Dealing With The Joker

Back in the later 1960s, Joker had just become another clown that Batman faced.

But, he was due for a revival in a big way, and here is a look at two of the issues that established the new normal (if Joker could ever be considered normal) for the Clown Prince Of Crime well until the Crisis On Infinite Earths...

The Joker's Five-Way Revenge

Here, in Batman #251 (September, 1973), by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams, this team did to the Joker what they had been doing with the Batman...took him back to his roots.  While still having the clown motif, Joker was also shown to be much more of a homicidal killer as he methodically worked his way through 5 of his ex-henchmen.

Also important here, is that the Joker establishes that he enjoys his battles with the Batman...

Death Has The Last Laugh

In Brave and the Bold #111 (February-March, 1974) by Bob Haney and Jim Aparo, the unlikely idea that Batman and Joker team up happens (especially with the new norm just established in the Joker's last appearance above).  Still, it happens, as Joker lets Batman know that he was innocent of murdering a family, and the two work together to find the killer.

Still, as always, the two spar and there's a twist at the end.

But these two appearances set a tone for the Joker, as well as giving him more comic exposure, leading to the introduction of Arkham Asylum in Batman #258 (October, 1974) where a Two-Face rivalry was established, as well as Joker's 9 issue series which kept the Joker in the public eye...but, sadly, the Joker series ended before its tenth issue could be published due to low sales, because the series missed one important fact...the Joker needs Batman to be successful, it was their epic battles fans wanted, not just the Joker's murderous mirth.

Remembering Artist Jim Aparo

Remembering artist Jim Aparo (August 24, 1932 - July 19, 2005) on his birthday.  

Jim Aparo was known for his work on Phantom Stranger, Aquaman and the Spectre, but one of his best known and beloved work was on Batman team-up in Brave and the Bold....

...but, one of the strangest guest stars in one of the team-ups. was Jim Aparo himself, as this cover he drew shows!!!

Small War Of The Super Rifles

In Brave and the Bold #124 (January, 1976) by Bob Haney and Jim Aparo,  Batman is nearly taken out by a hood with a "super gun"....which Batman learns is an experimental M-76, when he is saved by Sgt. Rock (World War II veteran, assigned to get the stolen guns back from the Thousand, the group that stole them).  While doing that, Batman opens a locker and dies....what?  That's what Jim Aparo says....until he realizes the writer's script has been changed, by the terrorists who broke into his Connecticut house!

Thinking fast, Aparo escapes the fiendish felons, finds a nearby lighthouse to keep drawing (where he has Rock save Batman), then calls Bob Haney and Murray Boltinoff to get tips to help Batman and Sgt. Rock track down the Thousand, and save him at the lighthouse the fiends were approaching!

Truly, one of the craziest tales Bob Haney ever gave us, but, a wonderful adventure for artist Jim Aparo!

Of course, Jim also drew (but didn't participate) in adventures of the Spectre and the Phantom Stranger teaming up with Batman (as well as Aquaman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Black Canary and more, which you can check out on the link on their names!).

Batman Meets Lois Lane

To be fair, Batman met Lois Lane quite a few times before this issue (starting with the first time Superman and Batman met), but always with Superman around (and usually, the World's Finest heroes were confusing poor Lois as to whether or not Superman was Clark Kent).

 In this special issue of the Brave and the Bold (#175 from June, 1981, written by Paul Kupperberg with art and cover by Jim Aparo), Lois worked with Batman against Superman foe, Metallo, with NO Superman (or even Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent), in sight!

The Heart Of The Monster

This tale starts in Gotham, at the local branch of S.T.A.R. Labs, where Batman confronts Metallo (a Superman foe, who was a cybernetic man powered by Kryptonite) on the roof.  Batman knew he was in for a fight, but, figured it was only against Metallo's robotic strength, and was quite surprised that Metallo's Kryptonite worked on him (as it usually is only felt immediately by Superman).  

This is enough for Metallo to escape, and Batman to go back to thinking how to stop his visiting villain.  At the Wayne Foundation the next day, Daily Planet reporter (and Superman's girlfriend), Lois Lane arrives, looking for Bruce.  Lois wants Bruce to help her find Batman, as she was following a lead about S.K.U.L.L., a criminal organization that Metallo had appropriated, as their scientists had turned him from human to cybernetic monster, and that he was using the militant part of the group to find the last of them men who operated on him (to kill them).  

Bruce let her know Batman was already on the case, and had been exposed to Metallo's new Kryptonite....because Commissioner Gordon was an old friend.  As Batman, Bruce went to meet with Lois that night, who had scheduled a meet with Dr. Crenshaw.  Metallo shows up, and takes Batman and Crenshaw to his secret base (after a battle with Batman and Lois), but leaves Lois behind.  Lois goes to S.T.A.R. Labs to get a device to track Metallo, while Batman escapes the prison Metallo put him in, even without his utility belt.  Lois searches Gotham for Metallo..

...but finds he was in the S.T.A.R. Labs basement.  Metallo had Crenshaw work on his heart device, thinking he fixed it, then, when Batman and Lois confronted Metallo, the device went bad.  Crenshaw knew Metallo would kill him, so didn't quite fix his heart right (figuring the modified Kyrptonite would blow it out).  It did, and Crenshaw tried to leave, only to be stopped by Batman, with Lois only needing to file the story with Perry White.

An all too rare time of Jim Aparo drawing members of the Superman family inside a book, and it is incredible, not unlike later tries, with Brave and the Bold #192 with Superboy, or Batman and the Outsiders #19 with Superman and the Daily Planet staff (or two B&B issues with Supergirl).

This issue is also a rare example of Lois in a comic without Superman (or even Clark Kent), with Showcase #100 and the Suicide Squad/Checkmate crossover, the Janus Directive, two of the few times that happened in the 20th Century, making her more than just Superman's girlfriend.  

This issue of B&B even has a tale of Nemesis (who would be a member of the Suicide Squad for a time, but started as a Brave and the Bold back up series....).

    

Robin Hood In Brave And The Bold

Once, long ago, Robin Hood was but a simple man of Sherwood Forest, robbing from the rich to give to the poor, fighting for the honor of Maid Marion with his Merrie Men, against the forces of the establishment in the form of Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham.

 

Over at DC Comics, these stories ran in Brave and the Bold from issues #5 to #15  (April-May, 1956 to December-January 1957/1958), with writers Bill Finger and Bob Haney and artists Irv Novick, Joe Kubert, and mostly Russ Heath, and these tales highlighted Robin's sense of humor and his use of the cutting edge of technology of the time....that of the bow and arrow.

At the time, Robin Hood shared Brave and the Bold with a couple of other characters, that of Jon the Viking Prince and the Silent Knight, both of whom had started in the first issue of Brave and the Bold, along with the Golden Gladiator (and the Viking Prince and Silent Knight both continued in tales of heroic adventure in issues after the Robin Hood feature ended).

Some of these tales were reprinted in issues of DC Special, along with tales of the Three Musketeers and the Viking Prince, as well as appearing in issues of the Best Of The Brave and The Bold (6 Baxter stock reprint issue of the late 1980s, whose covers were focused on the later Batman team ups that had gained so much attention for B&B, including meetings with the Flash, Aquaman, Teen Titans and the Green Arrow, who fancied himself as a hero in the style of Robin Hood).  

Oh, for the simpler days these stories suggested!

Batman Back to World War II

Even though Batman had started his career before World War II, eventually, that got less and less reference in the comics, but, by the end of 1970s and start of the 1980s, tales of the past Golden Age Batman started to surface, as a few secret tales came to light, with Batman going into battle with some of World War II's greatest heroes....like the Unknown Soldier and the Blackhawks!

The Secret That Saved A World

First up is Brave and the Bold #146 (January, 1979) by Bob Haney, Romeo Tanghal and Frank McLaughlin, all under a cover by Jim Aparo, with an unknown story of the Earth-2 Batman teaming up with the United States most mysterious spy, the Unknown Soldier during World War II.

 

Here, Batman had come across a murder while patrolling Gotham City...with clues from the victim's housekeeper and Bruce Wayne's friend, Bill Dysart, leading him to believe it was Nazis trying to get their hands on uranium.  

This led Batman to go to Washington, DC, where they confirmed his fears, that South American diplomat and businessman Paul Besserman was really Count Von Stauffen of Nazi Germany.  The government paired Batman with the Unknown Soldier (who had been aware of Von Stauffen trying to follow up on a German scientist who had fled the Nazis (but had been working on a project involving uranium).  To prevent the network of spies getting involved, Batman and the Unknown Soldier were the only two to follow up on this.  

Trailing Besserman as he was going to meet with Dysart, the heroes saw Besserman kill Dysart under the Lincoln Memorial, but the Count got away, going back to the San Pedro embassy to hide behind diplomatic immunity.  The duo wait outside the embassy, seeing someone being loaded into an ambulance, and thinking it Besserman, follow.  It was a trap, but they escape, heading the airport, where Besserman was headed, and had chartered a small plane to fly over the area.  

The Unknown Soldier replaces the pilot, and sees Besserman taking photos of secret American bases (diplomatic immunity won't work against treason), but a leaky oil valve ruins the Unknown Soldier's disguise, allowing Besserman to escape after the plane crashes.  Batman pursues Besserman, but also fails to catch him.  The heroes reunite, listening in to Besserman at the embassy, finding out that he will get the secret papers at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  Observing him there, the Unknown Soldier stops him from getting the plans and foils an assassination attempt on members of Congress (by a bomb Besserman hid) on Memorial Day by disguising himself as President Roosevelt.  Batman and the Unknown Soldier take comfort in stopping this plan of Besserman, with the Unknown Soldier still waiting to catch him outside of the San Pedro embassy.   

While the Unknown Soldier usually applied his spycraft behind enemy lines in Europe...

 

...he did on rare occasions disguise himself to fight spies here in the United States of America during World War II as well.

 

Ice Station Alpha

Another of the Batman's Earth-2 war time team ups happened in Brave and the Bold #167 (October, 1980) by Marv Wolfman, Dave Cockrum and Dan Adkins, covered as was many B&B tales by Jim Aparo, with Batman working with the famed aviators of WWII, the Blackhawks, in a story set in September of 1944!

Again, Batman comes across nefarious Nazis stealing items in Gotham, while the Blackhawks liberate a Polish city from Nazi forces, searching for an agent, whom they find, frozen in the Sahara!  Commissioner Gordon summons Batman, to tell him that FDR ordered him to not pursuit the theft Batman broke up (but Batman is under no such restrictions).  Batman takes off in the Batplane to Washington, DC (leaving a flu stricken Dick Grayson behind to be cared for by Alfred Beagle), while the Blackhawks investigate finding Agent Carmichael was investigating Ice Station Alpha, a new Nazi secret doomsday weapon.  

In Washington, Bruce Wayne fails to find out anymore of the thefts, but Batman does by breaking into the file room, learning of Ice Station Alpha, and plans to attack the East Coast.  The Nazi device floods a pier in Gotham, sending Batman after the spies who looted the warehouse, as the Blackhawks also independently find clues as well, leading both sets of heroes towards the Nazi Ice Station Alpha base in the arctic circle.  

There, General Hauptmann plans to use the devices he stole from America to melt the polar ice cap and flood America!  Batman and the Blackhawks arrive, fighting off his outside forces as the General activates the device huridley against the advise of his main scientist, who he shoots.  Batman and the Blackhawks stop the forces at the base, but are not able to stop the device (but, due to the general's impatience, will explode on its own before it can work).  The Blackhawks and Batman fly off....as the base explodes (with Batman planning on tracking down the remainder of their network in Gotham).

The Blackhawks were an international crew of pilots, led by their leader, Blackhawk, who fought the Nazis during World War II.  The Earth-2 Blackhawks were featured in Military Comics and in the Quality issues of Blackhawk, with the Earth-1 versions of the team started with Blackhawk #108 (January, 1957) when the team moved over to DC (with much later issues of Blackhawk detailing the Earth-1 adventures of Blackhawk during World War II).

The Earth-2 Batman did have one adventure with Sgt. Rock in B&B (but, that appearance implied that the first Batman/Sgt. Rock team-up also took place on Earth-2, which then was a problem for all the later team-ups of the two, which took place after World War II.....so, these will get some attention as a much later date).

Can you circle the problem with the first B&B being a tale of the Earth-2 Batman?  Here's an article that gives you a hint....

Batman, along with Robin, and a few of his JSA friends, also got to see a lot more World War II action, as members of the All-Star Squadron in the retroactive continuity title based in Earth-2's World War II (at least until the Crisis On Infinite Earths), and that Batman seems to be seeing action again in 2021!

  

 

Suicide Mission For Sgt. Rock, Haunted Tank and Johnny Cloud

Talking about the greatest generation, and times when they fought for our freedom.

One time brought together the greatest fighters of that generation for their greatest mission....

...and here is that story, from Brave and the Bold #52 (February-March, 1964) by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert (under a cover by Kubert), when they had to work together on a...

Suicide Mission

An agent needed behind the lines in World War II, so the United States sent its best flier, Johnny Cloud, on a secret mission to retrieve the hero (but, with a plan so secret, his plan had a bomb implanted, rigged to explode to prevent capture).  After a pitched battle against Nazi fighters, Cloud landed his P-41 to find the informant, code named "Martin", sealed in an iron suit, as a torture by Nazis who had captured him.  

 

Still, the resistance helped the agent escape with vital information, but had no time to remove the suit.  To allow Cloud and Martin to get into the air, the resistance fighter sacrificed his life fending off attacking Nazi troops.  In the air, more planes attacked, but Cloud was saved when a tank joined the fray, taking out the last Nazi fighter.  

After landing carefully (to not trigger the explosives), Cloud and Martin had to hurry to get into the M-3 (the Haunted Tank of Jeb Stuart), as they provided cover for Nazi troops who had been attracted to the air battle.  The troops were little trouble for Stuart and his crew, but soon, a Nazi Tiger tank arrived, bringing more trouble than they could handle.  Still, Stuart went for advise from his ghostly Civil War namesake (who only he could see and hear), and led the Tiger to crashing into Cloud's plane, which exploded on impact, taking out the Tiger.   

Stuart, Cloud, Martin and the crew were rolling on, with the ghost giving Jeb the advice of needing a rock of strength....which, after an encounter with another Tiger tank, they needed.  Sgt. Rock and Easy Company approached, being drawn in by the tank battle.  

Rock and bazooka holding Dead-Eye could decide the fate of the mission, having to take down the Tiger, but enemy fire weakened the two men....yet, as he was dying, Dead-Eye wouldn't stop staring at Sgt. Rock....which gave him the strength to lift the bazooka, firing it and taking out the Tiger tank.  

Rock, Stuart and Cloud had to take "Martin" away on foot, finding the iron suit too hard to manage, finally freed the agent from it....to find out that it was French resistance fighter Sgt. Rock had met before!  The four continued on, being found by another Nazi tank....where the commander wanted to know which of the four was "Martin".  They all claimed to be...distracting him long enough for Sgt. Rock to dive under the tank and use the remaining bazooka shells to blow up the tank.  

The team was able to deliver the agent to the Allies, where the information delivered was able to stop a Nazi terror invasion.  This work and sacrifice resulted in Rock and Stuart being promoted to Lieutenant, and Cloud to Captain....yet Frank Rock was already working on getting demoted, as he only ever wanted to be a sergeant, and top kick of Easy Company.

Now, some quick files on the men of this mission (with a reveal of who was behind the iron mask at the end!).

Sgt. Rock of Easy Company

Sgt. Rock premiered in Our Army At War #81 (April, 1959) by Robert Kanigher, Bob Haney, Ross Andru and Michael Esposito) but became the Sgt. Frank Rock of Easy more readily recognized about two issues later.  The son of a miner, who became a boxer, then worked at a steel mill, Rock enlisted, and embodied the fighting spirit of the average American, finding leading men into battle to be where he truly belonged.

Johnny Cloud

Johnny Cloud premiered in All-American Men Of War #82 (November-December, 1960) by Robert Kanigher and Irv Novick,  Johnny was the son of a Navajo Indian Chief, who called his boy "Flying Cloud", who took inspiration from the clouds.  Johnny suffered discrimination in the air corps, yet became a lieutenant, and leader of his squadron, after dispatching the enemy fighters who attacked his squadron, fatally wounding their leader, Mack, who recommends Johnny as the new leader of the squadron, now nicknamed the Happy Braves.

Jeb Stuart of the Haunted Tank

Jeb Stuart and his haunted tank premiered in G.I. Combat #87 (April-May, 1961) by Robert Kanigher and Russ Heath (though not on that first cover), with Stuart and his M-3 crew going into battle against a Nazi Tiger tank team.  The M-3 was lighter and more maneuverable, taking out the more powerful Nazi tanks, with a little help from the ghost of Civil War General Jeb Stuart (a forefather of Jeb's, and spiritual protector of the tank).  Later, the ghost would appear to Jeb, giving him advice which allowed Stuart and his crew to fight well in World War II. 

Mademoiselle Marie

The "man" in the iron suit was really a doll....a French resistance fighter named Mademoiselle Marie, who premiered in Star-Spangled War Stories #84 (August, 1959) by Robert Kanigher and Jerry Grandenetti, Marie had many missions in France, trying to free her occupied land from the Nazis who had unjustly taken their land.  Marie fought on even after many sacrifices, including her father (though she seemed to lose a father many times, a bit of contradiction in her stories).  Marie even lost her own series, but continued to aid the Allies, popping up to help Sgt. Rock and Easy Company in Our Army At War #115 before her appearance in B&B.

This "Suicide Mission" was reprinted many times, including in Battle Classics #1 (September-October, 1978) and Sgt. Rock Special #2 (1988), both with covers by Joe Kubert, detailing the hard work that our armed forces must endure to protect our freedom!

These heroes would also join forces many times in the future as well (with additional heroes, like the Losers and the Unknown Soldier), keeping an ever vigilant battle against the forces of evil, to prevent them from winning the fight, no matter the sacrifice.

Arrow Shots: The Goatee

Thanks to Arrow actor, Stephen Amell, a little bit of Season 7 news leaked out at the Motor City Comic Con...that, for the first time in the TV series, Oliver Queen will be sporting the goatee!

The Origin

Green Arrow first appeared with the goatee as part of his new look for Brave and the Bold #85 (August-September, 1969) in a story by Bob Haney and Neal Adams, and the look continued as Green Arrow first met the new Black Canary as she joined the JLA in Justice League of America #75 (November, 1969).

With Green Lantern and the Longbow Hunters

Green Arrow continued that look while teaming up with Green Lantern (more on that here) for the 1970s, and even for quite a time after, in Action Comics, World's Finest Comics and Detective Comics, before ditching it for his urban hunter outfit, which started with Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters #1 (August, 1987).

New 52

Green Arrow kept that look or variations of it, or returned to Neal Adams style costume, but it wasn't until the advent of the New 52 that the goatee disappeared, sporting a new look much closer to that of the Arrow TV show.....but, was this the earliest time Ollie ditched the goatee?

Exception

Green Lantern #94 and #95 of 1977 by Denny O'Neil and Mike Grell feature Green Arrow losing his goatee to hide his identity to get into a secret base...but, not unlike the current Green Arrow in comics, it grows back.

Now, how about that hat?  (Stephen Amell says no....).