Batman: The Brave & The Bold #15
Writers: Tim Seeley, Mark Russell, Alex Segura, Joshua Hale Fialkov
Artists: Kelley Jones, John Mikel, Andy MacDonald, Lisandro Estherren
Colour Artists: Michelle Madsen, Mike Spicer, Patricio Delpeche
Letterers: Rob Leigh, Ferran Delgado, Lucas Gattoni, Becca Carey
Review by Davydh Tidey
Batman: The Brave & The Bold #15 gives me everything I could possibly ask for. Renee Montoya as the Question again, a classic sci-fi story with a heartfelt wrap-up, a continually horrifying Nightwing story and the finale of Booster Gold Ruins Everything part 3561.
Seriously, this title only gets better, and I still don’t understand how it does it month to month.
Lost
Yeah. You fell. I don’t let people fall.” – Nightwing
Dick & Boston continue their tear across rural America looking for the fabled “End of the Road”, learning some lessons and kicking some ass!
Nightwing & Deadman: Down the Road was already a fairly atypical Dick Grayson/Boston Brand jaunt, but this month they’ve gone much further down the horror rabbit hole. Touching on a lot of themes you wouldn’t usually find in a mainstream DC story, this book is exciting in a way people need in an anthology like this. Batman: The Brave & The Bold is a mixed bag of themes and stories, always has been, but this set of stories especially have kicked that up a notch. I firmly appreciate it!
Tim Seeley has a hard act to compete against, considering Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo are finishing up their landmark Nightwing run as this is coming out, but he seems to be holding his own in terms of quality Dick Grayson storytelling. This Nightwing is compassionate, sarcastic and likable, in essence everything Nightwing should be. Paired with Deadman, this tale is a classic example of the odd couple dynamic, and it works very effectively.
Kelley Jones and Michelle Madsen are a big reason why this story works. Not a lot of artist teams would be able to create the necessary atmosphere for this horrific nightmare realm our Dysfunctional Duo have found themselves in, but Jones and Madsen absolutely nail it.
Listless
The human race is facing extinction, and you stopped… to get lunch?” – Batman
“Time Jerks” returns and concludes, with the ending surprising absolutely no one familiar with Booster’s work!
God, we love his ridiculous antics.
It’s seemed like, for a good while now, no one has really known what to do with Booster Gold. His appearances in Tom King’s Batman: The Gift (with Tony S. Daniel) and Heroes in Crisis (with Clay Mann) just didn’t seem to gel with previous iterations of the character. Even his appearance in Human Target (again Tom King with Greg Smallwood) didn’t quite feel right, although a lot closer to the classic time traveling buffoon. But here, right here, is the Booster Gold we’ve all been waiting for.
Mark Russell clearly read Justice League International and understood it, especially Booster. The humor and satire is delivered in a way that is so in keeping with the BG that everyone knows, and is the trademark of Mark Russell at this point. The direction the story ends up going is so clever, but also makes you feel like it couldn’t have ended any other way, which in my humble opinion is pretty perfect storytelling.
Jon Mikel and Mike Spicer need to be put on a Superman book, like, immediately. I love the way Mikel draws Superman, giving across the boyish charm and charisma while still making him powerful and intimidating in the action scenes, pairing that with Spicer’s colors is the icing and cherry on the cake. Drawing this story to a close, they’re both bringing their A-Game, and it’s fabulous to witness.
Learn
And now I have a lot of questions.” – The Question
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Rene Montoya is FINALLY back in the mask, and “Duality” is kicking off her latest chapter with a roar!
Batman: The Brave & The Bold #15 is bringing some of my favorite characters out this month, and The Question is most definitely up there!
Rene’s last appearance in John Ridley and Reiko Murakami’s GCPD: The Blue Wall was a dramatic, heart-wrenching story with a shocking ending that I for sure did not see coming, and this is following on beautifully from that. This is a hard-boiled detective story down to its core. This time Rene doesn’t have a department behind her, so to find her own answers she’ll have to ask the right Questions…
Alex Segura has shown his proficiency with detective stories before (see his gritty reboot of Dick Tracy from Mad Cave Studios), and he’s handling the extra angle of Rene being a semi-retired superhero very well. The way it’s worked into the story isn’t forced, and it feels like a very natural progression for the plot that Rene put her old mask back on to solve this problem. So far, I’m intrigued with where this is going, and that’s always the best place to start!
Andy MacDonald and Patricio Delpeche make a great pair for the art duties on this book, and lend themselves well to the vibe the story is giving across. The gritty crime drama always requires a certain vibe to work (Ed Brubaker with Sean Phillips and Chris Condon with Jacob Phillips immediately spring to mind in regards to that), and these two are nailing that in this story.
Listen
I’m not really looking to argue with an inanimate object.” – Guy Gardner, Green Lantern
“The Invader” finishes up this month, and I will surely miss its retro sci-fi goodness!
This story has been an absolute pleasure to read. With comics like Dark Horse’s Blue Book from James Tynion IV and Michael Avon Oeming and Boom!’s Hunt for the Skinwalker from Zac Thompson, Valeria Burzo and Jason Wordie being so popular with their real life sci-fi themes, seeing a superhero story reframed through that lens has been refreshing and super interesting to take in.
Joshua Hale Fialkov has really done a great job in this story. Playing on Bruce and Guy’s previous… relationship, for lack of a better term, was an absolute genius move, and I’m not sure the story would have been the same without Guy’s involvement. Thank God he was the GL in sector 2184 that day!
Lisandro Estherren and Patricio Delpeche prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were the right choice for this story in this last part. The hallucinations that the little gray man gives Bruce are displayed in vivid detail here, in a way that few artists could make come to life, but these guys manage it!
Conclusion
A new story begins and two more end in Batman: The Brave & The Bold #15. As sad as it is to see them go, I’m very excited to see what’s coming up next, and that is the key strength of this title. The stories end, but there will always be more. There will always be more fantastic stories coming up, and will always be something new and exciting. That’s why we should all keep reading!
On a personal note, as I didn’t get a chance to contribute to the larger tribute post, I would just like to mark the passing of one of my closest friends, Steve J. Ray.
As I write this, I’m looking at a copy of X-Men #136 I have framed on my bookshelf that Steve gave to me. He gave it to me simply because, I quote, “I know it’s going to a good home.” That was the kind of person Steve was. No matter how long he’d known you, no matter how much he’d spoken to you, he just had this innate ability to understand you, and a bottomless well of kindness and love to those he held dear. No matter what you would be going through, or what he was going through in turn, he would be there to talk to you about anything. Mainly Batman, of course, but anything.
Steve was one of the kindest, warmest, deepest people I’ve ever met in my life. It was an absolute privilege to know him and spend so much time with him over the last three years.
Rest in peace, brother. I love you.
