DCU Comic Book Reviews

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #32

Night Gods

April 2010

Written by J. Michael Straczynski

Pencils by Jesus Saiz

Inks by Jesus Saiz

Cover by Jesus Saiz

Synopsis

Two police officers interrupt Whitford Crane digging up a coffin.  The man pleads with them to let him finish, he needs to know.  The officers ask:  know what?  Whitford explains that he was on a ship that capsized in a storm.  Most of the crew drowned, pulled down by creatures that did not seem to belong to the water.  However, Whitford survived, making it to shore, where he saw them:  Etrigan and Aquaman.  They tell Whitford he needs to come with them.  Given gills, Whitford leads them to where the ship sank.  Down below, a demon is trying to break through to Earth, using reanimated corpses as its army.  As Whitford watches as Aquaman locates the center of the crossing, he is suddenly attacked.  It is a corpse of a friend.  Etrigan pulls off the corpse, saving him.  Aquaman then summons the creatures of the sea to create a path to the demon, so Etrigan can confront it and cast a spell to send it back.   Later, Whitford returns to shore, unsure if it was a dream or not.  So, he dug up the grave of his friend.  He finds his friend holding a pendant Whitford had been wearing when his friend’s corpse pulled it off underwater.  This proves what Whitford saw was not a dream. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

Ah, the dangers of writing a story within the vastness of the DC universe.  With Aquaman dead and Etrigan trapped in hell, who is protecting the oceans to make sure the demons don’t cross over and invade Earth?  A silly question, perhaps, but as this issue arrives during Blackest Night, it makes you wonder about such things.   But I don’t think Straczynski really cares about it, nor is it important to the story that is being told.  What is important is the story itself, which is amazingly good, another brilliant one-shot from Straczynski and Saiz that brings together two unlikely characters to make some sort of comment about the nature of being a hero.  In this case, this story shows an example of heroes doing what they do without the need for thanks or notoriety.  They do it because they must, because that is what heroes do.  It is a great issue. 

I have to give Straczynski credit for writing both Etrigan and Aquaman in a way that really emphasizes the characters and brings out the best of them.  A lot of writers attempt to write Etrigan’s dialogue in rhyme, but a lot of it doesn’t quite work, coming across as poorly constructed in failed attempts to rhyme or coming across as simplistic in order to make it rhyme.  Straczynski manages to make it rhyme, but at the same time to give it the mystical quality that makes it feel like it is spoken by a mystical creature.  As for Aquaman, a lot has been said about, and made fun, about his powers and his character, but Straczynski uses them wisely, showing not only abilities, but the cool, collected, confident person that can make him such a wonderful character to work with.  This is not the arrogant version with the beard and hook, but the regal character at the time he first appeared.  If DC decides to start another Aquaman title, I wouldn’t mind if Straczynski were the writer. 

I like the way the story is told from the viewpoint of the sailor.  It is a very effective device, albeit very similar to the storytelling technique used in Marvels or Astro City.  However, a big difference is that here the story in told as a re-telling, putting the events in the past, which reinforces the notion that these heroes do it every year.  While the coincidence of the narrator actually encountering someone he knows from the multitude of dead bodies available is probably slim, I like the way it works within the context of the story, bringing back the memories of what he thought was a dream to reinforce the realization of what the heroes have done. 

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