Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Clever story, outstanding art: The Brave and the Bold #16


Everybody loves a wacky team-up! Whether you're talking Felix and Oscar, Daffy and Bugs, Chan and Tucker, or Spidey and the Torch, putting together two characters who really shouldn't ever be in the same room is always pure comedy gold. And, honestly, you'd be hard pessed to find two characters more unlikely to team-up than the stars of The Brave and the Bold #16: Superman and Catwoman. (Though I'd love to see a Foolkiller/Aunt May team-up someday!)

In this issue, Batman is mysteriously "out of town" (Is he just hanging out at the beach? Can he do that?) so he asks his big, blue, boyscout buddy to keep an eye on Gotham for him while he's away. It's bad enough when your friends ask you to feed their cat, I don't know where Bats gets off asking someone to take care of a whole city for him. Anyway, Superman dutifully shows up when Commissioner Gordon signals and, like the polite young fella he is, offers to help out with the massive underworld auction taking place in Gotham. (It seems to me that the "World's Greatest Detective" knew this gig would be a hassle and decided to let someone else deal with it, while he kicked back in his little Bat Swim Trunks. Probably wasn't enough grim lurking in it for him. I'm just sayin'.)

Anyway, Supes is on the case and quickly bumps into the lovely Ms. Selina "Catwoman" Kyle, who has also taken an interest in this auction. She also quickly takes an interest in Superman's huge pecs and his buns of steel. In no time at all, Catwoman has Superman wrapped around her dainty, feminine wiles, and has him playing dress-up as they infiltrate the auction. They're hoping to bid on a map to a mysterious cave in the area, a map that seems to have Batman's enemies worked into quite a lather...

This stand-alone, done-in-one, issue, by Mark Waid and Scott Kolins, has a clever story, outstanding art, and plenty of grin-worthy moments. If you're looking for a break from all the grim n' gritty event comics out there this summer, you definitely don't want to miss The Brave and the Bold #16 starring Superman and Catwoman. It's fun, it's guaranteed, and it's the best team-up you'll see until we get that She-Hulk/Tigra book I keep dreaming about.

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