Brave and the Bold VS. J. Michael Straczynski

Heralding from the Silver Age of comics, The Brave and the Bold classically featured two heroes joining forces to stop a threat neither would be able to tackle alone. Following a lengthy absence Mark Waid and George Perez resurrected the series which channeled the tongue and cheek feel of classic B&B comics with all new story and art. Although this relaunch mainly served as background for the DC summer event of the time, each issue was readable by itself yet connected to a greater overall storyline if read in sequence. Once Waid and Perez said farewell to this latest incarnation, Scott Kolins took the reigns for a series of oddball single issue stories unconnected to a story arc. These interpretations of modern DC characters were a treat to read and anticipating another wacky team-up kept me waiting for each month's installment, life was good.

The higher-ups at DC decided the Brave and the Bold needed a superstar creator to fuel the book's popularity amidst a somewhat likely drop in sales following the Waid/Perez departure. Out of every writer currently working in comics my last choice for Brave and the Bold would have been J. Michael Straczynski, a writer known for writing for the story arc and not the single issue.

I gave Straczynski's run a couple issues to see how he was settling into this new style of writing but my fears had become reality. Both issues I read seemed to be groundwork for a much larger story, similar to Mark Waid's stint. However this groundwork was completely ignored by the following issue and was instead followed by another story arc first issue. Even utilizing some of the DCU's wackiest and most forgotten characters, it seemed Straczynski was unsure how to resolve these awesome team-ups issues within 22 pages. In these initial issues too much time was devoted to irrelevant character monologues, slowly paced storytelling and an overall detachment between the two headline characters. In the Batman/Dial H for Hero issue the pair don't even physically meet until nearly the end of the comic.

Hopeful again it would just take him a few issues to get used to this new style of storytelling, I picked up the latest oddball team-up of The Atom and the Joker, mainly due to the amazing artwork of Justiniano. This story was NOT A TEAM-UP! The Atom shrinks down to enter the Joker's brain in order to deliver medicine which will save the Joker's life. Once inside, the Atom is continually thrust into memories of the Joker, all of which reek of Heath Ledger Joker fandom (there's even a scene from The Dark Knight recapped in a panel), compiling a Heath Ledger-esque origin story. Instead of using the Atom to his full potential, he's merely used as a device to direct the reader through the story.

I implore Mr. Straczynski, please ask DC for some classic Brave and the Bold stories to read or pick up the very inexpensive Showcase edition, because you need to learn how to write for this book. I'm still hopeful JMS will come around but it probably won't be until two issues before he's pulled off the book.