A Quiet Classic In The Making

For almost a year now, writer Mark Waid and artist George Perez have been working - largely under the radar - to produce what I think may well become a classic comic run of the early 21st century, with the new Brave and the Bold series.

Like Geoff Johns has done recently in Green Lantern and Justice Society of America, Waid manages to blend Silver Age homage with modern sensibilities seamlessly in B&B, which should appeal to a wide comic reading audience - though, sadly, a glance at last month's sales chart shows it just barely cracking the Top 50. Also like his fellow DC writer, Mark uses continuity to his advantage, rather than eschewing it completely or becoming weighted down by it. In the latest issue, that means that Flash's twin children are a central part of the plot, perhaps a logical choice since Waid also writes the Scarlet Speedster's own title right now!

Speaking of plot, some of the nice touches in # 8 really made me smile. For example, the freakishness of the Doom Patrol was highlighted perfectly in the first half of the story by showing the two children's reaction to meeting each of them. It's funny that I've read hundreds of Doom Patrol tales before this one but never once considered just how downright scary each of them really is! And Waid builds up the tension masterfully, first making Elasti-Girl a bit weird with her "smile stuck in place" look (reminiscent of the trippy effect used for presidential candidate character, Ken Wind, in Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz's Elektra: Assassin mini-series back in the 80s, whose every appearance retained the same full-on face shot, no matter which way his body was oriented!), then introducing Robot Man with ominous "Clank! Clank!" sound effects followed by his eyes glowing and the dialogue, "Mmmmmm. Flesh." and wrapping up with the small fry running into... well, a guy all wrapped up in bandages (Negative Man)! A classic take on the World's Strangest Heroes that someone should've thought of years ago! (Also speaking of the plot: DC clearly had no idea what this issue was about, as its solicitation for it reads: "A virtually unstoppable force has driven the Doom Patrol to the brink of destruction and despair! And why is The Flash the only hero who can possibly stand between them and utter chaos?" Now, that seems like a reasonable guess at it from the cover image - shown above - but it actually bears no resemblance whatsoever to the story to be found behind it!)

And of course you can't talk about Brave and the Bold, 2007-style, without commenting on the great George Perez artwork. He's one of my all-time favourites, with three pages from the uber-beloved JLA/Avengers mini-series adorning the walls of the room in which I type these words, but it almost seems like he's still getting better at his craft, thirty years in! The art in the first eight issues of this title has been consistently excellent, and it has to be a dream job for George, knowing how he loves to draw lots and lots of characters (this issue, in addition to the Flash and Doom Patrol, also featured the Challengers of the Unknown, Metamorpho, and the Flash's family). There's never any question of who he's drawing, or what they're doing, or - God forbid! - what order to read the panels in! If even half of the men and women drawing mainstream comics were as good at their job as Mr Perez is, I'd probably still be a big fan of the art portion of the genre (instead of largely ignoring it for the sake of my own sanity).

And finally, I love that Waid has made the decision to make each issue somewhat stand-alone while still fitting into an over-arching plot that's been running since the debut of the title early in 2007. That's exactly the sort of thing I want in my comic stories, especially in this age of "event mania" where both publishers seem intent on outdoing each other - and themselves! - in terms of number of crossover titles, complexity and scope. Here you'll find a perfect balance of done-in-one style with just a sprinkling of, "Hmmm, what's the bigger picture here?" that might make a newbie want to read some more.

I'm loving this title and I hope it doesn't end up just being a 12-issue treat, as was originally hinted at when it launched (in terms of how long Waid and/or Perez would be on it, that is). I'm down for several years of more of the same!