The Brave and the Bold #36: "Shadow-Thief Of Midway City!"

The Brave and the Bold #36
"Shadow-Thief Of Midway City!"
June-July, 1961

Story: Gardner Fox
Art: Joe Kubert
Lettering: Gaspar Saladino

There must be someone or something to cast a shadow! Or so it was believed until the appearance of a bodiless shadow which passed through steel and concrete -- committing crimes at will! How could the authorities hope to catch an elusive criminal who could slip through their very fingers? Hawkman and Hawkgirl had to solve this particular problem when they pursue the... "Shadow-Thief Of Midway City!"

During the lunchtime break at Midway City National Bank, a security guard is unable to believe his very eyes! The hapless guard watches as a shadow walks through the bank's revolving doors, and there's no one present to cast it! As the silent shadow moves across the bank floor, the security guard reaches out for the shadowy figure, but his hand fails to make contact -- and there is a cold feeling, as if it were suddenly dipped in ice water! The bodiless shadow continues walking straight ahead through the teller's cage, its hands closing on packages containing bank notes... The stolen bank money is placed within a shadowy bag, and bullets fail to stop the bodiless shadow as it prepares to leave the Midway City National Bank!

Outside the bank, police cars have arrived... and the officers' bullets fail to bring the shadow to a halt! The silent shadow passes through a nearby building... leaving the police officers at a loss to explain what they have just seen for themselves! One hour later, a homing pigeon is hovering outside of the Midway City Museum. Inside, Shayera informs Katar that their spaceship receiviset has just shown their home planet of Thanagar is summoning them to return! They will have to leave the Earth! As Katar ponders using the cover of taking a vacation to protect their dual identities, Shayera spots one of Commissioner Emmett's homing pigeons with a message for them! The musem director and his spouse change to their Hawkman and Hawkgirl uniforms... armed with a crossbow to be used against the Shadow-Thief... Hawkgirl has been asked by Katar to carry a camera! In Commissioner Emmett's office, the Hawks are briefed about the mysterious Shadow-Thief. A police cordon is being thrown around Midway City, and the Hawks will be patrolling the skies! The police officers are to fire flares as soon as they spot the Shadow-Thief!

After winging their way to their orbiting invisible spaceship, Hawkman alters the crossbow bolts, and the Hawks begin their aerial patrol. Spotting a flare, Hawkgirl directs her spouse to fly down to a private residence, where the only complete American coin collection is housed! The Shadow-Thief is in the display room, helping himself to the million dollar coins. Hawkman hopes the crossbow quarrels will stop this mysterious thief! Whatever does happen will be recorded by Hawkgirl and her camera! Its loot is stuffed in a shadowy bag, the Shadow-Thief prepares to depart. The glass knobs on the crossbow bolts contain tear gas! If the Shadow-Thief needs to breathe -- this will make it difficult! Unaffected by the tear gas, the Shadow-Thief continues on its way. Since bullets and tear gas failed to stop it, Hawkman decides to fight it with fire!

Hawkman fires off the bolts again and again until the Shadow-Thief is surrounded by a ring of fire. For a moment, the mysterious criminal hesitates, then passes through the flames, unharmed. There is only one thing left to try -- a smoke screen to restrict its field of vision! FROOOSH This also fails, as the Shadow-Thief continues on its way, and passes through the sidewalk itself! Later, the mysterious criminal enters through the door of a trailer miles outside of Midway City.

The Shadow-Thief turns off the dimensiometer which enables him to assume his shadowy form! Carl Sands recalls how it was his own shadow that caused him to be apprehended while committing a burglary years ago! He had thought himself successfully hidden, but a policeman spotted his shadow, and arrested him! During those years in prison, Sands saw that his shadow could go outside of his cell -- but he could not! He used to pretend that he could command his shadow to seize the guard's keys to open his cell door. After serving his time, Carl Sands read up about shadow facts and fiction. It was once believed that a shadow could be caught within a string! Using a magic-trick book, Sands created a device which would allow him to walk away, leaving his shadow behind. A red light -- then a green light -- and a blue light are cast on a screen...

When Sands stepped back, his shadow image was imprinted on the screen! This trick would not allow his shadow to walk around. One evening while he was experimenting, Carl Sands heard a faint cry for help. Following the voice's instructions, he kept the color disc spinning at a steady rate, and learned in a dimension adjacent to his own, a creature needed his aid. After placing some iron filings under the revolving disc, Sands learned that these items powered a strange type of ray-gun. ZSST The creature had run out of iron and thanks to the third dimensional man, he was able to disintegrate the rock which had trapped him. In gratitude, the creature sent a dimensionmeter from his laboratory, and Carl Sands found it beneath the revolving disc. The rotating colored discs opened a gateway between their two dimensions!

Activating the dimensiometer, Carl Sands found his body shifting to another dimension which was a geographical duplicate of Earth! Although he was now in another dimension, he was able to cast a shadow on Earth! A pair of ebony gloves appeared after the dimensiometer. These gloves would enable Sands to reach from the other dimension into his own world! Sands wore the device and a specially designed uniform when he robbed the Midway City National Bank! All that could be seen of him was his shadow! When he returned to his trailer, he learned from the creature that the dimensiometer affected Earth's magnetic lines! If he continued using the device, he would cause another ice age! Blizzards would rage over the surface of the Earth! The oceans would be frozen solid! There would be no more food because all animal life would die out and nothing would grow! Mankind would soon follow...

Carl Sands refused to listen further and smashes the color disc which bridged their two dimensions. He intended on using the dimensiometer again and again... no matter what! CRASH As the Shadow-Thief, he would continue to rob whatever he could carry! No one was going to stop him! At Midway City Museum, Shayera and Katar ponder how they could defeat a shadow? She would not like to leave Earth for Thanagar without knowing they had been outsmarted by the Shadow-Thief! Even if they knew where he was, how could they capture him if they can't even touch him? Katar recalls the motion pictures Shayera took! After watching the footage, they make a profile still view of their suspect! At Midway City Police Headquarters, Hawkman browses through the mug book until he finds what he has been looking for. Carl Sands is their Shadow-Thief! Commissioner Emmett prepares to order a city-wide search for the recently released criminal suspect!

Hawkman points out they have to figure out a way to capture him or else he will slip through their fingers again! One hour later in Hawk Valley, Hawkman commands his feathered friends to find the evil man who steals from the Hawks' own people! Minutes later, the trailer is spotted, and Carl Sands is seen pouring a cup of coffee at the window! As the Hawks swoop towards his trailer, Hawkman tells Hawkgirl what they are going to do!

The two Thanagarian police officers grasp the trailer at opposite ends and activate their anti-gravity belts at full power, lifting it into the air. If Carl Sands becomes the Shadow-Thief, he will fall to his death! Realizing his predicament, Sands tries to trick Hawkman by agreeing to surrender! When the trailer is back on solid ground, he will exit once again as the Shadow-Thief! With the trailer back on the ground, Sands activates the dimensiometer, and believes that he has just outwitted Hawkman!

The Shadow-Thief lunges through the trailer and over the side of a cliff! Sands will fall just as hard in the other dimensional world as in this one! He must make himself visible again so that the Hawks can save him! A terrified Carl Sands yanks off the dimensiometer from his wrist, and it is caught by Hawkgirl! After catching the shaking Sands, the Hawks turn him over to the authorities, and Hawkgirl throws away the dimensiometer because its delicate mechanism was upset when Sands tore it off! It is now time for them to return to Thanagar! From the other dimensional world, the creature realizes that if Hawkgirl had been successful in activating the dimensiometer, the subsequent ice age would have ended all life on Earth!

This story was reprinted in DC Special #8 (July-September, 1970).

Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of the Shadow-Thief? Carl Sands knows!

I first learned of the Shadow-Thief in the 1975 Secret Origins Of Super-Villains tabloid edition.

The Shadow-Thief's sudden appearance at the Midway City National Bank made those present suffer from a bad case of withdrawal.

The authorities had a flare for the dramatic appearance of the Shadow-Thief.

The Hawks had a few crossbow quarrels to settle with the mysterious criminal.

"Ring Of Fire" was a popular tune sung by Johnny Cash.

Carl Sands' shadow had quite a reach, but he could not elude the long arm of the law.

Red, green, and blue are popular colors with the Lantern Corps.

A shadowy profile introduced each episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents".

The Hawks wheet, while other people tweet!

Carl Sands refused to sit through the trailer, rushing into the main feature, and a sudden drop in height.

Steve Chung
"Shadow-Review Of Midway City!"

The Brave And The Bold #172: "Darkness And Dark Fire"

 The Brave And The Bold #172

 "Darkness And Dark Fire"
 March, 1981

 Gerry Conway: Writer
 Carmine Infantino & Steve Mitchell: Guest Artists
 John Costanza: Letterer
 Adrienne Roy: Colorist
 Paul Levitz: Editor


 Elsewhere in the city, there is life and light. Here in the business district, the citizens of Manhattan sleep. But even that fitful sleep is about to be disturbed by the arrival of the Darknight Detective. Someone has been watching the Concordance Research Inc. building for an hour. It's time the Batman found out why!

 Sliding down the Bat-Rope, he comes face-to-face with Jason Bard, the private investigator. He is freelancing for Concordance's security department and has been hired to follow a new employee of theirs, Professor Martin Stein. The physicist was a top nuclear designer who started having blackouts. After having hit the skids, Stein has been given a second chance by Concordance, and they have noticed his frequent disappearances. Concordance is worried about their top-secret government contracts -- and hired Bard to follow the physicist. The private detective lost track of Stein this afternoon. The physicist showed up at Concordance one hour ago. Security contacted Bard and he has been waiting for him ever since.

 When he turns to ask the Batman why he is here in New York City, the Masked Manhunter is already leaving. Moments later on the rooftop, Batman has a feeling that he and Jason are working on two sides of the same puzzle. While Jason is investigating a physicist experiencing blackouts, the Darknight Detective is keeping tabs on a fellow Justice Leaguer with an identical problem. He has tracked him to this building an hour ago after leaving the Justice League Satellite. A bright light may be seen in one of the windows of the Concordance Research building and from out of it comes the Nuclear Man!

 Batman was going to follow his fellow JLAer since he insisted on keeping his problem personal -- but with Jason Bard involved, he intends on having a talk with Firestorm now. After tying the Bat-Rope onto his Batarang, the Masked Manhunter swings towards his flying friend, only to find his Batrope has been turned into confetti! The Nuclear Man has used his power of atomic-restructuring and Batman is heading for a fall! He spots a movie marquee directly below...

 The Darknight Detective wraps his hands in his cape and uses the lettering on the marquee to break his fall! Jason Bard has seen the whole thing and has managed to reach Batman as quickly as his limp would allow him. The Masked Manhunter can guess what's on the private investigator's mind.

 He cannot answer the question of there being a connection between Professor Martin Stein and Firestorm because he doesn't know. If one of them manages to find the connection, it will have to be up to Jason Bard. The Batmobile is now heading north and Batman remembers how Firestorm was asking his fellow Justice Leaguers for advice without telling them what was really bothering him... The Nuclear Man wondered if one of them ever went crazy, would the others drum him out of the League?

 When the Red Tornado asks for specifics, Firestorm mentions he has been having blackouts, and remains silent when pressed for further information. The Amazon recognizes a desperate cry for help when she hears it. The Man of Steel wishes they could find out what was troubling their newest member -- and the Darknight Detective volunteers to get answers.

 After following the Nuclear Man to Concordance Research, Firestorm disappeared, and Professor Stein appeared. What did the physicist have to do with the blackouts? If he weren't so sure that his fellow Justice Leaguer was a young man, he might have suspected him of being Stein -- But Martin Stein couldn't be Firestorm and may be responsible for the Nuclear Man's blackouts. Firestorm's next stop is East Side General Hospital... FTOOM! He makes a memorable entrance which startles the hospital staff and patients alike.

 One needs not be a detective to follow so easy a trail. East Side General Hospital has got its own experimental research departments... including one devoted to nuclear medicine -- and the study of radiation's role in healing. The Nuclear Man's attention is upon the waldos, remote-controlled mechanical arms for use in handling radioactive materials... Firestorm is now well-armed.

 The Batman watches from the corner of the outer corridor, seeing the Nuclear Man with a pair of waldos, and delaying their confrontation for further pursuit via the Batmobile!

 Jason Bard is at the Concordance Research building, where he learns more about Professor Martin Stein's mysterious disappearance. Security has seen him on the phone in his office... and when they looked in on him again, the physicist was gone. The private detective notices the open rolodex and the card of the person he called last... Ronald Raymond.

 The Batmobile has arrived at the Hudson Nuclear Facility, an experimental nuclear plant that seems to be the Nuclear Man's destination. As the Batman leaps over the wall, he remembers reading about the plant, and its designer... Professor Martin Stein! Seeing his fellow Justice Leaguer passing through the plant, the Darknight Detective knows the next few minutes should prove very interesting.

 The Nuclear Man is using his unique powers to place the waldos in their chosen position. The nuclear pile of fissionable material is the core of the plant. Its reactions are controlled by damper rods of carbon and other materials... It is here that the nuclear reaction is created and sustained... As far as the general public knows, the Hudson Nuclear Facility was closed down several months ago. The puppet has done its work and its master has got hands to match its mind. It will no longer require the puppet to do its work. It will be able to act out on its own with the hands it has been given. Clad in a radiation suit, Batman sees the nuclear pile has become sentient and it has used its intelligence to control the Nuclear Man's mind! The nuclear accident that merged Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond into Firestorm also created a nuclear life-form! It had been barely aware of its own existence and was sightless... without thought, and impotent.

 As it reached a new critical mass, it came to understand what it was, and it began to think. It read the minds of Stein and Raymond, learning what it knows now from the physicist. Its newfound comprehension led to a newfound desire, and control over Firestorm. The young hero was a puppet who retracted the control rods that had kept it from experiencing its full power. The second mission involved the acquiring of hands. The puppet's final mission is to destroy the Batman! It knew he was here and the speech was for his benefit. It was now using the Nuclear Man to commit murder!

 The Masked Manhunter meets the challenge... head-on! He knows Firestorm's power are a form of nuclear fusion -- the anti-thesis of nuclear fission! Perhaps one of his nuclear blasts could damage the reactor core. He will have to use treachery and cunning. His fellow Justice Leaguer does not know what to make of his desperate plan... and his nuclear blast's effect on --

 FTOOM! The nuclear fusion blast and the fission reaction cancel each other out... silencing the core forever. Martin Stein feels like he has awakened from a strange dream! Ronnie Raymond remembers everything now... and as Firestorm, he drains the radiation from Batman's body into himself! His actions save his fellow Justice Leaguer's life and repay the debt of having freed them from the living reactor's control over them.

 Once the Darknight Detective has told them about Jason Bard's interest in Martin Stein and the Nuclear Man... they remember a clue the private detective may have found in the physicist's office. They are about to throw Bard off the scent. The Batman does not know how Professor Stein ties into this and who Ronald Raymond is... but he does know that the two of them should be a match for the deductive skills of Jason Bard. Ronnie Raymond is thanking Martin Stein for the interview for the school paper when the security consultant arrives. The private detective is certain there is a mystery present and one day, he will solve it.

 On the cover of The Brave And The Bold #172 by Jim Aparo, the Nuclear Man is dying, and the Batman is unable to survive the heart of a nuclear reactor long enough to save him!

 Firestorm was created by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom.

 Carmine Infantino was the artist who brought Batman his "new look".

 The Darknight Detective makes the marquee de save in slowing his fatal fall.

 Mr. Infantino also drew the Scarlet Speedster's first appearance in Showcase #4.

 Leave it to the Masked Manhunter to find out where's the waldos.

 Doctor Otto Octavius used his own mechanical arms to handle radioactive materials from a safe distance.

 Danton Black was also present at the plant and became the villain known as Multiplex the Multiple Man.

 The Nuclear Man saved the life of another Justice Leaguer by draining the radiation from the Scarlet Speedster's body in The Flash #293 (January, 1981).

 As drawn by Carmine Infantino and Steve Mitchell, Ronnie Raymond seems younger than the high school basketball player he was in his own ongoing title.

 Olan Soule voiced Martin Stein and Mark L. Taylor voiced Ronnie Raymond/Firestorm on the last two Super Friends TV series.

 Victor Garber will be portraying Martin Stein and Robbie Amell will be portraying Ronnie Raymond on the new Flash TV series.

 Steve Chung
 "Darkness And Dark Review"

Brave and the Bold #181 (Batman & Hawk & Dove)

BRAVE AND THE BOLD #181; Dec. 1981; DC Comics; Dick Giordano, editor; featuring Batman and the Hawk and the Dove in "Time, See What's Become of Me...", written by Alan Brennert and drawn by Jim Aparo.  On the cover by Aparo, a giant symbolic figure of Batman watches as the Hawk and Dove wrestle with each other.  Cover caption: "Two brothers gifted with remarkable powers in a time past.  ONE AN AGGRESSOR... ONE A PACIFIST!"


Review by Bill Henley (not much of an aggressor, but not a pacifist either)

I've mentioned this story and talked about doing a review of it before, and here it is.  It's not chronologically a Silver Age story, but it makes a nice coda to the original HAWK & DOVE series, which did qualify as "late Silver Age".  It's one of a small but memorable handful of BRAVE & BOLD team-ups scripted by Alan Brennert, who dabbled in comics as well as television writing before becoming a novelist.

The story begins with an "all-too-rare social visit" between three friends-- Bruce Wayne, Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, all in their civilian identities.  When Bruce insists that he needs to cut the visit short in order to take care of business as his alter ego, Barry complains, "Seems like the only time we get together any more is to stop Throgg the Omnipotent from taking over the world!"  This was back when Batman/Bruce Wayne was somewhat less obsessive and capable of having friendships and a social life as Bruce, even if they always took a back seat to his Batman duties.  Bruce departs with a wave and, "Give my regards to Throgg, guys...!"   The more laid-back Barry and Hal prepare to race each other back to Los Angeles (and out of the story; this isn't a Batman/Flash/GL team-up). 

"Within minutes, Bruce Wayne has shed his evening clothes and is giving new meaning to the phrase 'swinging playboy'"... literally swinging from rooftops, as Batman, on his way to stake out a drug deal.  It seems that mob boss Thomas Kurland has  "handed the local heroin trade over to his son... on the job training, as it were".  Bats plans to watch the younger Kurland make a rendezvous with a drug client, and then follow him to his father.  But another costumed character is also taking an interest...

The Hawk is lurking on a rooftop nearby, after having gotten info on the impending drug deal by "working over a pigeon". Even though despite his super-powers he has to cope with a fear of heights (a detail from the original Hawk & Dove series), he is determined to stop the drug buy from taking place, in his own, shall we say, forthright fashion.  Thinking to himself, "Gotta face my FEARS, like DAD always said..." he leaps down and lays into young Kurland and his henchman-- much to the dismay of Batman, who had other plans.  "THE HAWK? Haven't seen him in years!  What's he doing here, fouling up my stakeout?"  (An editor's note indicates the Hawk's last appearance was back in TEEN TITANS #25.  Though didn't the Hawk and Dove appear briefly as part of "Titans West" in the short-lived 1976-77 TITANS revival?)  Hawk doesn't want Batman interfering with his action either; "I'm not the KID you and your JLA buddies used to patronize any more!  I can handle this MYSELF!"  Maybe not, Hawk... Batman prevents one of the thugs from shooting him, and then young Kurland climbs onto a roof edge in order to get a better vantage point to fight back against the Hawk.  (Kurland's thought balloon; "The guy's a LOON!"  Wrong bird, guy, though I can see your point.)  But in trying to kick the Hawk, Kurland overbalances, and neither Batman nor Hawk can grab him before he falls to his death!

Caption, partly echoing the cover copy; "They were products of their TIME-- the 1960's  Two brothers-- one the aggressor, one the pacifist-- gifted with remarkable powers.  Twelve years later, Kennedy, King and Lennon are gone, and the '60s exist only as a merchandising tool, a NOSTALGIA ITEM for those too young to REMEMBER... and like so many of their generation, the Hawk and the Dove must ask: TIME, SEE WHAT'S BECOME OF ME...?"   (Yes, the line is from Paul Simon, not Lennon.  And yes, in this story twelve years of "real time" have passed since the original 1968-69 HAWK & DOVE comic-book series, and, as we'll see, Hank (Hawk) Hall and his brother Don (Dove) have aged from teenagers into adults.  As some fans complained when the story appeared, this makes the story off-continuity, since other teen characters such as Robin and the other Titans had not aged that much since appearing in the comics of 1969.  But I didn't and don't care.  Ignoring continuity was an old tradition for BRAVE & BOLD, and Alan Brennert did so here to better effect than most of Bob Haney's "Earth-B" off-continuity yarns.)

While an angry Batman accuses Hawk of causing Kurland's death, Hawk finds himself involuntarily changing back to his non-powered civilian identity of Hank Hall!  (As the original H & D series established, the brothers did not have complete control of their identity changes; they could change by saying their hero names only when "injustice was present", and they changed back automatically once the "injustice" was no longer present, even if it was an inconvenient moment for them and their secret identities.)  Hank catches Batman off-guard with a kick and flees.  And now Batman is fearful for the Hawk's life, for if the vengeful Kurland Sr. finds out who he is, from a henchman on the scene who also fled, "his life won't be worth a pound of GRANOLA!"  And Batman is also concerned about the Hawk's state of mind; "He was always HEADSTRONG... AGGRESSIVE... but tonight he seemed on the verge of a BREAKDOWN!"  Batman must find the Hawk and protect him from Kurland-- and perhaps from himself-- until he can put the senior ganglord behind bars!  "Except I don't know the Hawk's true identity... and didn't get a GOOD look at his face when he changed!  How do I find a fugitive SUPER-HERO in a city of over a million people!"

In nearby Berkeley, Don Hall is dismayed to learn that he is being laid off from his job at the "Federal Welfare Center" due to budget cuts. He muses bitterly about how it seems "humanism has become a dirty word" since the 60s," but also about how his feelings of anger almost caused him to "act like Hawk!"  Spotting a couple of thugs attacking another man with a tire iron, Don assumes his superheroic identity and intervenes, getting between the men and trying to persuade them to "discuss things rationally".  One of the thugs sneers about the name of the Dove; "What kind of name is that for a COSTUMED CLOWN?"  "Boy, do I feel OLD!", thinks Don; "They don't even remember what it MEANS!"  As he stops the thug with a bit of "passive resistance" judo, Don reflects on how "hawk" and "dove" were familiar labels all those years ago when he and his brother quarreled incessantly over the Vietnam war.  Then the names acquired new meanings for them when they were locked in a mobster's hideout and a power represented by a "mysterious voice" granted them superhuman powers and costumed identities!  "I only wanted to protect the VICTIM, but Hank seemed to get TRUE PLEASURE out of pounding the CHEESE out of criminals!"  And yet, Don still misses his brother, as well as their father, a judge who functioned as the "moderate ground between two extremes" and warned them (though he didn't know about their costumed identities) "You boys don't THINK about your positions!  You live by your REFLEXES, not your MINDS!"  (It's indicated Judge Hall is still alive, but that the brothers haven't seen him in a long time.) Returning to his home, Don quarrels with his significant other, Michelle, who urges him to move beyond civil service and "use your talents in politics, communications, anything!"  When Don responds that his brother Hank's mundane life has gotten him nothing besides "a CREDIT LINE and an ULCER," Michelle replies in turn, "There it is again!  Your BROTHER!  Don, I love you... but you've got to stop measuring everything you DO against your BROTHER... or you'll never be more than HALF a person!"  And as she storms out, Don wonders if her indictment is correct; "For what, after all, is a DOVE without a HAWK... YIN without YANG?" 

Elsewhere, gangster Thomas Kurland looks at a picture of the unmasked Hawk (apparently a police-type sketch based on the account of the thug who saw him change) and vows to learn his true identity and destroy him! He wonders if he should have pushed his son into joining his gang operaton, but "Maybe killing this HAWK charactre won't let YOU rest any easier... but it might help ME sleep a little better!"  And meanwhile, Batman's quest through newspaper records to track down the Hawk is getting nowhere-- until it occurs to him to seek out the Hawk's one-time partner, the Dove, who is known to operate in Berkeley.  "If I can track him down, maybe he can lead me to the HAWK-- before Kurland plucks his feathers!"  Meanwhile, the man he is really seeking, Hank Hall, has come home to his suburban abode, only to find that his wife Linda isn't any happier with him than Don's Michelle is with him.  She knows that Hank is the Hawk, and she accuses of him of "taking out your frustrations on any poor CROOK that happens along" instead of facing the real problems with his life and their relationship.  Angered, Hank reaches out to slap his wife!  It's not clear from the art if the blow actually connects, but Hank is still horrified at himself.  "But in moments, HORROR has turned to RAGE," as Hank bemoans how "I did everything a man's SUPPOSED to do... served in the Navy... got a good job... a good wife" and yet everything is turning out wrong!  And yet again, instead of dealing with his problems, Hank takes refuge in his Hawk identity and sets out-- riding a motorcycle commandeered from an innocent by-rider-- to bring Thomas Kurland Sr. to justice.  He convinces himself that is what "the-- ENTITY that GAVE me these powers" would want; "I've got a responsibility to a HIGHER POWER!" 

Across the Bay, Don Hall is roused from bed by an unexpected visit from the Batman ("May I come in?  The neighbors are starting to STARE..." ) He explains that he was able to track down Don's identity by matching names from an old Elmond, Oregon phone directory (the town where the young Hawk and Dove lived) to men in their late 20's in the Berkeley neighborhood where the Dove has been seen-- and suggests that if Don wants to continue as a secret crimefighter, he'd better get an unlisted phone number!  Upon learning of the danger Hank is in, Don willingly reveals Hawk's true identity to Batman and goes along to help his brother.  They don't find Hank, but they find his wife Linda captured as a hostage by Kurland's thugs!  In his eagerness to stop them without violence, the Dove accidentally propels himself and one of the gangsters out of a high-rise window, but manages to save himself and the thug with his super-athletic abilities.  Ironically, this convinces the thug that the Dove is as much of a "maniac with feathers" as his brother the Hawk, and he fearfully reveals to Batman the whereabouts of Kurland Sr.
As Batman and the Dove go in pursuit, Batman warns Dove that if he wants to help his brother, he needs to avoid any more "dumb moves" trying to stop the enemy without violence; "I appreciate your PHILOSOPHY-- but we may not be able to AFFORD it right now."

And meanwhile, Hawk is raiding a nightclub owned by Kurland's crime empire.  So intent is he on tracing the ganglord, that he seizes a girl dancer and threatens, "Does somebody TALK... or does this little lady get HURT?"  "Once, Hank Hall would have been REPELLED by what he is doing... but his mind is CLOUDED now, by ANGER, by FRUSTRATION, by all the ways life has BAFFLED and CHEATED him..."   "Fortunately," he is saved from the crime of harming an innocent when one of Kurland's thugs knocks him out from behind! 

Batman and the Dove spot the unconscious Hawk being taken out to Kurland's boat in the harbor, but they cannot intervene for fear the gangsters will kill Hawk before they can reach him.  Instead, they will try to sneak aboard the boat-- planting an explosive on the hull as a distraction-- and not only rescue Hawk but get enough evidence against Kurland to "put him away for a long, long time".  And meanwhile, locked in the hold, Hawk has an epiphany.  Reflecting on the people he has hurt or almost hurt-- Kurland Jr., Linda, the nightclub dancer-- he reflects, "I-- I'm no better than the CREEPS I've been trying to STOP!  What's HAPPENING to me?"  And he is answered-- for the first time in twelve years-- by a voice out of nowhere, telling him, "You have just taken the FIRST STEP, Hank Hall!" "The Voice" tells him that neither he nor his brother have changed and grown in the way it hoped when it first granted them their powers.  Both have "atrophied"; "I had hoped, in time, you would realize the worth in BOTH your philosophies-- but you have not!"  Hank asks mercy from the voice he thinks is that of God, but it sets him straight on that point; "I am not divine, Hank Hall!  That is your GREATEST MISTAKE!  Thinking yourself above COMPASSION... on some divine CRUSADE that sets you ABOVE your fellow beings!  (But though it is not divine, we don't find out what exactly "The Voice" really is.)  "Perhaps your powers have prevented you from GROWING... perhaps only by LOSING them might you recapture YOURSELVES!"  And so, as he changes back to Hank Hall "for perhaps the last time," the ex-Hawk is told, "You can make amends by fulfilling your HUMAN potential...then when you have GROWN... when you are WORTHY... perhaps the powers will be YOURS again..!  Goodbye, Hawk.  I am confident that we shall meet again... ONE DAY..."

And below the ship, carrying out Batman's directions to plant a plastic explosive on the hull, the Dove also has a feeling that he is "about to lose something".  He prays that it is not his brother!   But what he loses is his costume and superhuman identity.  How can he help Batman save Hawk and capture Kurland and his gang, with only his normal human abilities? 

Aboard the ship, Kurland confronts Hank Hall and asks him, "Why'd you kill my son?"  Hank replies that he didn't intentionally kill him, but he was responsible and must face the consequences.  "I've been trying to PROVE something.. show my FATHER I was WORTH something...!"  And Kurland Sr. has qualms of his own, wondering if this young man is so different from his son whom he pushed into a dangerous life of crime.  Then Kurland is distracted by the bomb under his ship blowing up and Batman swinging onto the deck!  As Batman handles the rest of the gang, Don Hall sees his brother in danger, from one of Kurland's thugs aiming a gun at him, and lays out the man with a mighty punch!  Batman tells Don "Good work" but wonders why he is no longer in costume, and Hank says, "That's a long story... little brother".  Don is wondering what is wrong with Hank, who "just stood there" when he was about to be killed.  "And YOU laid into that thug like a BALL-PEEN HAMMER.  Talk about TURNABOUT, huh?"  Echoing "The Voice," Batman chides them both; "You've both been so afraid to admit you could be ANYTHING like the OTHER... that you've FROZEN yourselves into people you should have GROWN OUT of long ago!  We all have our VIOLENT sides... and our GENTLE sides.  We all HATE... and we all LOVE.  If we deny EITHER, we DIE a little inside.  As YOU did, Hank.  It's called being HUMAN."  (Yeah, I know, it's kind of ironic Batman being the one giving this little speech, especially considering how he's been portrayed so often since then, as obsessive and violent right up to the verge of killing.  Maybe he should have listened to himself.)  As Hank and Don begin to reminisce about their younger days, the final caption tells us, "They were products of their TIME... and perhaps, some day, that time will come AGAIN.  But before it DOES, they must learn again... what it means to be BROTHERS."

As far as I'm concerned it would have been just as well if this had been the last appearance of the Hawk and Dove.  And, indeed, in a "pre-Crisis" sense, it was.  During CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS (a series which I don't like nearly as much in retrospect as I did when it first came out-- and I don't think I'm alone in that) the Hawk and Dove are teenagers again and still have their powers, but the Dove is killed off in a quick "trivia death", leaving the Hawk alone.  There was another HAWK & DOVE series in which the Hawk was teamed up with a new female Dove-- I only read a few of those, and don't remember much about the series.  Then the Hawk was revealed to be the villain Monarch in one of DC's later "event" series, I think ARMAGEDDON (which I also didn't read) but I guess he too was killed off.  Better if this B & B story had been left to stand as the last statement on these two time-bound characters. 

At this time, BRAVE & BOLD had a backup feature "Nemesis" about a master-of-disguise type hero.  The stories by Cary Burkett never did much for me (though the art by Dan Spiegle was nice) so I won't take time to review the installment in this issue.

Brave & Bold #63 (Supergirl & Wonder Woman)

BRAVE AND THE BOLD #63; DC Comics; Dec. 1965-Jan. 1966; George Kashdan, 
editor; featuring Supergirl and Wonder Woman in "The Revolt of the  Super-Chicks!"
On the cover by Jim Mooney (Supergirl's regular artist at  the time),
Supergirl is trying to halt a hurtling missile, but Wonder Woman is  fastened to a
nearby flying disk and her body is emitting Kryptonite rays which  are making
Supergirl distinctly queasy.  Down in the corner of the cover, a  mushy-faced
figure is boasting, "MULTI-FACE talking!  I've turned WONDER  WOMAN into a
KRYPTONITE BOOBY-TRAP!  She'll be the death of SUPERGIRL  yet!"  And the cover
caption promises, "IT'S THE LIVING END!  TWO  SUPER-CHICKS ON A NEW KICK! 
SUPERGIRL-- A PARIS MODEL!  WONDER  WOMAN-- THE TOAST OF THE JET SET!"   

Review by Bill  Henley (toast of the rubber-band-airplane set)

The interior story is  written by Bob Haney, the regular B & B teamup writer,
and drawn by John  Rosenberger, according to the Great Comicbook Database.  B
& B was  notable at this point for using a variety of artists, some of whom
rarely if  ever worked on other DC superhero titles.  Rosenberger a few years
earlier  had been one of the main artists on Archie Comics' THE FLY and THE
JAGUAR.   Later on he would draw a number of Lois Lane stories for her title and
SUPERMAN  FAMILY.  This issue was also of note for being the first B & B
teamup--  and one of the few ever-- to feature a "Superman Famiily" character as
one of  the partners.  Evidently the obviousness of teaming up Supergirl and WW,
the two most powerful and prominent DC heroines, overcame Mort Weisinger's
well  known reluctance to allow any of "his" characters to be handled by any
other  editorial hands.

On the splash page, in separate scenes, Supergirl and WW  are both enjoying
the good life, female style, in "beautiful, glittering,  romantic Paris!" 
Supergirl is modeling a white floor-length evening gown  with elbow-length gloves
and pearl necklace, and as male onlookers utter French  endearments, she 
sneers at a mental image of her more usual self; "To  think I once wore that silly
costume and cape...NOW look at me!"  Likewise,  Wonder Woman is on a dance
floor being kissed by a handsome man, and wearing a  fashion gown (though she
stilll has on her Amazon tiara).  "When I wore  that frumpy Amazon outfit,
nothing like this ever happened to me!"  On a  "cockleshell" boat somewhere out in
the ocean, two lovers are stranded and  adrift, and things are about to get
worse for them, as a storm is ready to blow  up.  But the storm is man-made, as
the couple are movie stars shooting a  film on location, and the director on
shore nearby orders a giant fan to be used  to create wind and waves.  When the
fan goes out of control, it appears the  mock film tragedy may turn real, as
the small boat with the two stars is blown  through the air.  "Twenty million
bucks worth of talent-- gone with the  wind!", the director bemoans.  But
fortunately for the stars and Magna  Productions, Supergirl is happening by on
patrol, and she flies down to rescue  the boat and its famous occupants and carry
them ashore.  The Girl of Steel  is miffed, though, when the movie crew and
onlookers cluster around the stars,  particularly the leading lady, and ignore
her, the heroine of the  incident.  "I rescue the two most famous, valuable
stars in the world, and  all anybody can think of is her!  No wonder...she's all
woman....all  FEMALE!"  Looking at her image in the water, Supergirl is
suddenly  disgusted with her "loud costume" and her career of battling "grimy 
crooks".  She wants to "live the life of a normal, real, human girl" and  "be
feminine, desirable, adored by men".  (Uh, Supergirl, if you really  think the
typical "life of a normal, real, human girl" involves being a movie  star "adored
by men,", I'm sure a lot of normal, real, human girls would be glad  to
disabuse you of the notion....)  The news is flashed around the world  that
Supergirl has announced she is abandoning her super-heroine career, and  soon,
college student Linda Lee Danvers (in her demure schoolgirl clothes and  brown wig,
scarcely more glamorous than Supergirl's super-costume) receives a  visit from
her cousin Superman, who wants to dissuade her.  "You're simply  not like
other girls!  You can't escape your duty-- your destiny... the  responsibility of
using your great powers for mankind's benefit!"  But  Linda/Supergirl is
unmoved; she's determined that "that square chick, Supergirl,  is going out to
find glamor and romance-- something every girl needs!"   When Supes persists, she
gets downright cruel; "You sound like a stuffed shirt,  Superman!  What do
you know about women....how they feel...what they really  need?  You may be a
great hero-- but in the romance department-- well, just  ask Lois Lane!" 
Superman can only mumble, "Why...uh....ulp....I-- I'm very  FOND of girls....
I....uh...."  (Yeah, Supes, you better watch out, or Doc  Wertham may turn his
attention away from your friend Batman to you.)  As a  parting shot, Linda reveals
that her foster parents have given her permission to  take a year off from
college and are sending her on a trip to Paris.

But  Superman hasn't given up, and if he doesn't understand women, he'll find
someone  who presumably understands both women and super-heroics-- his JLA
comrade,  Wonder Woman.  He flies over Paradise Island (careful not to unleash 
disaster by actually "setting foot" on the female-only isle) where he is
spotted  by Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl (here, as in TEEN TITANS, Haney and editor
Kashdan  seem to think WG is a younger sister of WW) and their mother Queen 
Hyppolita.  Wonder Woman glides into the air to find out what Superman  wants,
and he explains how "Supergirl has forsaken the crime-fighting life to  seek
romance and glamor."  "Why, that foolish, giddy teen-ager!  She  can't do that! 
Super-heroines have a duty, a responsibility, a..."   "Uhh, that's what I
said!", Superman replies, and he begs WW to use her  "knowledge of female
psychology" to persuade Supergirl to change her mind.   WW eagerly agrees; "You bet I
will, Superman!" 

Arriving in Paris,  even WW is momentarily swayed by its romantic aura-- "If
only Steve were  here!"--but, "What am I saying!  I've got a job to do!" 
Trailing the  Giddy Teenager of Steel to an establishment called Anatole's, WW
finds her  modeling evening gowns for an admiring male audience, and then catches
one of  the admirers kissing Supergirl in the dressing room.  Ordering him
out, WW  accuses Supergirl of abandoning her duties to fall in with a "gigolo". 
But  she is distracted in mid-lecture by the sight of Supergirl's rack of 
high-fashion gowns, and when SG offers her the loan of one that would fit her, 
she agrees to do so, "just for fun, of course."  WW is dazzled by the sight 
of herself in the gown, but a mustachioed Latin-lover type named Andre Count De
Tour is even more dazzled, grabbing WW and smothering her with kisses.  And 
as she gazes into the Count's eyes, WW dizzily reflects, "Steve Trevor never 
kissed me like that.... I mustn't let this happen...this wonderful, delicious
thing... I'm WONDER WOMAN....wonder woman...."  It's not long before WW's 
superheroic duties are forgotten, as she tours Paris on the Count's arm.   But
the Count wants them to be "absolutely alone" together, and he has just the 
place in mind,  "a little isle in the sea-- Ile d'Amour!"  Curiously, 
Supergirl's own blond, beret-clad lover has exactly the same suggestion.   And on that
very Ile D'Amour, a a scientist informs a mysterious "Leader" that  something
called "Operation Armageddon", which will stagger the world, is now  ready to
start....

In Part 2 of "Revolt of the Super-Chicks", Supergirl  and the Count arrive at
the Isle of Love by boat, while Supergirl and her beau  approach from the
other direction by plane.  Each heroine idly wonders what  has become of the
other, but both are too distracted by their glimpse of glamor  to care much.  "But
both super-chicks are unaware that the Isle of Love is  also the secret
headquarters of a fantastic criminal character known only  as...MULTI-FACE!" 
Multi-Face, we learn, is thought dead in a prison  escape, but actually gained in a
freak accident the "ability to change my  features into any face, human or
animal, to suit my mood or purpose!"  His  current plan is to "strike at the
rocket freighters carrying precious cargos  over this island",  A plan which may
be stymied by the arrival on the  island-- reported to him by his spies-- of
two famous super-heroines, even if  neither is acting very heroic at the
moment.  "I cannot scare THEM away--  but perhaps I can INDUCE them to leave by
jeopardizing their male  escorts!"  Meanwhile, Wonder Woman's male escort,
whispering sweet nothings  in her ear, says he sees her as "at heart a truly frail,
feminine  creature!"  When a nearby drawbridge threatens to fall and injure
Andre, WW  has to perform a split-second superfeat while Andre has his eyes
closed to kiss  her, in order to avoid ruining her "weak and feminine" image. 
Similarly,  when falling boulders threaten Supergirl's French swain while they are
cavorting  on the beach, the Beach Bunny of Steel diverts his attention with
a wild  beachball toss and catches the boulders in midair-- then further
distracts him  by leaping into his arms in feigned fright at the sight of a small
crab.   Little do our reluctant heroines know that both threats have been
engineered by  Multi-Face and his agents.  Multi-Face sends his agents out to
create more  perils to distract Supergirl and WW.  Spotting a burning ship
offshore,  Wonder Woman manages to fix her lover's attention on an impromptu
performance of  "Cyrano de Bergerac" while she glides out to douse the fire by creating
a  waterspout.  However, "This is just so un-feminine-- and certainly doesn't
do a girl's hairdo any good!"  And still on the beach, Supergirl spots a 
plane about to crash, and sends her beau off to retrieve a lost beach towel 
while she flies up to restart the plane's engines with a blast of  super-breath. 
But returning to the island, she notes the complex of  buildings in the
isle's center and the"weird man" running it.  Then a cargo  rocket passes over the
island-- and is pulled off course by a magnetic beam  emanating from the
mysterious island installation.  And now the Chick of  Steel faces a dilemma.  Will
she keep her resolve to "give up being a  Supergirl who spends her life
battling crime", or will she "kiss romance goodbye  and wade into battle" against a
"fantastic hijacking scheme"?

In Part 3,  Supergirl decides to rescue the rocket, but she's not quite ready
to give up her  dream romance yet, so she makes sure her lover Henri is
trapped on a small ledge  while retrieving her towel before she flies on her
mission.  "Oh, if only  there were someone else here for this job!"  There is, but
she's not any  more enthusiastic either-- Wonder Woman sees Supergirl
struggling with the  runaway rocket, and decides she must help, but she persuades Andre
to jump into  the island castle's moat to retrieve a flower for her, knowing
he will have  trouble climbing back out.  Changing into her unfashionable but
functional  star-spangled bathing suit, WW prepares to go to Supergirl's aid,
but Multi-Face  sends a "strange disk" rolling after her from his nerve
center.  Suddenly  she finds herself helplessly held to the magnetic disk by her
metal Amazon  bracelets, and she is brought into Multi-Face's lab, where the bad
guy proceeds  to turn her from Supergirl's would-be ally into a weapon against
her, by  showering her helpless body with liquid Green Kryptonite. 
Multi-Face sends  the disk flying after Supergirl, who is still trying to stop the
runaway cargo  missile, and the Green K rays emanating from Wonder Woman quickly
weaken  her.  Supergirl realizes that WW gave up her own romance in order to
come  to her aid-- "I guess neither of us could escape being super-heroines!"--
but  will Multi-Face's scheme eliminate both of them?  Desperately, Supergirl 
uses her weakening heat vision to melt a load of gold bullion carried in the 
cargo rocket, causing it to drip down and cover Wonder Woman's body and block
the deadly Kryptonite rays.  (Funny, I always thought it was only lead that 
could stop Kryptonite rays, not gold.  And Supergirl is sure taking a  chance
on WW's degree of invulnerability to assume that a shower of molten gold 
won't do nasty things to her complexion and skin tone.)  The weight of the  gold
causes the flying disk to spin out of control and crash into Multi-Face's 
lab, and the impact of the crash frees WW from the magnetic grip on her 
bracelets as well as the coating of gold.  Leaping and spinning to the  attack, WW
punches out Multi-Face with a vengeance; "Time to punch your ticket,  you
romance-wrecker!"  Multi-Face's gang attacks WW with guns, but  Supergirl crashes
through the wall to stop them; "These characters didn't know  that Wonder Woman
and I are a double feature act!"  (I've owned this comic  for a while, but I
can't remember for sure if I actually read it before, and  while reading it this
time I kept expecting to learn that one or both of the  heroines' lovers were
Multi-Face in disguise.  But they weren't.  In  fact, Multi-Face never does
put his shape-changing ability to any good use in  the story, which makes one
wonder why Haney bothered to give it to him.  He  could have been any ordinary
scheming high-tech villain.)

After rounding  up Multi-Face's gang, Supergirl and WW realize their lovers
are each both still  stranded, but instead of trying to carry on their frail
flower act, they each  come to the rescue in their costumed identities and
reveal that their romances  must end because they cannot escape their destinies as
super-heroines.   Bidding a sad farewell to the Isle of Love and to love
itself, they fly back to  the U.S., where Superman thanks Wonder Woman for her
successful effort to bring  Supergirl back to her senses and her career as a
superhero.  Supergirl and  WW both wink at the reader-- and Superman folds his arms
with a skeptical look  on his face-- as Supergirl assures her cousin that WW
did, indeed, save her from  the awful fate of "living in Paris like a *sigh*
foolish, frivolous child!   Right, Wonder Woman?"  "Right, *sigh*, Supergirl!"

Also in the issue are a public service page, "Builders of the Future,"  about
the work of the United Nations organization UNESCO: a text page on "unsung 
heroines" such as Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (the first American woman doctor) and
Susan B. Anthony; a house ad for the first appearance of Ultra the
Multi-Alien  in MYSTERY IN SPACE.  And also, oddly enough, a house ad for this selfsame
issue of BRAVE & BOLD.  ("They're BRAINY...they're BRAWNY... they're 
BEAUTIFUL... and they're the SWINGIN'EST SUPER-CHICKS you ever laid eyes on! Who 
else but SUPERGIRL and WONDER WOMAN!")  Apparently somebody in charge of 
slotting house ads on the pages didn't notice there wasn't much point in  promoting
an issue which presumably the reader has already bought and paid  for. 

Supergirl and Wonder Woman had one other Silver Age team-up, in WONDER  WOMAN
#177, which I reviewed on the list some time back.  It was a  transition
issue between the Kanigher/Andru/Esposito WW and the "new"  non-costumed WW, and
involved the two heroines both being kidnapped by an alien  conqueror and
forced to fight for the right to marry him.

Brave and Bold #115: "The Corpse That Wouldn't Die!"

The Brave and the Bold #115, November 1974

"The Corpse That Wouldn't Die!"
Story - Bob Haney
Art - Jim Aparo
Editor - Murray Boltinoff

The dramatic splash page shows two trenchcoated thugs kidnapping a young
woman on a dark, rainy night. Before long, Batman has been summoned to assist in
the investigation. One of the reporters gathered outside police headquarters
notes that the Caped Crusader seems even grimmer than usual... "grim as the
grave!"

Commissioner Gordon introduces Batman to the kidnap victim's parents, Howard
and Mrs. Manton, a wealthy society couple. But it turns out that Batman
already knows them, through their daughter Debbie. The public knows Debbie as a rich
and privileged "golden girl", but Batman knows that she spends much of her
time doing charity work, counselling underprivileged kids. One night, while
walking through a playground on her way home, she witnessed a murder -- gang boss
Buggsy Cathcart rubbing out one of his rivals. Now it appears that Cathcart's
gang has kidnapped Debbie to prevent her from testifying.

In a nearby holding cell, Cathcart himself laughs uproariously at this turn
of events. Enraged, Batman reaches through the bars of the cell and threatens
to "tear your rotten heart out!". Gordon and his men manage to restrain him,
and Batman quickly calms down. But he knows that Cathcart's gang will kill
Debbie, sooner or later, and that they have to find her before that happens.

Batman leads the police in a massive manhunt, grilling informants and
sweeping criminals' hangouts in the hopes that someone will know where the girl is
being held. Gordon notes with concern that Batman seems to have thrown all
caution and restraint to the wind in his obsession with solving the case. Finally,
Batman stumbles across a clue -- a homeless army vet tells him that he'd found
an abandoned building to sleep in, "but gorillas with guns beat me up and
threw me out!" Batman realizes that this must be where Cathcart's gang is holed
up, and decides to charge in without waiting for police backup.

From the roof of the building next door, Batman leaps across, intending to
grab hold of the rainspout and swing through an open window. "A short leap for
Batman, yes --" the narrator observes, "But it is really a leap into
eternity!". As soon as he touches the spout -- TZAK! Batman's body is struck with a
lethal amount of electric current. As his lifeless body slumps to the ground, one
of Cathcart's thugs comments that they had electrified all the entrances as a
precaution.

Batman's body is dumped elsewhere in the city, where he is found and taken to
the hospital. But too late; the doctor declares that Batman is dead. Although
he is still breathing, for the moment, his brain-scan is completely flat.
Eventually, the rest of his body's systems will shut down as well. Gordon can't
accept this, and demands another opinion. Fortunately, Prof. Ray Palmer,
described as "an old friend of Batman's", happens to be at that very hospital,
demonstrating new medical eqipment that he helped develop. Ray, of course, is also
the superhero known as the Atom. Though he's a physicist and not a physician,
Ray can only concur with the doctor's diagnosis; Batman is finished. Gordon is
heartbroken, and wishes that Batman could at least get up off that table long
enough to finish this last case and rescue Debbie.

Gordon's words inspire Ray to try a desperate plan. "I may be about to do the
craziest thing a man ever did..." he ponders, "But if it will help you finish
your last mission, Batman, it's worth every risk!" After the others leave the
room, Ray produces one of the new inventions he was demonstrating -- a
miniature camera and receiver. Placing the camera on Batman's chest, he shrinks down
to microscopic size and enters the Dark Knight's ear. He travels past the
eardrum... the semicircular canals... and finally reaches his goal: Batman's
brain!

By running across Batman's medulla oblongata, the Atom stimulates his body's
functions, increasing his heart rate and breathing. Running to the cerebrum,
he prompts the area devoted to motor control... and Batman rises from the bed!
With the camera and receiver, the Atom can see from Batman's point of view.
Using the cerebellum to regulate Batman's equilibrium and coordination, the Atom
prompts Batman to climb out the hospital room window, much to the shock of a
nurse who happens to come in.

Since Batman didn't tell anyone where Cathcart's gang was holed up, the Atom
isn't sure where to go... but he counts on Batman's "subconscious
crimefighter's instinct" to lead him to the spot where he was killed. Sure enough, Batman
and his tiny passenger are soon standing outside a most unlikely hiding
place... an abandoned, boarded-up police station! The "sleepwalking" Batman boldly
heads right for the front door. The Atom tries to tickle his brain into taking
a more circumspect approach, but Batman's subconscious rejects the idea --
giving the Atom an electrical "hotfoot" with the strength of his brain current.
The Atom concedes that Batman probably knows what he's doing -- "Maybe using a
shrewd entry is what got him killed before" -- and allows Batman to rip the
planks off the front door and enter.

One of Cathcart's goons spots Batman, and the Atom springs into action --
planting an idea in Batman's cerebrum, then leaping to the cerebellum to make
sure it's carried out. Batman swings wide with his left fist, missing the target.
The Atom chastises himself for forgetting that each half of the brain
controls the functions of the *opposite* side of the body. Leaping across to the left
side of the cerebellum, he manipulates Batman into punching out the thug with
a solid right cross.

Flush with victory, the Atom manuvers Batman upstairs, where he believes
Debbie is being held. But he fails to notice the gang member sneaking up from
behind with a lead pipe. WOK! Batman falls to the ground, and the Atom is tossed
around inside his skull. Regaining his footing, he checks the camera and sees
the goon closing in for the kill. Moving quickly, Atom triggers Batman to
deliver a vicious kick to the crook's midsection, knocking him out. A few more
instructions, and Batman stands up again to continue the search.

Suddenly, Batman stops, refusing to move forward. Again trusting his friend's
instincts, the Atom nudges him to turn slightly, revealing another crook with
a shotgun aimed right at Batman's head! With death seconds away, the Atom
leaps across Batman's brain, "programming" it for his most complex manuver yet --
a backflip that carries him out of the line of fire, followed by a kick to
the head to take out the gunman. Success!

Finally, the reanimated Batman reaches the room where Debbie is held. But
another of Cathcart's gang is already there, with a gun pressed against her head.
The Atom observes that even a fully-functioning Batman couldn't move fast
enough to disarm him, "let alone this clumsy, walking corpse!". Atom realizes he
has only one chance...

Much to the crook's surprise, Batman suddenly drops to the floor with a THUD!
With no one left to stop him, the thug turns to Debbie, intending to shoot
her. But before he can fire, the Atom appears, his tiny form hitting the
gunman's jaw "with the impact of a closely-fired bullet!" Batman's collapse had
distracted the thug long enough for the Atom to leave the Caped Crusader's body and
deliver the K.O. punch personally. He's relieved that he was able to save the
girl, but also saddened because he knows that this was truly Batman's final
case.

Back at the hospital, the doctor is at a loss to explain how the brain-dead
Batman was able to function, even temporarily. But Gordon isn't surprised.
"Nothing was impossible for the Batman! Nothing!" And as if to prove his words,
suddenly Batman's brainwave pattern springs to life. "He's moving... he's going
to live!! Yet there wasn't an 'atom' of life energy in his brain! It's a
miracle!" Standing nearby, Ray Palmer muses that there was indeed an "Atom" of life
in Batman's brain... him! And he can only assume that his stimulation of the
various parts of the brain somehow jump-started it into being able to work on
it's own again.

Outside the hospital, a grateful Debbie Manton rewards Batman with a kiss.
Ray Palmer wryly observes that the Atom deserves a similar reward... "But I
doubt Debbie would want to kiss a fellow only six inches high!" Ah, Ray, if only
you knew that would be the *least* of your troubles with women...

Haney delivers one of his typically offbeat tales, combining a fairly
realistic crime drama with a clever (if far-fetched) sci-fi twist. The suspense is
very real, though, and the Atom / Batman "team" having to work through their
unusual handicap to solve the case makes the action all the more harrowing.
Ordinary crooks who normally wouldn't cause Batman to even break a sweat become a
force to be reckoned with. The story's even a bit educational, with the Atom
pointing out the functions of the various parts of the brain.

Aparo's art is gorgeous -- he was in his prime here, and his eye for detail,
dramatic lighting, and clever staging lends believeability to the somewhat
wacky premise. Whether it's Batman skulking through dark alleyways, or the Atom
hopscotching across the corpus callosum, Aparo draws it like he was really
there!

This issue is one of those 100-page "Super-Spectacular"s. In addition to the
new story, we also get a batch of reprints: The Challengers of the Unknown,
Viking Prince, an Atom solo tale, and the classic Dr. Fate / Hourman team-up
where they take on Solomon Grundy. Definitely a jam-packed package!

--
- JKC

The Brave and the Bold #93: "Red Water, Crimson Death"

The Brave and the Bold #93

"Red Water, Crimson Death"
December - January, 1970-71

Creators: Writer: Denny O'Neil.  Artist: Neal Adams.  Editor: Murray
Boltinoff.

A running figure peers anxiously over his shoulder to see if he's still
being pursued, then continues on his way towards a nearby house.  He
tries the doorknob and find that it's locked.  Seeing someone standing
inside the house, he demands entry, and is refused by the owner.  Before
the gunman can bring his weapon into play, he hears the approach of the
Batman.

Beefy isn't going back to prison as long as he has a gun in his hand, and
as the masked manhunter runs up the wooden stairs, he trips on a loose
board.  KLIK  There's been a misfire and Beefy's one chance for freedom
is gone.  Commissioner Gordon and the police arrive to take the criminal
into custody, while the darknight detective knows how close he came to
being killed.

In his profession, a single mistake may prove costly, indeed.  The
Commissioner knows how his friend has been busy uncovering a
counterfeiting ring and stopping a prison break.  Even a man as driven as
the Batman can't function if he doesn't have a rest.  The lawman offers
the masked manhunter a steamship ticket to Ireland.  His nerves would no
doubt benefit from a change of scenery.  Even so, the darknight detective
is reluctant to leave Gotham City.  The Commissioner assures him that
they'll be able to handle things while he's away for a month.  The Batman
is on his way to a locale which will cheer him and chill him to the
marrow... "Red Water, Crimson Death."

The steamship is making its way across the Atlantic, and the man standing
at the rail is millionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne.  The Arin Isles
off the north coast of Ireland are in view and it provides a setting
where the vacationer from Gotham City can clear his head.  A child's ball
bounces by him, and as he hands the boy his toy back, the steamship
enters a storm area. 

Bruce watches the storm from the safety of his cabin, with the ship being
bounced around on the waves.  He sees the boy he met earlier in danger of
being swept over.  With waves about thirty feet high, the boy's chances
are grim, but the millionaire philanthropist must try to reach him.

Bruce reaches the boy, then wonders how long he can support their weight
in the choppy waters.  Sean calls out for his grandfather, and both see a
man's face take shape in the oncoming wave.  The cold waters start to get
to them, but before they can succumb, the ship's crew hurl a life
preserver their way.  Bruce and Sean are taken aboard and are treated for
hypothermia.  The vacationer from Gotham is praised by the ship's doctor
for his swift action.

The millionaire playboy is weary from his heroic actions and he wonders
if he'll ever recover.  When he opens up his suitcase for some pajamas,
Bruce sees that Alfred took the liberty of packing his Batman uniform.
With his health at stake, Bruce Wayne is on vacation, and the Batman's
costume is giving a burial at sea.  The steamer stops to drop off Sean,
whose family lives on one of the Arin Islands.  Bruce decides to join the
boy in the launch and spent some time on the quiet, isolated island.

The launch docks at Kennamora and Sean is greeted by his Uncle Derry.
When they learn how Bruce saved the boy's life, the stranger is given a
warm welcome to stay with them.  That night, the millionaire playboy
enjoys his plate of Mulligan Stew.

It's soon Sean's bedtime, but the boy doesn't want to stop his reading.
The lad's uncle tells Bruce that since his parents were killed, Sean has
been reading up on the stories of King Hugh, the former ruler of the
island.  When he asks how the parents died, Derry tells his nephew's
rescuer that many have died from the red sea.  The island's waters had
begun to change color about a year ago, a curse that's killed both fish
and man.  He had hoped a visit to America would have cheered up the boy,
but it hasn't.  After saying goodnight to Derry, Bruce remembers that red
water could be a result of dinoflagellate poisoning, which usually clears
up in a matter of days, but according to Sean's uncle, it's been a year.

Realizing that he's supposed to be on vacation, Bruce turns in for the
night.  His sleep is disturbed when he feels a hand rousing him to
wakefulness.  The ghostly image of a warrior strides past his bed, and
the only thing that's more startling is the fact that he's in costume
once again.  As Bruce dons his cowl, Sean has gone off to find King Hugh,
and ask for his aid in finding his parents. 

The masked manhunter leaps out into the night, pursued by a group of
villagers who have been startled by his sudden appearance.  The darknight
detective is careful in defending himself and disabling their makeshift
weapons.  They see the Bat-Man in their midst and he must convince them
that he's a friend.

He explains to them that his mode of dress is due to his profession.  The
villagers reluctantly lower their arms and ask if he has anything to do
with what's been happening at the castle.  The home of King Hugh, dead
for three hundred years, has become occupied once more.  The villagers
wonder if their former ruler has come back to haunt them.  They have seen
ghosts and heard the cries of the banshees, as the red tide began
appearing around the island.

OWWOOOOOOOO  They hear the banshee's howl and the masked manhunter looks
towards the castle, where a young boy is racing for a meeting with King
Hugh.

He could let the villagers handle it, but the Batman wouldn't let an
innocent boy be hurt.  A storm has begun, preventing him from seeing the
boy, and keeping Sean from hearing his cries.  A ghost appears on the
horizon, but the masked manhunter decides to test its reality with a
rock.  The screen which projected the three-dimensional hologram from the
castle.  It hasn't been the supernatural which has been haunting the
island's inhabitants.  Sean has made his way across the bridge.

Not knowing what to expect inside the castle, the darknight detective
must decide what to do before the gate closes.  CHUNGGG  The decision is
made and the gate spikes close behind him.  The Batman is now inside the
castle, which is a house, and with no idea of what to expect, he is now
in the House of Mystery.  There are 50 yards of open area between him and
the main building, but a sudden lightning flash would give his presence
away.  Feeling a tap on his shoulder, the masked manhunter turns to see
no one behind him.  The entrance to a secret passage is now at his feet.

After walking down the underground passage, he hears voices ahead of him.
The voices belong to the owners of the hologram equipment, now broken,
and whose boss is eagerly awaiting the departure of the villagers so that
he can corner the fishing rights on the island.  The two men are to
poison the boy and have his body be found in the morning.  The Batman has
heard enough...

A left to the jaw and a backhand sends one thug to the ground, while the
other races for a weapon on the wall.  WH-IIISSSHHH  THWACK  He is able
to deflect the deadly blade, then uses a wooden chair to disarm the
would-be swordsman.  The boy and their boss are located down the
corridor.

PUNT  The Batman has suffered a deep cut from the blade, but there's no
time to treat the wound.  When he comes to two possible corridors, an
unseen force pulls at the darknight detective.  Whether it's a dream or a
nightmare, the masked manhunter will see it through to the end.  Instead
of suffering from exhaustion, Batman finds that his sense of fatigue is
gone.  At the end of the corridor, he hears sounds of a struggle.

Sean struggles against the two men who want him to take a drink of water.
WHOMPP  For the Batman, anyone who would threaten a small child is
beneath contempt, and he regrets that it takes only one punch to take
down the poisoner.  The boss is Aloysius Cabot, the owner of a fishery.
It was he who stirred up the talk of ghosts so he could make his deadly
chemicals in private, and dump them into the sea.

The darknight detective finds that he is now barely able to stand and
Cabot points to the cut on his arm where some of the poison has been
splashed into.  He has now less than a minute to live.  The owner of the
fishery offers a fighting chance for the masked manhunter.  There are two
beakers on the table, one which contains water, and the other which
contains an antidote.  He has only time to choose one.  His vision
blurred by the poison, the Batman looks towards the portrait of King
Hugh.

He sees a finger pointing towards the test tube at the rear of the table.
It is now Cabot's turn to become surprised, as Batman drinks down the
antidote, and ignores the two beakers containing death.  It will take him
a minute to recover, and in that time, Cabot plans to shoot him down.

AGGH!  The heavy picture frame falls onto the head of Aloysius Cabot, who
has received a massive concussion, and sudden death.  In all the
excitement, the boy had fainted, and the murder of his parents has been
avenged.  Even so, the darknight detective can't understand the run of
coincidences on his vacation.  His costume's return from a watery grave,
finding the entrance to the secret passage, and picking the right
corridor to save a life.

The portrait of King Hugh helped him to choose the right antidote and
fell at just the right time to stop Cabot from shooting.  He doesn't know
why the boy went to the castle, anymore than he knows why Sean came on
deck during a storm.  The boy wakes up from his sleep, then asks what's
been happening.  Even for a darknight detective, there will be some
mysteries which will remain unanswered.  The owner of the House of
Mystery knows and tells the reader that King Hugh may have left the world
of men, but he cannot abide anyone disturbing his rightful slumber.

The House of Mystery is the epitome of "It's a nice place to visit, but I
wouldn't want to live there."

Cain tends to be selective when it comes to the quality of his tenants.

I wonder if Commissioner Gordon would have checked the passenger list of
the steamship to see if millionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne went on
the same trip as Batman?

Bruce gets to see plenty of action, especially in saving the life of a
small boy from drowning at sea.

Do the clothes make the man or is it something more?  Whether in costume
or not, Bruce Wayne is the Batman, and he will always do his best to help
those in need.

When I was about Sean's age, I'd spend my time reading the back issues of
Batman.

Leave it to the masked manhunter to part the red water surrounding the
island.  (Holy Moses, Batman!)

Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot, but the ones under the
employ of Aloysius Cabot sought to prey on the villagers with their own
superstitions.

In reading this story, I was delighted to see my surname used as a sound
effect, and it's probably the closest I'll ever come to having my name in
a story by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams.  (Holy Sound Mind, Batman!)

If Aloysius Cabot had lived to stand trial, he could have said that he
was "framed."  (Holy Cabot Cove, Batman!)