DCU Comic Book Reviews

The Brave And The Bold #12

Sunstroke

June 2008

Written by Mark Waid

Pencils by Jerry Ordway

Inks by Bob Wiacek

Cover by George Pérez

Synopsis

After Megistus turns the sun green thanks to the power of Green Lanterns battery, the Challengers of the Unknown, Superman, Ultraman, and Hal Jordan fly to the sun in Wonder Woman’s invisible plane.  When they reach the sun, Jordan powers his ring and then leads everyone to Megistus’ lair.  Just as Megistus is about the begin the next phase of his plan, creating a cosmic cloud that will envelop Earth.  However, the heroes interrupt and working together, they are able to slow down Megistus, but the cloud continues towards Earth.   The Challengers realize that the Philosopher’s Stone will stop the cloud, but they are not sure how to use it.  June of the Challengers takes the stone and jumps headfirst into the cloud, causing it to dissipate, but dying in the process.  Later, when the Challengers return home they find Destiny, who retrieves the Book of Destiny and reveals to the Challengers that June is not dead, although they don’t know where or when she is. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This is the finale to Waid’s 12-issue long story arc and I think Waid does a decent job of bringing together all of the elements and characters from most of those issues (with the sole exception of perhaps Lobo).  Ordway filled-in for Perez with the last two issues and his work is similar enough to Perez’s that I am sure will not be very noticeable when this is collected in a trade paperback.  So, essentially, this is a typically good issue of this series.

Maybe I’m just dense or maybe in my old age I am not remembering things as I should, but the entire subplot with June not being a true Challenger and trying to live up to the exploits of the guys seems to be a sudden plot point in this story.  Now, I appreciate what Waid was trying to accomplish with her character and the sacrifice she makes, but the suddenness of it in this issue doesn’t give it the emotional weight that I think Waid is aiming for.  It would seem to me that June’s story should’ve been a subplot burrowing through all 12 of these issues, and it may very well have been, but frankly I can’t remember if it was. 

Why are Wonder Woman and the Flash on the cover?  The rest I can understand because they all appear in the fight against Megistus, but shouldn’t Power Girl be on the cover, as well?  She makes a lot more sense than Flash.  And is it just me or do all of the Challengers look like they are about to land after a jump rather than actually running like the Flash.