Today’s post comes from guest contributor, Zeno.
Brave and the Bold 79, ‘Track of the Hook’
Review by Zeno
Before I give this review a bit of background information is necessary. The Brave and the Bold started out as showcase type book for DC Comics. It eventually became a team-up title for different superheroes and finally from issue 74 to its final issue, 200, a Batman only team-up title, cashing in on the success of the mid 60’s prime-time TV show. The regular writer of the title was the late Bob Haney. I have only read some of the early issues and they were rather silly. Maybe Haney was trying to imitate the ‘camp’ style of the Batman TV show. As of this issue the TV series was canceled and a new editor came on the title. Most importantly this issue was the first story drawn by Neal Adams. Adams is famous for bringing his detailed photo-realistic style to comic books. His artwork tries to bring back the dark creature of the night that Batman was back in the late 30’s and early 40’s.
Adam’s run with Haney would only last eight issues, and this issue is probably the best written of them. It also features the character of Deadman, whom Adams was also working on then in Strange Adventures. The story is a well plotted murder mystery. It is impressive how much plot Bob Haney could condense in 23-24 pages. Most writers today would need three to four issues to tell a story like this.
As the story starts we see a man being followed down an alley and shot dead by an unseen criminal. Batman and Commissioner Gordon are on the scene and so is a man who owns all of Gotham’s newspapers. It seems this murder is related to a mystery man who is trying to take over all of the mobs in Gotham. Both Gordon and Batman have theories on who this mysterious crime boss could be, and are trying to discover his identity before he can take control of Gotham’s organized crime. Observing all of this, unknown to everyone else, is Deadman who came to Gotham to see if Batman could help him find his killer. These two plots eventually intersect but to tell me would ruin story for those who haven’t read it. It is worth reading.
Lost Classic
The story indirectly ties in to Batman’s origin. This character has never appeared again as far I am aware. Even Len Wein’s Untold Legend of Batman limited series that tried to put all of the bits of the Silver Age Batman’s origins together did not mention him. Wein worked with Adams himself on Batman prior to writing this so it is all the more odd. Maybe this is because Brave and the Bold was a team-up title and rarely crossed over into continuity with the core titles. It is hard to say. This was the first full length Adams story also and the origin sub-plot gets forgotten in the main story.
The story was well received when it came out. Haney even won a Alley Award for best full length comic book issue. Yet for some reason outside of Neal Adam’s Deadman, or Brave and the Bold collections it is rarely reprinted. In fact according to comic book database, the only other time it has been collected is a issue of Super Team-Up Family 2 from 1975. It was not chosen for either the 1989 Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told or the later versions of this same collection in 2005 and 2007. A collection that I believe it should have been chosen for. Why an issue that was so well regarded by fans in its day is rarely collected or mentioned today is a paradox.
Appendix
The most recent reprints of Track of the Hook have been in Batman Illustrated Neal Adams Vol1 and Showcase Presents Brave and the Bold vol1. The latter is DC’s version of Marvel’s essentials series (in black and white).
Buy Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold - Vol. 1
Buy Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold - Vol. 2
Buy Showcase Presents Brave and the Bold Vol. 3
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