Batman: The Brave and the Bold #18 Review

If you have been reading my reviews on this title (whenever I get around to doing them), you would learn that this anthology is a mixed bag at best. And yet for some reason I have yet to determine, the quality of the stories has gone up a bit. Perhaps it is the dying gasp of a title whose cancellation has been announced. Whatever the reason let’s see if Brave and the Bold can maintain its upward momentum until its inevitable end.

Doubt

Last month’s Batman focused story was surprisingly refreshing as we get to see an average night that the Dark Knight goes through. Well, I am happy to announce that this month’s Bat-focused story has managed to be even greater than last month’s as it manages to not only give us a simple “case” and also manages to delve into Bruce Wayne’s emotions.

I can already hear some of you sighing loudly through my screen as I type this and honestly when the opening scene gave us another flashback to Bruce’s childhood, I braced myself for disappointment. But as the story unfolded about a one-shot (hopefully) villain who can induce doubt in people, we delve into Batman’s mind and the doubts that he carries within him.

However, even as I give writer Christian Ward credit for his script, this story is carried by artist Patric Reynolds. While his art felt reminiscent of Trevor Hairsine at first, as the story progressed it started to develop a mind of its own. Plus I have to give props to all the stylistic choices made in this issue. It just comes together in a neat manner in the end.

Squiggly thought bubbles, I've missed you

Score: 9/10

Petsurrection, Part 2

The team-up between the kitty cat and the con man comes to a conclusion. Like I mentioned in the first part, the story is a bit generic and that hasn’t changed here. The beats are predictable and the ending can be seem from a mile away. Outside of the novelty of the team-up, its hard to recommend this for any other reason.

Score: 6/10

Reflections

Was I the only one who thought team up between Aquaman and Miss Martian meant a team up between Arthur Curry and M’gann? Well that is not the case as this story teases a team up of Kaldur and M’gann, maybe hoping to get the fans of the show Young Justice to read this comic… about versions of the characters completely unrecognizable to anyone who only watched the show.

Still once I moved past that, the story is tightly plotted, with good art and genuine chemistry between the leads. Its a fun little one-shot about two legacy characters in the DC Universe…except for the way that they beat the bad guy which makes me think some wires got crossed somewhere.

When did she disguise Kaldur as herself?

Score: 6/10

Swipe Left on Scams

Oh great, another Harley Quinn story about her wacky misadventures. This time we have a quirky supervillain stealing data from people using a dating app…with the story acknowledging its over the top premise, with zany visuals and appropriate dialogue. Like an absurd comedy, done with sincerity.

Do I…like this?

Score: 8/10

Robin Season, Part 1

Oh great, another story pitting Tim Drake and Damian Wayne against each other as they attempt to settle the meta debate of who should be Robin. This time we have a villain who kidnaps a bunch of kids and dresses them up as Robins to lure Tim and Damian…with the story taking the time to use the inner monologues to get into both of their heads, giving us a glimpse of how they see each other and potentially re-evaluate how they see themselves. All that and a pretty good choice of villain too.

Do I…also like this?

Score: 8/10

Recommended If

You want to read an excellent Batman story
You like great character interactions.
You want to see this title through to the end.

Overall

This is a good collection of stories. I was not expecting to like the Harley and Robin stories as those concepts seemingly were done to death, resurrected in an event comic, and promptly died off again. And yet, I found myself liking most of the stories in the comic. Maybe the good vibes from the Batman story carried the rest of the issue, but that does feel unfair on the rest.

Score: 7.5/10

2 comments

Madeleine
October 23, 2024
I really loved Ward's story. It honors Alfred's central importance in Bruce's life and Bruce's importance to others like Dick and Harvey without straying into pure sentimentality. It also introduces what I expect to be some key ideas about memory and how we fashion our sense of self in Ward's coming Two-Face comic.
Doubt's hypnotic powers to induce and exploit doubt in its sundry forms remind me of Cornelius Stirk's ability to prey on desire and feed on fear. As for myself, I'm glad he's not a one off villain. (And I wish we'd see more of Stirk... So many lost and forgotten villains.)
It was a smart move on Ward's part to have Bruce make a minor miscalculation in this, failing to account for a recording, giving his self-doubts a material basis in the plot as well as Bilk's power of suggestion.
Sara
October 25, 2024
Some minor quibbles aside, I think Doubt's one of the few recently introduced rogues with any potential. I'm pretty interested to see what Ward can make of him.
Doubt's a fairly good idea for a metahuman villain, provided Ward can come up with some sort of explanation of, and limitations for, his abilities. How does he use the word "Doubt" as a trigger word without first actively hypnotizing his listeners, for instance. What about is voice is so powerful that even a recording is sufficient to bend someone's mind to his will?
I think the important thing to take away is that Doubt doesn't just implant "a" doubt, but undermines security in the self. This is something Bruce has, thanks to Alfred. This is something Harvey lacks, thanks to his father. Harvey is a prisoner of his personal anxieties, stemming from an abusive childhood, so much so that to escape he had to invent a second person who could stand outside the terror and, yes, the doubt. Ward's story, which I liked, would have been even more interesting if, instead of focusing on how Bruce is better equipped than most to fight back, he had focused on what sorts of people are most at risk for a manipulator like Benjamin Bilk. (Harvey himself tried to run a cult, btw, back in Tomasi's Ugly Heart. He also "recruited" other Two-Faces. Cults are big on sniffing out the right sorts of people to recruit, something Harvey's work in law and his suffering at his father's hands would both, incidentally, have trained him for.)

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