Brave and the Bold #6
Writer: Mark Waid
Artists: George Perez & Scott Koblish
The first arc of Brave and the Bold is over, and it left something to be desired. While each of the first five issues was fun to see all of the characters interacting and moved the plot along, the final issue where all the characters come together to defeat the villains falls a little flat. The first and third issues were great excercises in fun team-ups, and what I want to see from this title continually. Based on this first arc, I think Mark Waid should write shorter arcs, maybe 2-3 issues long. It's not a bad ending, everything comes together, but the journey here didn't really start until the fourth issue. The Lords of Luck make their grand move to take over the universe and all of time using the Book of Destiny, and it's up to Batman, Hal Jordan, Supergirl, and Adam Strange to stop them. With an appearance from the Challengers of the Unknown in a somewhat contrived plot device, they fight to stop the Luck Lords.
George Perez does his usual great job on art here, so no complaints. With names like Mark Waid and George Perez, this book should be selling like gangbusters, but it's not. People always say that they want more single issues, and if this book went the way of Detective Comics under Paul Dini, it might sell more copies, giving people what they think they want. Waid hasn't failed to put in any less characters by rotating the team-ups, but we could have more exposure to characters like Blue Beetle, Firestorm, and Booster Gold with smaller arcs or one and done issues. I like this book, I like the team, and the way that it manages to usually tell a fun team-up story and have a larger plot in the background, so I will keep picking it up. The minute Perez leaves though, I will re-consider, as I think many fans will. I hope Perez will stay on the book for a good run (24-36) issues, as it seems like he's made for this thing after drawing Crisis on Infinite Earths anyway. This issue is fun, and you can probably read it by itself without the other five issues, but you get more out of it by reading the rest. Which might be how this book is intended to be. Damn. B
Your insane. B...a B...dude...insane, lol.
I mean all of that ass kicking towards the end...how do you not love that.
I understand the self-contained arc complaint but, honestly, do you realize how many self-contained single issue series there are. I can count them on one hand. Fell and Detective Comics...and heck even Detective Comics is getting out of the trend in having more of these two issue arcs.
Single issue/story arcs I think would be a breath of fresh air but, even so, this series is pretty damn good, and though six issues may seem like a long story arc...consider The Fall & Rise of the Shi'ar Empire....12 issues man...a 12 issue arc. Or heck...52..FIFTY TWO FREAKING ISSUES!!, lol.
In retrospect, a story contained in six issues isn't too bad. :)