Friday, May 7, 2010

One Good Thing And One Bad Thing About Brave And The Bold #33

Yes, I know this came out a few weeks ago. But my shop just now got it in.


GOOD THING: There are a lot of cute character moments throughout and the idea of three heroines having a night on the town is something that hasn't been explored this well in... well, I can't think of ANY comic involving heroines going out on the town that has ever been handled well.




BAD THING: The whole basic concept of this story seems at odds with the ideals of the DC Universe in general and the superhero genre in specific.

To accept this story, you have to believe that somehow Zatanna is unable to use her gifts as an oracle and a magician to stop The Joker from attacking Barbara Gordon during the events of The Killing Joke ... and yet she can gleefully use her magic to mind-control a lot of other people so that Barbara will have a great memory of what it was like to dance and feel sexy for one night after the incident that paralyzes her for life. You also have to believe that Diana will go along with this and that neither one of them is going to make any effort to STOP this from happening.

I could accept this if there had been some sign that Zatanna knew what Barbara would become and that for all the evil Joker did, this action would inspire Barbara to greater good. But there is no such assurance. Indeed, Zatanna says that you can't fight fate and that there is nothing she and Diana can do to avert what is to happen... which is totally at odds with the "never say die" attitude that is the core of the superhero.






The Final Verdict: A well-written character study which functions well so long as you don't think about the power-levels of the characters involved and are ready to accept the idea that everything is pre-determined and that heroes cannot fight destiny. If, like me, you have trouble with doing that you are likely to be sorely annoyed by this comic even as you acknowledge how well-written it is, technically speaking.

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