The Brave and the Bold #14 Review

The Ghost Killers of Nanda Parbat
Written by Mark Waid
Art and cover by Scott Kolins

On this blog it is an unwritten rule but we only review good comics and the Brave and the Bold falls into that category. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it is Superman/Batman except with the whole DCU roster to work with. This months team up features Deadman [guess his power] and Green Arrow. The premise is that someone has unleashed an army of "Ghost killers" who possess people and once they leave the possessee they are instantly dead. They are lead by a former human who is now a reformed demon who wants to generically destroy the world with his little army. I enjoyed the opening sequence which Waid starts off with a action scene of Green Arrow fighting some ghost killers and Deadman saves him. Being unfamilar with the characters I cannot say wheter the dialog fit them but I certainly enjoyed it. Waid also has a sense of humor as shown by the scene in which a homeless lady explained to Green Arrow what he did to avoid getting hit by the car. The issue is very well paced, there is no stalling and the story flows very nicely as Waid clearly knows where he is going with the issue. The story is fairly shallow and this certainly isn't the slowburn approach but Waid shows glimpses of that deep story telling talent that makes this issue memorable. He does it in a nice scene where Green Arrow decides to kill a bunch of people who were possessed in order to save the city because they were dead anyway and you could since how uneasy he was in doing it but for the greater good means for the greater good. Waid also sprinkles light social commentary which I'm not a fan of [thank you JMS] but it isn't really hammy or heavy handed and it actually has a place in the story and doesn't serve to push forward any agenda [still looking at you JMS]. The issue ends on an ironical cliff hanger because Green Arrow threw Deadman off a cliff after shooting him with an arrow for an undisclosed reason. Bottom line is this, this issue isn't the deepest read but it has flashes of character development, humor on several occasions, and it is tighty plotted and an enjoyable read.


Art: Hit it and Quit It
Overall: GET IT