Brave and the Bold no.1

[Kuuga]

Just picked this up today. Going in I expected to like the art because hey, George Perez. I had a blast reading this. It really reminded me of B&B issues I read as kid. A really nice blend of plot, action, character and humor all around with no classless tactics to mess it up.


Batman was just the right mixture of mysterious and heroic, none of what's became the requisite dark than thou BS. Batman and GL play of each other real well as seasoned veterns focusing on the mission at hand and managing to trade the great one-liner or two without kicking into angsty rounds of guy who inspires fear vs. guy who has none.

What I liked to was this seems to be a return to Mark Waid writing in happy fanboy mode as opposed to his "I must appeal to the teenagers of the post 9/11 world!" mode. ..and yet by him doing so this issue is infintely more accessible I think than anything he's written in awhile. I mean I think I could give this issue to anyone who's coming in cold and have them get a good feel for Batman and Green Lantern.

Now, I knew Perez's art would be good but really it knocked my socks off. This guy hasn't missed a step. Not a single trace of phoning it in. Figures, layouts, backgrounds, effects, all top notch. I might even be so bold as to say this actually looks *better* than his old stuff. Bob Wiacek should stick to George like glue and never let anyone else ink.

Also, I'll forever love George for using the second (albiet slightly tweaked for his own style) Batman animated series Batmobile design. The really slick looking one from the WB episodes.