The Brave and the Bold

The Brave and the Bold (abbreviated: TBatB, BaB) is the title of a comic series that the American publisher DC-Comics published between August 1955 and July 1983.

concept

In the first five years of its existence (up to the anniversary issue # 50), the series was designed as a so-called " anthology series", which means that instead of concentrating on a fixed concept and continuing this in each new issue, " The Brave " presented and the Bold " practically changing content from issue to issue. Instead of devoting itself to a specific figure or group of figures recurring in each issue, each issue told stories about other characters: at most two to three-part sequel stories that were dealt with within successive issues of the series occurred, the permanent " monopoly " of the However, series through a special concept does not. While in the first twenty-four issues mainly reprises of classic adventure and fantasy material were presented in comic form (Robin Hood, Silent Knight, Viking Prince ), DC used the series starting with issue # 25 increasingly as an "experimental forum" to gain popularity to test new characters and concepts with the readers: If these proved to be popular, they were given their own series as a feature in "The Brave and the Bold" after two or three issues, while "TBatB" turned to a new subject when it was received by the audience were not accepted, they disappeared from "TBatB" without being continued in other series.

In the early 1960s, DC-Verlag finally switched to using "The Brave and the Bold" as a " Team-Up " series, in which various characters owned by the publisher who normally share their adventures in both media (in different series) as well as in terms of content (own, separate settings) were experienced separately from each other, brought together to deny common adventures. It became a "Batman Team-Up" series, especially in its later years, in which the character of Batman, the most popular character owned by DC at the time, became an integral part of the series in almost every issue as one half of a pairing of figures consisting of two or more characters appeared, while only the figures placed aside changed from edition to edition.

After the series was discontinued in 1983, the title was used variously in the 1990s as a tribute to various mini-series, but otherwise lay "fallow" until the series was resumed in 2007 with a new # 1. The concept - bringing together normally separate characters owned by the publisher to share adventures - remained the same. The series is provisional regular author of the American Mark Waid , regular draftsman of the first story arcs of the artist George Pérez .

content

Well-known characters and concepts that made their debut in "The Brave and the Bold" while the series served as a test balloon to test the success of new ideas included: Cave Carson (# 31), the Justice League of America (# 28 ), Haunted Tank (# 52) the Teen Titans (# 54), Metamorpho (# 57) and Nemesis (# 166).

Influential stories are featured in issues # 28-30 (Justice League of America), 34-36 and 42-44 (Hawkman), # 50 ( Green Arrow ), # 57-58 and 66 and 68 (Metamorpho). "Batman Team-Ups" can be found in issues # 59, # 64, 67-71 and 74-200 of the first series.

Contributing artist

Among the illustrators who have worked on The Brave and the Bold over the years, the Americans Neal Adams and Jim Aparo , who designed large parts of the series , stand out. Among the authors who worked on the title are Len Wein and Dennis O'Neil .

Awards

The first "TBatB" series won several Alley Awards, one of the most important prizes in the American comic industry: In 1962, the jurors awarded the cover (title page) of issue # 42 drawn by Joe Kubert with the Alley Award for the best cover of the previous year Year. In 1965 the cover of issue # 61 drawn by Murphy Anderson received the award in the same category, and in 1968 the story "Track of the Hook", written by Bob Haney and drawn by Neal Adams, in issue # 79 and about the ghost Deadman . the award for the best "full-length story" .

Reprints

In 2005 an "Archive Edition" was published, which reprints the first issues of the series.