DCU Comic Book Reviews

The Brave And The Bold #17

Fathers...Part One:  Past Tense

November 2008

Written by Marv Wolfman

Pencils by Phil Winslade

Inks by Phil Winslade

Cover by Phil Winslade

Synopsis

After experiencing a nightmare in which he father implores her to kill her Uncle, Kal-el, Supergirl decides to visit Nightwing.  At Sausalito State University, Jonny leads a group of protestors to prevent the science department from building a nuclear generator.  In San Fransisco, Supergirl visits Raven, hoping she will help her because Raven’s father Trigon tried to corrupt her.  After a couple of failed attempts to get Supergirl to meditate, Raven takes Kara to Azarath.  Meanwhile, Jonny rushes headlong into the science building, using his metahuman powers to kill a guard and keep his girlfriend in line.  He then reaches his goal.  In Azarath, the priests are helping Supergirl when Raven senses a disturbance on Earth that requires their attention.  But if they wake her, she will never know peace….

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Timing is everything.  For this issue, it is bad timing.  Real bad timing.  I am guessing that when Wolfman wrote the story, or even when the story was originally pitched to the DC editors, the status quo for the Supergirl book was during Joe Kelly’s run when he was examining the possibility that Kara was sent to murder Kal-el.  But that was a long time ago, and things have changed for Supergirl.  One could say that she has changed into a better person, which is exactly what she is looking for in this issue.  So, in a sense, the dire warning by the priest at the end doesn’t really have the weight it might if this book was released just a little while ago.  In the meantime, things have gotten worse for Raven since Wolfman’s mini-series just a few short months ago.  In the new Titans book, Raven has given into her evil side, as seen in this issue (which just so happened to come out the exact same week).  And if the hints that Johnny is supposed to be the spawn of Trigon come true, then again it is a little too late; Winick beat him to the punch in the new Titans book.  So, essentially, what it boils down to for this book is that it should’ve been left in the inventory drawer simply because its depiction of the characters are not what they are now. 

Having said all that, this was actually not a bad story.  The two characters have a very similar history in terms of their relationship between their fathers, so it makes sense to put them together.  And Wolfman does a great job with them.  The problem with the issue lies with Jonny, a wholly uninteresting character who spends a heck of a lot of time trying to get where he is going.  Add to the fact that his daddy issues seem predictable given the two leads and that subplot, or eventually main plot I guess, just doesn’t excite me.

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