Broken Frontier

Straczynski takes over The Brave and the Bold. This is his high profile gig at DC. After a controversial run on Spider-Man, bringing Thor to the forefront again in a fan favorite and critically praised run, and leaving the entire world hanging with Twelve superheroes, the former television writer heads over to Marvel’s Distinguished Competition. Revitalizing the Red Circle heroes was his first duty at DC, but now he gets to play in the big boys playpen. Well, given this title’s pedigree, it was formally a big boys sandbox - you know, back when Johns wrote it and Perez drew it. Since then, it has just sort of well, been there - neither great nor bad, merely existing on the shelf in your local comic shop.

Here, he writes the kind of book that he is best known for. This is a quiet, poignant story about heroes and lives that could have been. When Robby Reed's magical dial is stolen by Trevors Milton, a man who is down on his luck, the transient finds that within his perceived uselessness exists the makings of a hero. When Milton dials that infamous dial, he is transformed into The Star. Together with Batman, he races against the clock as the Joker has crimes committed all over Gotham simultaneously. What is the Clown Prince’s gambit and can the unlikely hero and the Dark Knight foil it in time?

This is not the kind of book that is going to be making headlines here or at Comic Book Resources or anywhere else. It isn’t going to be a first week sell out. It's not going to incite strong hatred from the fanboys. Nor is it likely to get a million threads praising its brilliance. Harvey and Eisner Awards are probably not in the future of this book. In one way, it is kind of a shame. While Captain America gets press for returning from the dead like a comic book cliche and Batman is replaced however temporarily by his protégé, solid books like this get left in the stand. Stunts are what moves books. Don’t believe it, check out the numbers on Archie #600.

There are great character moments here. The Joker is a rambling madman as he should be, controlling and devious. Most importantly, he is a manic genius. Batman is hard when he needs to be and surprisingly human in his reaction to the reveal of his partner in this latest crime busting escapade. Trevors is as fleshed out as any character who only appears for 28 pages can be. The Reeds are used to set up the moral of the story, well characterized and also allow for the general perception of Bruce Wayne’s Gothic Metropolis to be realized.

As a fan of done-in-one stories, it is surprising to me that I wanted to see more of this. Much of the mayhem created by the purple clad crime boss occurs off panel. It would be interesting to witness how these crimes are perpetuated. What I wouldn't give for a Gotham Central storyline showing the details of this four day run of terror in Gotham. It is almost done too soon and considering the strength of the idea, that is about as high a compliment as I can give it.

Saiz turns in the solid art work that has made him a stable of the DC camp for several years. His art is crisp and clean, hardly unique but not bad. Like the story, it is easily overlooked for more flashy titles.

This is an example of where the bar should be set. Instead of stringing us along from event to event with mediocre fill in stories, mainstream comics should be consistently well told and rock solid in their plotting. They should be nice to look at. They should have a voice. This book has all of that in spades. Too bad it won’t be noticed for such.