Newer Gods 4: 2 escape artists, a communist plot and the evils of GiGi!
Newer Gods is a monthly feature where I take a look back at the history of DC Comics’ New Gods from the era after original creator Jack Kirby. It’s a study of creators as they take a look back at work of the King of Comics and re-create it.
Before we can get to the larger adventures of the New Gods, we head back to the pages of Brave & The Bold 128. Bob Haney and Jim Aparo are back for another team-up between the universe's greatest escape artist and the dark knight detective.
Cover image by Jim Aparo. Copyright DC Comics.
This issue starts in a shockingly similar way to the previous team up between Batman and Mister Miracle. Batman is back on the call of Commissioner Gordon as a Shah is coming to town and in danger from communist elements. His patrol is derailed by Mister Miracle, Big Barda and Oberon as they practice a new death defying escape.
Like the previous installment, Haney seems to gloss over the extraterrestrial origins of Scott and Barda, instead focusing on the escape artistry of Mister Miracle.
Unfortunately, Batman's attempt to keep the Shah safe fails as he disappears from inside a moving van!
Batman convinces Mister Miracle to help in the investigation with a weird freezing contest as depicted on the cover.
The Caped Crusader sets up a trap and poses as another possible Shah in order to be abducted himself. His bed is lifted from his penthouse suite with him in it! He ends up in the clutches of the kidnapper... none other than dear old Granny Goodness!
She's on the mission for the commies because she wants a youth serum they have of all things. Her plot has nothing to do with her origins, nor does this book care to mention them past a description of her as the "grim old witch of Apokolips."
Just as Granny orders the death of Batman and the real Shah, Mister Miracle arrives to stop the gunmen! He stowed away on the very bed Batman was kidnapped in. A karate chop by the Shah takes Granny by surprise and knocks her weapon from her hand and her to the floor. But the heroes and the Shah are still beneath the sea and in danger of drowning.
That Shah is one bad mother!
Batman and the Shah head up towards the surface on a sea-sled, but Miracle has to stop Granny from siccing her goons on them. He uses his finger lasers to ignite the ship he's on. It explodes, but Miracle escapes with his life thank to the super dense material of his cloak.
Mister Miracle needles Batman a little about his skills as an escape artist outmatching the Caped Crusader's own. The book comes to an end with ominous thoughts of Granny's return and a promise that Mister Miracle would return to Brave & the Bold.
Overall, this issue felt more connected to the Mister Miracle narrative than anything in the earlier one. While Haney still seems to have little use for the greater New Gods mythos in his own corner of the DCU, he at least acknowledges he's aware of them here.
Aparo is again the real star here with his fluid line work and illustrations popping off of every page. The book's a real thing of beauty even if Haney's script gives Scott and Barda short shrift. Like everything else in BATB, ultimately the book offers little continuity to anything but itself. Next time around, the New Gods find themselves distinctly embedded into the world of the DC Universe forevermore!
