This week's Comic Book Cover Gallery begins a four-part celebration of The Brave And The Bold, a popular DC Comics title that ran for 200 issues from 1955 to 1983. The book began as an adventure anthology starring the likes of the Viking Prince and the Golden Gladiator. A bit later, B & B offered the debut appearances of the Justice League of America, the Silver Age Hawkman, the Teen Titans, and Metamorpho the Element Man. But it's most often remembered as a superhero team-up title, specifically a Batman team-up title.
When I was a kid, I loved The Brave And The Bold; at times, it was probably my favorite individual title. As I...well, I won't say matured, 'cuz that ain't ever gonna happen. But as I progressed into teendom, I became increasingly disenchanted with the book's disregard for DC continuity, and of writer Bob Haney's sometimes outlandish plot elements and Marvel Comics-lite characterization. Looking back now, the stuff that bugged me about B & B in the '70s could be seen as selling points, and much of the reason Brave And Bold fans retain such fondness for the series.
And it doesn't hurt that not one, not two, but three of my all-time favorite comics artists did stints as B & B's regular draftsman. Nick Cardy and Neal Adams each served only a very brief tour of duty as The Brave And The Bold's resident designer, but the great Jim Aparo did a bunch of issues over a long span of time, and Aparo is the one artist most associated with book. And my God, his work here was stunning.
Art by Nick Cardy
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| Art by Neal Adams |
This month, I'm devoting Comic Book Cover Gallery's designated weekly blog space to The Brave And The Bold, beginning with a gallery of B & B back issues I acquired in the '60s, '70s, and '80s. The illustration at the very top shows Starman and Black Canary starring in The Brave And The Bold # 61, the first B & B I recall seeing, albeit just in a house ad. Next week's installment will focus on applying covers to issues I originally acquired without covers, and then we'll take two weeks to go through issues I picked up when they were new.
Art by Jim Aparo
As always, we'll be sticking exclusively to the '60s-'80s era of acquisition I've established for these galleries. The selections include books I bought new, back issues I acquired after the fact (but within the timeline), and B-stock contraband originally purchased without their covers. These aren't actual photos of comics in my collection; most images are courtesy of the Grand Comics Database, which is grand indeed. But I did have each and every one of 'em at some point in time.
NEXT WEEK: Brave and Bold issues I originally acquired with their covers, but we'll be puttin' the covers back on. B & B seeing you!
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