BHOC: BRAVE AND THE BOLD #152

I picked up another idiosyncratic issue of BRAVE AND THE BOLD when it arrived at my local 7-11 spinner rack. By this point I was buying the series semi-regularly, even though I typically found its contents to be a bit weird and off-putting. There were no other writers in the field at that point like Bob Haney and the manner in which he wrote stories and the way that he treated established characters in those stories was one-of-a-kind. If you were picking up an issue of BRAVE AND THE BOLD, you were agreeing to sign on to a voyage to Earth Haney, where absolutely anything could and probably would happen. And it might not make a whole lot of sense or be consistent with what you read in other comics, but it was also almost always memorable.

The thing that truly made BRAVE AND THE BOLD, however, was the artwork of Jim Aparo, who was a regular fixture on the series with only a couple of missed issues all the way to its eventually finish. Aparo’s Batman channeled much of what made the Neal Adams iteration of the character work, but his more typically acted during the daytime hours. And he was adept at handling any of the myriad of guest-star characters who showed up in the series, typically as well or even better than those doing their adventures elsewhere. The appeal and draw-power of his work cannot be overstated. Between him and Haney, BRAVE AND THE BOLD was the perfect impulse buy comic book, one that provided an entertaining reading experience all on its own without any particular regard for what might be happening in other titles. Recent editor Paul Levitz was trying to change that, to make sure events in the book weren’t entirely out of step with the rest of DC’s publishing line., But he had only a limited amount of success in this endeavor. Haney was going to be Haney.

The story opens with Bruce Wayne returning from an overseas business trip in a private jet that he’s personally piloting. In landing, he almost collides with another aircraft thanks to a malfunction in the air traffic control computers, but he’s able to put down unscathed. But the problem isn’t limited to just Gotham City. All along the East Coast, key computer systems are malfunctioning–even in Ivy Town, where one of Ray Palmer’s experiments is ruined. Independently, Ray and Batman track the difficulties back to the manufacturer, Amalgamated Technics. But the firm’s top trouble shooter Howard Trask, assures the pair that the difficulties are over.

But this is far from the case. Returning to Ivy U, Ray finds himself being arrested for having embezzled funds from the college to a secret account in Switzerland. And at the same time, Bruce Wayne discovers that his companies accounts are all overdrawn by five million dollars, In order to escape arrest himself, Wayne becomes Batman, and winds up rendezvousing with the Atom in the Batcave, the latter having used his size-changing abilities to escape from lock-up. The pair moves to check out Amalgamated once again, with the Atom entering the systems while Batman investigates the background of Trask. The Atom comes up clean, but Batman discovers that there are no records of Trask going back further than five years.

Batman confronts Trask, only for the man to reveal the secret tattoo that marks him as a member of Anvil, America’s top secret federal investigations unit. So Trask is also investigating the computer crimes. With that lead tied off, Batman and the Atom head to Switzerland, to the bank into which the Wayne Industries and Ivy University accounts were transferred. There’s an assassination attempt on Bruce Wayne at this point, but the Atom is able to foil it and rescue his comrade. The duo returns to the bank, using their skills to break in and check the computers for the illicit monetary transfers. But they’re jumped by a gang of thugs in stereotypical Swiss hats and shorts, just as on the cover. This isn’t an affectation, it’s played utterly straight, which makes it all the more ridiculous.

This is merely an obligatory action sequence, however, and it wraps up with the B & B pair heading back to the States with knowledge of who made the transfers in question; Howard Trask. But the heroes need proof, so while Batman goes to Trask’s office to distract him, the Atom searches Trask’s home for the master computer tape used to pull the twin heists. Batman is a boob, though, and Trask is able to clock him from behind, knocking him unconscious. He loads Batman unto a conveyor belt to an industrial shredder and then lights out for him. Getting there, he digs out the master tape, unaware that the Atom is watching him. But coincidentally, he dumps his trash into the incinerator shaft, and it happens to include the diminutive Atom, who is forced to scramble to safety,

The Atom catches up with Trask in a getaway truck, where he’s using a remote control to activate the shredder in the office to pulp Batman from afar–why he didn’t do that earlier is one of life’s little mysteries. But the Atom is able to rewire the control circuit and clobber Trask, leaving Batman to revive shortly thereafter. All that’s left is the wrap-up, where presumably both Ray Palmer and Bruce Wayne have been exonerated and the stolen funds recovered. And that’s the end! It’s an utterly bonkers story all the way through, with events that happen pretty much because the story requires them to, but its velocity is such that you can sort of switch off your brain and just be carried along with the action and have a good time.

And another week brought another edition of the recurring daily Planet promotional page plugging the DC titles expected to ship in the coming week. Plus, as usual, it included another installment of Bob Rozakis’ well-remembered Ask the Answer Man column as well as another quickie comic strip by fan cartoonist Fred Hembeck, this one featuring my favorite, the Flash. This page also plugged THE FLASH #276, which would have confirmed for me that I had somehow missed issue #275. (I’d wind up missing #276 as well.) But this didn’t seem like any big deal to me, I’d been growing more disenchanted with the series in recent months. Little did I realize the big event that took place in that issue.