The Good: Moments of artwork, One or two lines, Moments of concept.
The Bad: Unmemorable plots, Light on character development, Some pretty terrible artwork in parts, Lack of serialization, Mediocre writing.
The Basics: I suspect Mark Waid was done with The Brave And The Bold before he got to The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons, as this volume is a phoned-in anthology that utterly disappoints.
I started reading the graphic novels from The Brave And The Bold simply to have something to read while I waited for the graphic novels I actually wanted to read came in to my local library. But, out of all the graphic novels in the world, I had picked up The Brave And The Bold series because they were written by Mark Waid, who is the author of the phenomenal Kingdom Come (reviewed here!). But, truth be told, I found myself actually enjoying Volume 1 (reviewed here!) and Volume 2 (reviewed here!) enough to pick up The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons. Sadly, having now read The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons, I feel like I should have given up when I finished Volume 2; all evidence points to the idea that author Mark Waid did!
Not nearly as serialized as the prior volumes, The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons is pretty much a random collection of superhero team-up stories that finishes off Mark Waid’s time on The Brave And The Bold and includes a retro story or two. The overall feeling The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons evoked in me was the sensation that I was just plain wasting my time. The stories are hardly exciting or coherent or even interesting. Instead, The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons sucks the life out of the franchise and leaves the reader desperate for a stimulant. This is the death knell of any superhero-themed book!
The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons begins in Chapter 1 with a team-up between the Jay Garrick version of the Flash and Batman. Batman is nearly killed by a robot samurai when he is rescued by Jay Garrick. Together, the two come together to foil a plan from the Penguin. Chapter one has decent artwork, good coloring and actually has a fun sense of whimsy to it. Garrick has a sense of humor and he gently chides Bruce Wayne pretty much the entire time. Chapter 1 may be the most enjoyable part of The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons and it starts the book off with a team-up that us, at worst, entertaining.
Chapter 2 finds Deadman and Green Arrow working together. When Green Arrow is tailing a mark, he witnesses a bunch of people wiped out by forces he does not quite understand. Fortunately, Boston Brand (Deadman) appears in the body of a nearby homeless person to explain. The Ghost Killers of Nanda Parbat are on the loose and, like Deadman, they inhabit people. Unfortunately, unlike Deadman, when they enter a person, they kill the body and to save Ollie from the Ghost Killers, Deadman inhabits Green Arrow. Together, they journey to Nanda Parbat, which is where Deadman’s powers originate and the only place on Earth where Deadman is corporal. There, Green Arrow and Deadman work to stop the Ghost Killers and their leader.
While chapter 2 has a decent story, it is muddied by a weird character conflict that rings as pretty hollow to me. Moreover, the straightforward quest story is gummed up by thoroughly mediocre artwork. While I like the detailing on Deadman, Green Arrow is nowhere near as intricately presented. Add to that, this chapter has washed-out coloring that makes the book look messy and faded. This chapter does, however, adequately set up the subsequent one.
In Chapter 3, Nightwing and Hawkman, sends the bulk of the DC Universe heroes away. With that done, Deadman explains the mission to Hawkman and Nightwing. The trio returns to Nanda Parbat to save Green Arrow from the evil force that is controlling the Ghost Killers. Chapter three is plagued by utterly terrible artwork with very washed-out coloring. With its utter lack of genuine character or character development, this is a pretty terrible chapter and it represents the last chapter in The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons where the book makes even a passing attempt to fit together with any other chapter.
The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons continues with a pretty much unrelated Chapter 4 in which Superman visits Gotham City. There, he teams up with Catwoman to foil a criminal auction. The auction is a map to a Gotham City cave which Clark desperately fears is the Batcave. Buying his and Selina Kyle’s way into the auction with Atlantean jewels, the pair works to acquire the map.
This chapter is fun and it reinforces that Catwoman is not all bad, but Superman is homogenously good. It is also fun to see Selina Kyle a step ahead of Superman, at least on the plot front. On the art front, Chapter Four is underdetailed, though not as bad as the prior two chapters. If, however, Superman had not been presented in his costume, he would be unrecognizable. While the colors in this chapter are darker than in prior chapters, the story lacks real depth or shading to make it seem less like a comic strip than the comic book that it is.
The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons is filled out with an early 1980s retro story featuring Hawk and Dove with Batman. In it, Hawk and Dove come to realize they are way behind the times and when Hank (Hawk) is captured, Batman and Dove try to rescue him before both Hawk and Dove are stripped of their powers. I, seriously, have no idea why this one was included other than the fact that author Mark Waid liked the story. I thought it was pretty dull, the artwork looks like a colored comic strip and the story seems only to serve the purpose of getting rid of Hawk and Dove, two characters who (in this incarnation) I don’t really care about.
The Flash and Captain Marvel fill out the next story, which was written by Mark Waid. In this one-shot, Wally West and Billy Bateson end up in Solar City where an inventor and business tycoon is unveiling the city of the future. Unfortunately, he is also being targeted by Shadow Thief. Say what you will, but Mark Waid makes Wally West cool. Unfortunately, he also makes Wally West and those around him especially verbose. The result is a very wordy chapter that eats away at much of the artwork and leaves the reader a little off-put by the density. I love dense books; I read Thomas Pynchon. But if you’re going to write a story and fill it with exposition, it’s not the best use of the graphic novel medium. This chapter sets up Neron and it actually made me wonder who/what Neron is!
The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons concludes with a one-shot story by Mark Waid involving Zatanna and Impulse. Max Mercury is teaching Bart and he takes him to Zatanna. Unfortunately, Bart begins acting up and ruining one of Zatanna’s shows by using his super-speed to upset all of the tricks. Zatanna, in a fit of anger, sends Bart away to another realm where giants are fighting and Impulse uses his super-speed to cut down his foes. Zatanna, desperate to save Bart, enters the magic-sapping realm and the two must work to escape back to Earth!
This story has Anime quality artwork. Zatanna is all lips, legs, and eyes. The exaggerated proportions are frequently ridiculous and this story reads like a comic strip or an Archie comic. It is not particularly engaging and in addition to being distorted, the artwork is very simple.
The Brave And The Bold - Volume 3: Demons And Dragons is a drastically inconsistent work that does not hold together as a cohesive graphic novel and whose components are hardly engaging or worthwhile enough on their own to bother with.
For other superhero team up books, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Blackest Night by Geoff Johns
Brightest Day Volume 3 by Geoff Johns
The OMAC Project
2/10
For other book reviews, please check out my index page on the subject by clicking here!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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