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.

Steal of the Week

Cover by Mike Esposito and Carmine Infantino

The steal of the week this week comes from Baltimore Comic Con and the guys at Zapp Comics. I picked up this sweet copy of Batman #197 for $10 at their booth along with some Bronze Age books at a good price.  This wonderful issue follows a "reformed" Catwoman in her quest to marry Batman and outdo her perceived rival for his affections, Batgirl. Written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Frank Springer, this issue shows us the one weakness in Batman's detective skills...

So just like every teenage boy who read this comic, Batman is clueless when a girl likes him. 

Detective Comics Annual 12

Just finished reading Detective Comics Annual #12.  Fantastic. Love Padilla's artwork. Maybe I'm behind but I haven't read much of David Hine's work. Great story.  Bruce Wayne is a badass out of costume as well. Introduces a new character who seems pretty interesting.

What Pip Bought and Was It Worth It 12-3-10

Generation Hope #2 - Worth it. I like this book that spun out of the "Five Lights" story in Uncanny X-men. Newly mutated mutants discovering their powers. Some of them headstrong, others hesitant. Though like all X-books there's absolutely no continuity. Here Wolverine is in Tokyo while in Uncanny he's in Utopia, in X-force he's on the moon, and in X-men vol 3 he's just finished being a vampire. Can we go back to three or four X-books please?
Wolverine: The Best There Is #1 - Speaking of Wolverine, I was quite disappointed in this book. Sure it's the bloody and gross bordering on a horror title Wolvie fans have always wanted, but why are we bleeping characters especially when there is a Parental Advisory on the cover. To top it off Wolverine is dancing in a night club. Worth it for the 1st issue but won’t be buying #2.
Heroes for Hire #1 – Definitely worth it. Artwork is amazing. I’m hoping that this will be the basis for one of the rumored shows that Marvel has in development. It’s also nice that fans of characters who don’t sell as well as the big names now have a book to call home other than some Avengers book. I quit reading the Avengers titles because it seems these days everyone is an Avenger.
Batman 80 Page Giant – I bought this based on the recommendation of InvestComics for the collector aspect. To be honest I’ve only gotten a chance to reader the first Joker story but it was wickedly cool. Worth it.