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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 28, 2023 16:49:37 GMT -5
The Brave and the Bold #132
Batman and Richard Dragon, Kung Fu Fighter
“Batman — Dragon Slayer?”
Writer: Bob Haney
Artist: Jim Aparo
An old man is pushing his bicycle in a tough part of town when mean bikers start harassing him because he’s old and useless. Richard Dragon wanders by and beats them up and runs them off. The old man is grateful. He had a flat tire on his bike. Richard loans him a bike pump and gives him a quarter for coffee.
A year later, Richard Dragon is in Gotham City visiting his friend’s dojo. He is attacked by a karate assassin called the Stylist, but Batman interferes with the fight and the Stylist disappears into the darkness.
New York is Richard Dragon’s town. But Gotham City is Batman’s town. He doesn’t want karate fighters and Kung Fu fighters having midnight brawls in HIS town. Richard is like, Dude! I was walking through the park and this dude attacked me. They should call you BAT-HOLE!!
(I’m paraphrasing a bit.)
Then it turns out that the guy that Richard Dragon saved from bikers a year ago was Calvin Curtis, an eccentric Howard Hughes type. Curtis has died since they met. Dragon receives a quarter (for the money he gave him for the coffee) and a key to a safety deposit box in Las Vegas. Batman says it probably contains Curtis’s will and Dragon might be a millionaire.
They veer off to Mexico to catch the Stylist and it turns out that the Stylist was hired by Curtis’s former business partner to kill Richard Dragon. The business partner figured out that Richard Dragon was the beneficiary of the will.
They shut down the business partner’s criminal enterprises, and the Stylist commits suicide by walking into some quicksand because he feels dishonored because he couldn’t defeat Richard Dragon despite two tries.
They finally get to the safety deposit box and - SURPRISE! - Richard Dragon IS the beneficiary. But all the money would’ve gone to the business partner as long as he wasn’t involved in any criminal activities. Oops! The money ends up going to charity and Richard Dragon and Batman go their separate ways.
That was kind of fun but not among the best TBATB stories ever written.
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Post by chadwilliam on Jun 28, 2023 16:50:27 GMT -5
The more I think about it, the more I think Two-Face was a terrible villain for the Joker to bring into that scheme. This giant iron eagle full of treasure is HUGE! The wingspan is at least twenty-five feet. It is so absurdly big that there are numerous panels of maneuvering it around on mountain trails and over precipitous bridges (not to mention stowed somehow in a commercial passenger jet) that are physically impossible. The Joker should have enlisted one or more of the DC Universe’s gigantic, musclebound goons to carry it on his back through the mountain passes. Blockbuster, Bizarro, Solomon Grundy, Amazo, somebody like that. How about Giganta! That would be awesome! Around this time, The Joker and Two-Face were developing a fairly consistent pattern of animosity towards one another every time they shared the stage. Batman #258 had Two-Face escape from Arkham and turn down The Joker's request that he let him out before escaping. The Joker isn't happy about it (though Two-Face is one of the inmates the clown prince of crime sets loose in Batman #260 when it's his turn to escape) and vows to get even at a later date. The Joker #1 sets them up as a rivals with Two-Face even attempting to split the guy in two at one point. And this Brave and the Bold story ends with Two-Face chasing the fiend around a boat looking to beat him senseless. Why did The Joker call Two-Face anyway? Maybe he didn't mean to and just got his phone number mixed up with one of those other guys and was stuck with him. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jun 29, 2023 16:31:33 GMT -5
Mentally I've always equated Brave And The Bold to Marvel Team-Up, but at least this last one seemed to take place in the Marvel Universe and sometimes what happened here was referenced in other comics. But reading the reviews the B & B seems to live in a universe of its own. Was what happened here ever mentioned elsewhere? I read TBATB #141 today, with Batman and Black Canary taking on the Joker. The story mentions that the Joker had a crush on Dinah Lance (Black Canary’s civilian identity) in the past but doesn’t specifically cite The Joker #4 where the story was published. However, Batman mentions that the clues are starting to point to the Joker as the likely culprit (in a series of murders) even though he was presumed dead after the events of The Laughing Fish case, which an editorial note tells us happened in Detective Comics #476. I have yet to find any notes in other DC comics referring back to The Brave and the Bold, but I haven’t really looked very hard yet. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Jun 29, 2023 16:33:23 GMT -5
Mentally I've always equated Brave And The Bold to Marvel Team-Up, but at least this last one seemed to take place in the Marvel Universe and sometimes what happened here was referenced in other comics. But reading the reviews the B & B seems to live in a universe of its own. Was what happened here ever mentioned elsewhere? I read TBATB #141 today, with Batman and Black Canary taking on the Joker. The story mentions that the Joker had a crush on Dinah Lance (Black Canary’s civilian identity) in the past but doesn’t specifically cite The Joker #4 where the story was published. However, Batman mentions that the clues are starting to point to the Joker as the likely culprit (in a series of murders) even though he was presumed dead after the events of The Laughing Fish case, which an editorial note tells us happened in Detective Comics #476. I have yet to find any notes in other DC comics referring back to The Brave and the Bold, but I haven’t really looked very hard yet. I'm betting that you might only find some that refer to the three JLA issues, but I bet there aren't any about the team-up era. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 29, 2023 20:20:35 GMT -5
Mentally I've always equated Brave And The Bold to Marvel Team-Up, but at least this last one seemed to take place in the Marvel Universe and sometimes what happened here was referenced in other comics. But reading the reviews the B & B seems to live in a universe of its own. Was what happened here ever mentioned elsewhere? I read TBATB #141 today, with Batman and Black Canary taking on the Joker. The story mentions that the Joker had a crush on Dinah Lance (Black Canary’s civilian identity) in the past but doesn’t specifically cite The Joker #4 where the story was published. However, Batman mentions that the clues are starting to point to the Joker as the likely culprit (in a series of murders) even though he was presumed dead after the events of The Laughing Fish case, which an editorial note tells us happened in Detective Comics #476. I have yet to find any notes in other DC comics referring back to The Brave and the Bold, but I haven’t really looked very hard yet. I have, in regards to earlier features in there, like The Viking Prince, and things like the JLA an Teen Titans debut stories. As far as the team-up stories, I do believe I have seen some related to the Green Arrow revamp, but not much else. I have seen references to stories, in later years, like James Robinson using the Starman and Black Canary team-ups to craft a story about an affair, between Ted Knight and Dinah Drake. It doesn't mention the specific issue, but recaps the basic story to set up their brief triste and then a crook trying to blackmail them about it. |
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Post by zaku on Jun 30, 2023 1:05:18 GMT -5
Mentally I've always equated Brave And The Bold to Marvel Team-Up, but at least this last one seemed to take place in the Marvel Universe and sometimes what happened here was referenced in other comics. But reading the reviews the B & B seems to live in a universe of its own. Was what happened here ever mentioned elsewhere? My gut feeling tells me it didn’t happen much. But there’s a lot of 1970s DC comics that I haven’t read. However, I will note that there was a reference in The Brave and the Bold #122 mentioning that Batman and Swamp Thing met in Swamp Thing #7. So it was not entirely unknown for TBATB to reference other comics. I’ll have to keep my eyes open for this. Interestingly, WF, as far as I can remember, was more in continuity than B&B. For example this is where it is first established that Superman's robots can no longer operate in the modern age due to pollution. I wonder if maybe it depends on the respective editors? Who were they in the various titles at the time? |
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Post by zaku on Jun 30, 2023 4:52:11 GMT -5
Incidentally, I want to point out that I don't think a story is only good if things happen in it that are relevant to the characters. Stories can be enjoyed even without having any impact on continuity at all.
Mine wanted to be a curiosity about what principle in the DC Offices decide that this or that important event for the character could happen in a title other than the main ones. Why could things happen in World Finest that could have been reffered elsewhere but Brave And Bold lived in its own little universe that didn't even have anything to do with the rest of DC Continuity?
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Post by Rob Allen on Jun 30, 2023 13:38:54 GMT -5
Murray Boltinoff edited Brave & Bold from June 1968 to the end of 1976. World's Finest went from Mort Weisinger to Julius Schwartz in 1970 and then to Boltinoff in '72. Schwartz edited Batman and Detective the whole time.
My impression as a teenage fan in the mid-70s was that Boltinoff aimed his books at a younger audience than Schwartz.
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Post by zaku on Jul 1, 2023 3:52:32 GMT -5
My impression as a teenage fan in the mid-70s was that Boltinoff aimed his books at a younger audience than Schwartz. Many of the stories felt like Silver Age concepts with a bit of a Bronze Age veneer. Not all comics have to be deadly serious and you can put your brain on standby to enjoy a story, but sometimes enough is enough! |
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Post by chadwilliam on Jul 1, 2023 10:35:49 GMT -5
Mentally I've always equated Brave And The Bold to Marvel Team-Up, but at least this last one seemed to take place in the Marvel Universe and sometimes what happened here was referenced in other comics. But reading the reviews the B & B seems to live in a universe of its own. Was what happened here ever mentioned elsewhere? I remember reading the letter pages for Batman and the Outsiders where some readers took issue with Metamorpho no longer knowing Batman's identity when that series started. Apparently, Rex Mason had known his secret in an issue of Brave and the Bold and this was used as evidence that he shouldn't have had to relearn it later on. I believe that the editor responded to one complaint by arguing that they shouldn't be beholden to one story from 15 years ago or so and that Brave and the Bold was sort of its own little world.
Brave and the Bold #197 may have been referenced somewhere later on since it explained how the Earth 2 Batman and Catwoman got together, though I suppose Crisis would have rendered that a moot point. Not a Bob Haney tale though. How about Brave and the Bold #79 when Batman met Deadman? Not sure if later meetings referenced the details of that story, but since Deadman learned who Batman was in that issue and knew it later on, would that count? Also, "But Bork Can Hurt You!" from Brave and the Bold #81 got a sequel as part of Kurt Busiek's The Power Company round about 2002. I also remember that when Hellgrammite showed up in the Superman titles in 1992, his Brave and the Bold meeting with Batman was cited there as a "last time we saw him, The Batman had taken him down" kind of flashback. Those last three issues were all Neal Adams drawn stories which might explain the interest in revisiting them or at least why they were more reverentially treated. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jul 1, 2023 10:50:05 GMT -5
DC's continuity was still quite loose, really in to at least the early 80s.
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Post by zaku on Jul 1, 2023 11:09:29 GMT -5
Mentally I've always equated Brave And The Bold to Marvel Team-Up, but at least this last one seemed to take place in the Marvel Universe and sometimes what happened here was referenced in other comics. But reading the reviews the B & B seems to live in a universe of its own. Was what happened here ever mentioned elsewhere? I remember reading the letter pages for Batman and the Outsiders where some readers took issue with Metamorpho no longer knowing Batman's identity when that series started. Apparently, Rex Mason had known his secret in an issue of Brave and the Bold and this was used as evidence that he shouldn't have had to relearn it later on. I believe that the editor responded to one complaint by arguing that they shouldn't be beholden to one story from 15 years ago or so and that Brave and the Bold was sort of its own little world.
Brave and the Bold #197 may have been referenced somewhere later on since it explained how the Earth 2 Batman and Catwoman got together, though I suppose Crisis would have rendered that a moot point. Not a Bob Haney tale though. How about Brave and the Bold #79 when Batman met Deadman? Not sure if later meetings referenced the details of that story, but since Deadman learned who Batman was in that issue and knew it later on, would that count? Also, "But Bork Can Hurt You!" from Brave and the Bold #81 got a sequel as part of Kurt Busiek's The Power Company round about 2002. I also remember that when Hellgrammite showed up in the Superman titles in 1992, his Brave and the Bold meeting with Batman was cited there as a "last time we saw him, The Batman had taken him down" kind of flashback. Those last three issues were all Neal Adams drawn stories which might explain the interest in revisiting them or at least why they were more reverentially treated. I'm convinced that if you have a good story to tell, you don't have to let this or that continuity trifle stop you. But BH sometimes exaggerated. For example  In this story it is assumed that Bruce Wayne's parents were cremated. It's honestly too much. Also considering that it's not even an important detail for the story. I mean, that his parents were buried is literally in his origin  He's swearing by graves, not urns |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 1, 2023 11:15:04 GMT -5
I remember reading the letter pages for Batman and the Outsiders where some readers took issue with Metamorpho no longer knowing Batman's identity when that series started. Apparently, Rex Mason had known his secret in an issue of Brave and the Bold and this was used as evidence that he shouldn't have had to relearn it later on. I believe that the editor responded to one complaint by arguing that they shouldn't be beholden to one story from 15 years ago or so and that Brave and the Bold was sort of its own little world.
Brave and the Bold #197 may have been referenced somewhere later on since it explained how the Earth 2 Batman and Catwoman got together, though I suppose Crisis would have rendered that a moot point. Not a Bob Haney tale though. How about Brave and the Bold #79 when Batman met Deadman? Not sure if later meetings referenced the details of that story, but since Deadman learned who Batman was in that issue and knew it later on, would that count? Also, "But Bork Can Hurt You!" from Brave and the Bold #81 got a sequel as part of Kurt Busiek's The Power Company round about 2002. I also remember that when Hellgrammite showed up in the Superman titles in 1992, his Brave and the Bold meeting with Batman was cited there as a "last time we saw him, The Batman had taken him down" kind of flashback. Those last three issues were all Neal Adams drawn stories which might explain the interest in revisiting them or at least why they were more reverentially treated. I'm convinced that if you have a good story to tell, you don't have to let this or that continuity trifle stop you. But BH sometimes exaggerated. For example In this story it is assumed that Bruce Wayne's parents were cremated. It's honestly too much. Also considering that it's not even an important detail for the story. I mean, that his parents were buried is literally in his origin He's swearing by graves, not urns Well, they must have been cremated in the Haneyverse ... except in the stories where they weren’t! |
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Post by zaku on Jul 1, 2023 11:42:47 GMT -5
I'm convinced that if you have a good story to tell, you don't have to let this or that continuity trifle stop you. But BH sometimes exaggerated. For example In this story it is assumed that Bruce Wayne's parents were cremated. It's honestly too much. Also considering that it's not even an important detail for the story. I mean, that his parents were buried is literally in his origin He's swearing by graves, not urns Well, they must have been cremated in the Haneyverse ... except in the stories where they weren’t! I know that at the time they weren't obsessed by continuity like us, but there wasn't any editor saying something "Uh Bob, you knows, this is a little too much..."? Or maybe someone actually did stop him from taking too many liberties and that's why we haven't read stories where Batman gained his powers after being bitten by a bat. And what we read is actually a Bob Haney who has been forced to contain himself :-D |
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Post by Hoosier X on Jul 1, 2023 11:49:23 GMT -5
I know that at the time they weren't obsessed by continuity like us, but there wasn't any editor saying something "Uh Bob, you knows, this is a little too much..."? Or maybe someone actually did stop him from taking too many liberties and that's why we haven't read stories where Batman gained his powers after being bitten by a bat. And what we read is actually a Bob Haney who has been forced to contain himself :-D 😲 |
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