Batman: The Brave and the Bold #3 – Dennis Culver, Ed Brisson, Christopher Cantwell, Jackson Lanzing/Collin Kelly, Writers; Otto Schmidt, Jeff Spokes, Javier Rodriguez, Jorge Molina, Artists; Pierluigi Casolino, Colorist
Ray – 8.5/10
Ray: Tom King and Mitch Gerards’ story takes a break this month for a one-and-done tale by Culver and Otto Schmidt introducing a new villain—“Mr. Baseball.” Fans of The Walking Dead will recognize this villain’s MO immediately. When a friend of Matches Malone’s—Bruce’s criminal alter ego—turns up dead, it’s traced to a new baseball-obsessed criminal. As Batman attempts to protect a shady mob boss from his own sins, a story is revealed of a baseball-loving petty crook who crossed the wrong criminal, paid horribly, and was transformed from a nobody into a sadistic monster. This is a decent done-in-one story, but the villain is a little too reminiscent of Zsazs and other brutish Batman villains to feel like he’ll be a major player.
The third chapter of “Down With the Kings” by Brisson and Spokes continues the high-octane story, as the team is sent into enemy territory to deal with a sinister being called Malware. This creepy techno-organic entity undergoes some disturbing transformations, but overall most of this series is similar to Brisson’s other action-driven series Batman Incorporated. However, outside of the battles there are some intriguing beats. Who is pulling Director Bones’ strings? What is Ravager’s plan for when the team starts going against her morals? The Knight Terrors tie-in at the end was unexpected as well.
Cantwell and Rodriguez bring us the third chapter of “Order of the Black Lamp,” where Superman encounters his childhood hero Hop Harrigan. The superhero and the pulp hero find themselves trapped in a mysterious fortress, as their masked foe reveals himself. Time itself is mutable in this fortress, and the villain reveals a complex plot involving memory loss, collective consciousness, and an odd form of stasis. But as the issue ends, a daring escape is made—followed by a haunting, ambiguous ending. It has some fascinating ideas and looks brilliant, but I think this concept could have used more than thirty pages.
Finally, Lanzing, Kelly, and Molina tackle “City of Monsters,” this month’s black-and-white done-in-one. Taking place in a gothic Gotham of horror beings, it finds Batman as a lone human warrior going up against the scourge of the city—Man-Bat. The vampiric monster has turned countless members of the city into his thralls, and Batman is heavily armed with the tech needed to end his reign. Fantasy/horror-accented Bat-Elseworlds have always been fun, and this one could use a lot more room to breathe. Short, but excellent.
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