Siskoid and Chris Franklin’s coverage of The Brave and the Bold continues with issue #164 (July 1980) by J.M. DeMatteis, José Luis Garcia Lopez (Praise Be His Name) and Steven Mitchell, starring Batman and Hawkman! It’s “‘The Mystery of the Mobile Museum”.
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Haven’t listened yet, but looking forward to it! I just have to pose a question: If today’s team-up is Batman and Hawkman, can Ariana and Woozy Winks be far behind?
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Arisia, not Ariana! My spellcheck is a big fan of the Chuck Dixon era of Tim Drake.
Using King Tut as a scale of reference for the exhibit’s significance might have more to do with the touring exhibit just a few years before this story came out and the subsequent Steve Martin song than with the TV character. The song alone was a million seller and the traveling corpse sold a few times that. If anything, comics back then were trying to distance themselves from camp. Just a year or two later, when the direct market was in ascendance and the Comics Code (which only applied to newsstand comics) was no longer a restraint, comics and GNs could be as serious as they wanted and proving themselves as legitimate literature wasn’t such an uphill battle. Then, everyone could breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy Hembeck one-shots and Turtle parodies. But in 1980 that was frowned on in fandom. That’s why the “Legends of the Super-heroes” TV specials remained a punchline until they were rediscovered by younger fans on bootleg videos in the pre-YouTube 1990’s.
If that was so, Brave and the Bold and DC Comics Presents were doing it wrong ;-).
Well, not exactly, I think J.M Dematties could have mentioned the Batman 66 King Tut or original Trek. the backlash against camp was more Batman centric. it seemed like it was more Neal Adams or Marshall Rogers fans not thinking the Adam West show, those Legends specials or a fairly new Batman cartoon not taking him seriously. it was a lot of the fans feelings but maybe not all the pros. And was really over when Miller’s Dark Knight and Batman 89 came out.
It could be both.
Well! A story with JM DeMatteis and JLGL? That can’t have happened very often. What a treat! In addition to the psychedelic parts, you can also count on JMD to make the antagonists less outright evil and more working at cross purposes. I also can’t help thinking that Batman with hawk wings is a very turducken look. JLGL did a great job on it, but the cognitive disconnect really throws me off.
I’d never thought of it, but Chris nailed it with Maxie Zeus is “Greek King Tut.” Love that a lot!
Now I had to check what I wrote for the DCCP episode with Hawkman for a team-up, because I could not remember to save me. But gotta say, Indiana Jones is an inspired choice, and Hawk & Dove would be my go to choice within DC. So for another option, how about Sam Wilson as Falcon or Captain America? Mix in the Shadow Thief stealing the Absorbascon for Dr Faustus, and the heroes find themselves reliving moments in their various iterations and costumes. Of course, Misty Knight and Shiera (or Kendra) are just as likely to save the day as the guys.
May your new year be Brave and Bold!
Happy New Year
Happy new year .
Here’s my story idea .
Hawk man sliver-age version teams up with
Columbia comics characters. Skyman and Mr.Face
From big shot comics . To fight crime syndicate interested in stealing magical items from various museums all over the country so it’s up to these three heroes to get them back and stop crime
Syndicate not only as The Midnight factor led by the mysterious. Brother midnight (yes a pro wrestling reference as there was a character on a wrestling program called Brother midnight).
Team-Up? Hawkman and Flash Gordon. Space Cop Katar called in to investigate crimes among the hawk people, with an assistance from Flash.
The first hero with a hat that came to mind was Sherlock Holmes.
Great discussion and episode for a so-so comic. As a kid I could never get past when the characters did crazy stuff with the infrastructure like the whole museum being lifted up, or when Hercules towed the whole island of Manhattan. Just took me out of the story. What about the plumbing and electric? Think about the permits needed to fix it back up!
Still the art in this one is beautiful of course. I did like the characterization of Hawkman here. I miss space cops Katar and Shayara.
Hawkman’s powers have always been a bit inconsistent–I think writers, when they needed to, just said, “Eh, he’s an alien, so he’s super strong” and kept going. Tony Isabella liked to joke about this in the letters pages of SHADOW WAR, like one time when Hawkman flapped his wings so hard he started a tornado.
And while my love for Jim Aparo is well known, an Aparo cover with JLGL on the inside is about as good as a DC comic gets around this time. What else do kids wants for forty measly cents???
I have to (winged) wonder, did the fact that JLGL worked so often on team up titles (B&B and DCCP) lead to his style guide gig? He got to draw lots of different characters, so I could picture the powers that be realizing he could draw anyone in their stable. If he had been doing, say, SGT ROCK every month, would he have gotten the same consideration?
Love the show, as always.
My favorite artist (JLGL) drawing my favorite fictional character (Batman) makes this issue something I had to like whether I wanted to or not. I enjoy JLGL’s artwork to the point that I have bought back issues of some of the Romance Comics that he drew at Charlton before he went to DC. I would even buy a Driving Miss Daisy comic if it had JLGL art, and I hate Driving Miss Daisy.
As for Shiera, I think maybe DeMatteis or JLGL could have worked in a couple of panels of her in costume as Hawkgirl, just for fan service. If JLGL drew a Barbara Gordon story, I would be disappointed if we didn’t get a couple of Batgirl panels. The time we did get a JLGL Batgirl story, unfortunately JLGL’s art was ruined by Vince Colletta’s inks. Oh well, that is a discussion for another time. As for this issue, thanks to Steve Mitchell for doing a good job on the inks so we readers can enjoy the JLGL goodness.