There are probably questions regarding why there hasn’t been a review of this title for the last two months. Well, there was a huge fight over who should get to review this amazing anthology between Chris and me. In the end, we had a duel over who should get to do it — non-lethally, of course, we have other titles to review — and in the end, I walked away victorious after taking a custom-made Batarang to the noggin. So, uh, where were we?
Nightwing & Deadman: Down the Road, Part 2
Nightwing and Deadman continue to investigate what’s going on with the dead girl that keeps haunting Dick. While the plot has yet to pick up the pace, it is a delight to see Kelley Jones depict Deadman as this skeletal phantom with his ribs protruding out. Unfortunately, there’s very little to recommend with the villain’s motives remaining vague, a cavalcade of characters to keep track of that ultimately feel redundant, and a commentary on corporate and influencer culture that we’ve heard all too many times before.
Score: 6/10
Time Jerks, Part 2
While the first part of the story involves Booster meeting the Jurassic League in the past, in this part, he has somehow caused the dinosaurs to exist in the modern era…at the cost of humanity. There’s some interesting commentary about whether Booster should change time, which would essentially destroy the modern dinosaur population. However, the story is just not able to convey the tone necessary for such a debate. The colors are too bright, the dialogue too comedic, and Booster is too, well, stupid for this to work. It's just another Booster mucks around in time story, except this one somehow couldn’t understand what it was indirectly saying.
Score: 4.5/10
The Flash: A Day in the Life
Barry Allen is the fastest man alive (well, one of them). This is a story of how fast the Flash can handle multiple crises in the 10 minutes it takes him to get coffee for his wife. It's a cute story…but don’t use villains like Grodd, Ivy, and the freakin Reverse Flash to show how overpowered the Flash is. If Barry can easily handle two of his greatest supervillains (and Ivy) in the span of four pages, how can you expect us to believe that anybody can be a credible threat to him?
Score: 7/10
The Invader, Part 2
Oh hey, a starring role for Batman in this Batman anthology! Batman and Guy team up to look for an alien who appears to be leaking radiation and can mess with people’s minds. Batman is the one who comes off as the unlikable one here, which is an achievement compared to the fact that he’s paired with Guy Gardner, but his behavior is sadly one that has been far too common in modern stories.
However, a special shout-out has to be given to Delpache’s colors, which does a fantastic job of depicting the visions the so-called “invader” conjures to mess with Batman’s mind.
Score: 7/10
The Evidence Remains
We end with another Batman: Black and White story. This story pretty much won me over with its opening page depicting Batman's day-to-day routine (or the “daily grind” for all you kids out there).
The next few pages do a good job of depicting Bruce's disorienting feeling as the routine wears him down, leaving him to wonder if his never-ending battle has actually made any progress. But of course, he has, with the evidence all around him in a glorious final page depicting the Batcave and all the trophies Bruce has acquired over the years.
Score: 8/10
Recommended If
- You like Kelly Jones’ art.
- Melancholic Batman narrating in the style of a noir protagonist appeals to you.
- You wanted to read about the Flash in a Batman anthology.
Overall
Brave and the Bold is a title that lacks any direction. Whether or not any of the stories told here will matter in the future is up for debate, though personally speaking, I don’t think most will. It's hard to recommend this title just for the Batman: Black and White stories when they will probably be collected into their own separate volume at some point. They aren’t particularly bad stories, but I won’t rush to revisit them once I finish this review.
Score: 6.5/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purposes of this review