Key Issues - The Brave and the Bold Volume 1 (1955)

Brave and the Bold #28 Cover by Mike Sekowsky and Murphy Anderson

I may not have mentioned it before, but some of the coolest stories in comic books are "team ups." Typically the story goes like this, our hero is in the middle of an adventure/investigation/fight when another hero shows up. Often there is some confusion and the heroes tussle amongst themselves while the villain escapes.  Once clearer heads prevail, they join together to defeat their common enemy.  The rest of the plot is just window dressing so it's interesting that such a simple storyline has led to quite a few popular series.

Brave and the Bold #59
Cover by Gil Kane

Fans enjoy these stories for a couple of reasons.  First, we get to see two or more of our beloved heroes so there's already more bang for the buck, but the story also puts together two heroes that we don't typically see interacting with each other. Maybe more important is that the stories are somewhat throwaway. Because the story is not taking place in either of the main character's series, there is less effect on the long term development of the characters. It appears that writers have a bit more freedom in these series to experiment, introduce new characters, and tell a contained story without the burden of too much continuity.

There have been multiple great "team up" series over the years including Marvel Team-Up, DC Comics Presents, and Marvel Two-in-One.  I may be biased because of my affinity for Batman, but I think the best and perhaps earliest incarnation of the team up is DC's, Brave and the Bold series. It didn't become a team up series until issue #50, but it spawned lots of fantastic stories and introduced many beloved characters. This series featured great writers like Bob Haney, Gerry Conway, Len Wein, and Mike Barr.  It also had character redefining artwork from artists such as Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Below is the list of key issues for this series.  As always, let me know if I've missed any.


Brave and the Bold #1 - 1st appearance of the Viking Prince. 1st appearance of Golden Gladiator. 1st appearance of Brian Kent (Silent Knight).
Brave and the Bold #23 - Origin of the Viking Prince.
Brave and the Bold #25 - 1st appearance of Suicide Squad. 1st appearance of Rick Flag.
Brave and the Bold #28 - 1st appearance of Justice League of America. 1st appearance of Starro. 1st appearance of Snapper Carr.

Brave and the Bold #54
Cover by Bruno Premiani

Brave and the Bold #30 - 1st appearance of Professor Ivo. 1st appearance of Amazo.
Brave and the Bold #31 - 1st appearance of Cave Carson.
Brave and the Bold #34 - 1st appearance and origin of Silver Age Hawkman. 1st appearance of Silver Age Hawkgirl. 1st appearance of Byth. 1st appearance of Thanagar. 1st appearance of Midway City.
Brave and the Bold #35 - 1st appearance and origin of Matter Master.
Brave and the Bold #36 - 1st appearance of Shadow Thief (Carl Sands).
Brave and the Bold #50 - First team up issue.
Brave and the Bold #54 - 1st appearance of the Teen Titans. 1st appearance of Mister Twister.
Brave and the Bold #57 - 1st appearance and origin of Metamorpho. 1st appearance of Simon Stagg. 1st appearance of Sapphire Stagg. 1st appearance of Java. 1st appearance of the Orb of Ra.
Brave and the Bold #59 - First Batman team up issue. 1st appearance of Time Commander.
Brave and the Bold #60 - 1st appearance of Wonder Girl. 2nd appearance of the Teen Titans.

Brave and the Bold #200
Cover by Jim Aparo

Brave and the Bold #61 - Origin of Starman. Origin of Black Canary.
Brave and the Bold #62 - 1st appearance of Silver Age Wildcat.
Brave and the Bold #73 - 1st appearance of Nuidis Vulko.
Brave and the Bold #78 - 1st appearance of Copperhead.
Brave and the Bold #80 - 1st appearance of Helgrammite.
Brave and the Bold #81 - 1st appearance of Bork.
Brave and the Bold #85 - First appearance of Green Arrow's new costume and goatee.
Brave and the Bold #143 - Origin of the Human Target (Christopher Chance).
Brave and the Bold #166 - 1st appearance of Thomas Tresser (Nemesis).
Brave and the Bold #200 - 1st appearance of Katana. 1st appearance of Halo. 1st appearance of Geo-Force. 1st appearance of the Outsiders.

Deadpool Red Band Trailer and 1st Appearances

Though the prices are skyrocketing into bubble territory for all of these first appearances (several of these were in the $1 box just a year ago), I wanted to make a list of them just to highlight the awesome red band trailer for Deadpool.  I'm almost as excited for this movie as I was for Star Wars The Force Awakens.  In case you don't know, Deadpool was written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick who wrote the the funniest zombie movie ever, Zombieland.  The director, Tim Miller, doesn't have a long list of credits behind his name, but he did direct the opening sequence of Thor: The Dark World which is incredible.  Red Band Trailer (NSFW) below followed by the list of 1st appearances.

New Mutants #98 - 1st appearance of Deadpool. 1st appearance of Copycat posing as Domino.
X-Force #19 - 1st appearance of Copycat as Copycat.
Morlocks #1 - 1st appearance of Angel Dust.
Deadpool #14 - 1st appearance of Ajax.
Cable #3 - 1st appearance of Weasel.
New X-Men #115 - 1st appearance of Negasonic Teenage Warhead.
Giant-Size X-Men #1 - 1st appearance of Colossus.
Deadpool #1 - 1st appearance of Blind Al.