enemies to stop the wedding of Batman and Wonder Woman. Then the Dark Knight teams up with Guy Gardner to save the earth from a horde of Manhunters.

   Speaking Manhunters, in this volume's last story, Batman trains the Martain Manhunter to be a better detective through a number of deduction challenges. This issue was filled with puzzles, mysteries, and surprises as the reader was encouraged to participate in finding the alien shapeshifter.

   I really enjoyed this book. It was tons of fun and a great old-school style read. My only complaint is that the book ended. Well, that and I'm still bitter that the cartoon got canceled. It was a good show! Thankfully, there're several more issues both Brave and the Bold series left for me to collect and read.

   Worth Consuming

    Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.

 

The All-New Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Small Miracles

The Cartoon Network series Baman: The Brave and the Bold was the perfect comic book series. Many hated the show for being too silly and as a superhero cartoon, it probably was a little too hokey. But it was a flawless show for comic book fans, especially those of Golden and Silver Age DC Comics. Just like the classic Silver Age Comic 'The Brave and the Bold' each episode had Batman teaming up with another hero or team for a fun caper. Actually, he'd team-up twice per episode, first during the opening teaser scene and then for the rest of the show with different character. So it was like getting two episodes in one.

The comic book followed the formula exactly and this collection of issues was a shining example of the exceptional work being done at DC to bring the animated series to as much life as the print medium can. Here, the Caped Crusader races with the Flash, practices escape artistry with Mister Miracle, and learns the true meaning of Hanukah with Ragman.

    There were three notable issues in this collection. Here's a rundown of my favorite tales in descending order:

3: A typical week in Batman's life has the Dark Knight fighting a different menace daily while teaming with a vast array of heroes throughout the DCU.

2: With Batman in a coma, the Phantom Stranger assembles a collection of Robins past and present in hopes of saving the heroes life.

1:  In the final issue, Batmite falls in love with Batgirl and along with Batman, the trio takes a historic look at the history of DC romance.

   It's very fitting that Batmite appeared in the final issue of the series as he was the last character to team up with Batman in the final episode of the series. Though I just loved that episode and this issue in question was such a treat- it's very bittersweet seeing the end of Brave and the Bold. I really enjoyed both series and think it was a travesty for it to end. (Hopefully it will one day make a revival like Teen Titans Go! has done recently.)

    Lastly, I want to speak about the books in general. I said that this volume was a collection of issues of the series. Actually, it's a collection of two series. DC published 'Batman: the Brave and the Bold' and then for some reason they cancelled it and published 'The All-New Batman: the Brave and the Bold.' 'Small Miracles' collects issues from both volumes. I have no idea why DC decided to cancel the first title and then replace it with another. But it does make for some confusion when you are trying to collect all of the issues related to this classic series.

   Worth Consuming.

   Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.