Review: The Brave and the Bold – Batman & Wonder Woman #1 (of 6)

The Brave and the Bold comic was one of my favourite books way back when I started reading comics.  Traditionally, they featured Batman partnered up with another hero or sometimes villain from the DC Universe; what’s not to love!  The original book also explains my love of Jim Aparo.  The format was resuscitated a while back as a true team up book between any character.  But even with some of the biggest names in comics writing and drawing the books, in the most part they missed the charm factor of the older counter part.  Still, you can’t keep a good idea down for long, and even though there are more Batman books on the rack per week than some companies total output, he is again on the team up trail, this time with Wonder Woman.

All is not well in fairy land.  A murder has sent the deity Cernunnos into the DC world of heroes for help and quicker than you can say “Holy Coitus Interuptus” Diana and Steve’s vacation of bedtimes and the ritual of the beast of two backs is cut short as she is summoned to help.  Always the servant of the Gods, Diana sets about the cause in good manner, after an hours “prep time”.  Over in the Irish quarter of Gotham, Batman notices that the inhabitants seem to be in a dead on their feet stupor and sets off to investigate.  Of course, Diana and Batman’s paths will cross but that element is part of the next issue perhaps.

Liam Sharp returned to comic books on one half of the Wonder Woman Rebirth book, which centred on Diana’s current adventures with alternative issues, featuring the art by Nicola Scott, focussing on her past.  From the initial announcement, Wonder Woman was always going to be a gorgeous book to look at and naysayers, me included at times, can now look back with regret as the revolving door of artists on the book have only served to minimise Diana in the DC universe.  Sharp’s work with everyone’s favourite Amazon was as strong as any other book of the time.  Now, with the experience tucked under his belt, Sharp mixes his recent stylings with those of earlier 2000 AD work.  It’s a heady mix to be sure, with maturity that frankly you don’t normally see in a DC book.  There is a definite European feel to fairy land, with its abundant foliage and of course, Sharp has his Diana down to perfection: Sharp by name, sharp by nature.  Batman is another matter though.  Frame wise, Sharp has Batman kind of stretched out, in a style that reminds me of Irv Novick, although the ubér wide shoulders is more in line with Batman from the Injustice: Gods Amongst Us game.  Whilst I am not saying that Sharp’s Batman is bad, it is safe to say that it seems he prefers drawing Wonder Woman.

Sharp also provides the story for this mini series, and I have to say, despite my  initial worries, I was more than pleasantly surprised.  The moment between Steve and Diana is brilliant, with each of them feeling the weight of their worlds, the almost ménage a trois, the Bruce and Alfred moments and the introduction of Cernunnos all work well, as does the overall plot.  The book is wordy, as if as writer, Sharp is trying to prove his worth.  Taking a step back may help with the impression of over cooking the story, but at this stage it is not too distracting.  One benefit of pulling double duty is that Sharp can plan where his text fits and thus ensures that the quality of the art is not hidden.  A quick shout out to colourist Romulo Farjardo Jr. who embellishes the book with some fantastic colors which adds to the European feel mentioned earlier.

There is one thing that disturbs me about this book and it has nothing to do with the quality of the art or the writing or the setting of the adventure, even though fairy lands are not my thing in most shapes or form.  It is the timing of the book.  I have said in the past that it seems that someone at DC has a good idea and then they batter it to death.  For example, back in the New 52, at the same time Batman was dealing with the Joker virus, there was the meta human virus in the Justice League book.  More recently we have had a Donna Troi come back from the future to save herself from making mistakes the very same week that Tim Drake as future Batman pops back in time to stop younger Tim Drake make mistakes.  Here we have a Batman and Wonder Woman team up book set in a strange land, a week after the pair have been stranded together in a strange land over in the main Batman book.  I understand that there are only so many story types that exist, but why do I must have the same ones done to death in quick succession?  These comments cannot be laid at the feet of Liam Sharp, whose quality of work proves what we missed during his sabbatical from comics and what we still miss on the Wonder Woman book.

Writing - 5 Stars
Art – 5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Written and Art by; Liam Sharpe
Colors by; Romulo Farajardo Jr.
Published by; DC Comics

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network

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