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Saturday, August 13, 2011

All-New Brave and the Bold #10 - Oct. 2011

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Comics Weekend "Help Wanted" by Sholly Fisch, Rick Burchett, and Dan Davis.

Super-angry Emperor Aquaman isn't the only Sea King on this week's racks; for contrast we have another appearance of the more chipper Brave and the Bold version!

"Help Wanted" is the story of a poor schlub who's down on his luck, trying to stay employed and take care of his family. Unfortunately, the only work he can find is as a supervillain henchman!

At first he works for The Toyman, where he escapes before Superman and Batman can capture him. Afraid of being tracked down, he tells him family to pack their things, they have to leave town immediately--something that doesn't go over too well with them.

Unfortunately, the same situation existed in the next town, Star City, and soon enough the guy found work
(via a sort of Monster.com for supervillains, created by The Calculator, a nice touch) with The Clock King. Again, his heart not being in it, the guy escapes before Batman and Green Arrow even notice him.

Packing up his family again, he decides to get away as far as possible:
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Batman's Shark Repellant Torpedo scatters the nasties, leaving he and Aquaman to go after Ocean Master and his henchmen:
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The guy returns home--silly shark costume and all--and tells his family the bad news, This time, though, his wife says they're not going anywhere: either he changes his life, or he leaves without them.

Some time passes, and now the guy has found a real job: as a security guard. He tells his mysterious drinking buddy that, sorry, he's not interested in being part of The Penguin's gang--he's "out of the henchmen business now."

We then see who he's been talking to, and despite the fake mustache, we know that he's been talking to Batman! Batman sneaks outside into an alley behind the bar, where the man's family is waiting for him. Turns out Batman had tracked this guy down, but when he talked to the man's family and found out the story, he decided to give the guy a chance to go straight, and was testing him to see if it was real.

Relieved that it is, Batman tells the man's son that "No boy should have to grow up without a father." The End!


I know I say this every time the Shrine covers an issue of Batman: Brave and the Bold, but Great Neptune do I love this series! Sholly Fisch's stories are about something other than just exercises in universe twiddling, but they also feature great little bits of characterization that harken back to the older, more iconic versions of the heroes and villains we know and love.

Add to that the superb work of Burchett and Davis, and you've got a consistently good book, full of fun superhero derring-do. Excited as I am about the new DCU, I am really happy Batman: Brave and the Bold is sticking around!

5 comments:

Russell said...

I'm with you, Rob, I just LOVE this series. It sounds like another great issue!!

Orin's dad said...

This is a good series. Issue sounds fun. Reminds me of an old Blue Beetle with a henchman who was trying to go straight and couldn't. Good stuff...

Anonymous said...

I love this book/show's portrayal of Aquaman as bellowing adventurer-king. so great, heroic, and fun.

Outsider73 said...

We just reviewed this issue the other night. My son and I really enjoyed it.

aqua-buckeye said...

batman says "no boy should grow up without a father" in this day and age? look out rosie o'donnell the dark knight may be coming after you! so much for open-minded d.c. comics. isn't there an openly gay batwoman running around in his bat-family now?