Title: The Brave and the Bold.
Story-Arc: Batman and Wonder Woman.
Writer(s): Liam Sharp.
Illustrator(s): Liam Sharp.
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr..
Publisher: DC Comics.
Format: Hardcover.
Release Date: November 20th 2018.
Pages: 152.
Genre(s): Comics, Science-Fiction.
ISBN13: 9781401283438.
My Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆.
What happens when the DC Universe collides with Celtic fantasy and mythology? Leave it to Liam Sharp to write and illustrate it for fans to discover in The Brave and the Bold: Batman and Wonder Woman. While remaining as loyal as humanly possible to Celtic myths and folklore, Liam Sharp looks to conjure an ambitious and beautiful story featuring the Princess of Themyscira and the Dark Knight of Gotham City. With the wonderful talents of colourist Romulo Fajardo Jr., they both deliver a six-part story arc, that is bound to be pursued later on, but begins the adventures within a realm filled with ancient Gods and faeries. Centered around a murder mystery, Liam Sharp doesn’t shy away from throwing readers right into tales and legends that are brought back into the light as things start to shaken up among these divine creatures.
The Brave and the Bold: Batman and Wonder Woman puts readers at the heart of the kingdom of Tir Na Nóg where ancient Celtic gods and faerie folk have lived on the brink of war for countless years. Upon discovering the murder of king Elatha, rage fills the factions, but Cernunnos Cernach, lord of fertility and the hunt, knows that a peacekeeper is needed to stop a war from brewing within their realm. It is in Diana Prince, commonly known among mortals and gods as Wonder Woman, that the solution is found. However, a murder also entails a mystery and there is no one other than the world’s greatest detective that could help resolve this conflict once and for all. As both Wonder Woman and Batman attempt to solve this puzzle, a larger scheme is at play and the impending danger that roams over Tir Na Nóg only seems more and more inevitable.
As much as the concept sounds phenomenal with the death of a king in a fantasy realm that connects with the real world, a death that could potentially lead to an all-out war between factions, Liam Sharp’s story-telling skills are rough and unrefined. A lot of the story is info-dumped and very little dialogue truly capture the essence of the Celtic folklore. With some characters speaking with a very rich vocabulary worthy of a poet, others sound dull and lifeless. Even with Batman there seemed to be a heavy focus on his detective skills, which was appreciated since the overlook of it in many other stories out there has been saddening, but the attention put into him trying to figure out a magical universe through logic and deduction seemed off. There’s also an overall lack of intrigue in the murder mystery itself and there’s nothing that could’ve been done to really make it work besides restructuring the whole story and taking more time to do it.
The upside to this volume is honestly the artwork. Although it pains me to see that it isn’t complimented by great writing, it remains a delight to see an original panel structure being used, a lot of detail put into the setting and an integrated grandeur in certain characters. There is no doubt in how much talent Liam Sharp has in creating these fantasy beings, but the rushed story only dampens the boldness of this title. Nonetheless, the idea of merging Celtic folklore with DC’s mythology is one that holds a lot of promise and one can only hope that the next volume will do a significantly better job both in direction and in execution. Although deep inside I would’ve preferred if this had been a stand-alone story with no sequels, we will have to have hope in the plan envisioned.
The Brave and the Bold: Batman and Wonder Woman is an ambitious yet beautiful story arc looking to plunge DC Comics within the realms of ancient Celtic gods yet struggles to be coherent and thorough.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and DC Comics for sending me a copy for review!
Roars and Echoes 
Hmm not convinced 😉 It seems that DC is trying to butcher all available mythologies – look no further than the Injustice comics…
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I’m not convinced either, but I do hope there’ll be a better attempt in the future… Sort of hilarious that you mentioned the Injustice as I’m currently going to read it and review it soon. 😛 It’s actually a pretty beloved title too. You’ll have to share more of your thoughts with me later on (or redirect me to a review if you have one for it hahaha) 😀
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There are some cool moments, but it’s like with many things designed to serve as a platform for video games – it’s mostly about who’d defeat whom, and the reasoning behind it, or the psychology, don’t play any part 😉 Plus, the Greek gods seem a really dumb batch, and quite less powerful than they had been in the myths…
I’m afraid I won’t be writing a review for it, it was just meh 😉 But I intend to write one for War of Jokes and Riddles 😉
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I honestly never thought a prequel to a video-game could garner any attention, but this one particularly did and I do look forward to finding out all those big moments in it.
Hahahah can’t wait to see you destroy King’s famous story arc! 😛
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Damn Lashaan! I was deawn by the fabulous cover (and yes special mention to the colorist based on the pages you show us) but dull story telling or info dump won’t do it! Thanjs for this very detailed review!
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Hahahaha it is an amazing cover huh? I love it too, and the colours are definitely amazing, even the art styles/designs… But the way the story is told is not. 😦 Thank YOU for reading, Sophie!!! Truly appreciate that a lot!
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On the bright side, at least WW and Bats aren’t being forced into some kind of relationship….
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Hahahaah indeed! Although that relationship has been teased around in some stories… 😛
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Yes it has been and I’m even less of a fan of that than Supes and WW. IF you can believe it 😀
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Hahahah I totally understand. I’m not a fan of Bats and WW either to be honest. 😂
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I thought Sherlock Holmes was the ‘Great’ detective, and Batman the ‘Dark’ detective?
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Ahhh I’d kill to find out who would be the better detectives. I love them both with all my heart too. But they are both “Great” in their respective universes. 😀
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Hmmm… Interesting mashup. I understand pushing the envelop, but this may have been too much?
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It could’ve been done pretty well, but just not here. The execution was unfortunately wrong…
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Hm, I was waiting to see how the overall series would be received – I read some mixed things from the first couple of issues when it was originally coming out. It sounds interesting and I love Sharp’s art in the Wonder Woman Rebirth stuff but I’m always cautious when an artist both draws and writes a series as it doesn’t always succeed (case in point: Tony S. Daniel’s New 52 Detective Comics run). Also it seems the story would have benefited from having eight issues as opposed to six so as not to feel rushed.
Great review Lashaan, I think I’ll wait for a sale before I read this but I am intrigued.
P.S. My Aquaman film review is now live!
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I remember seeing some of the artwork going around on Twitter and it’s when I got truly curious about this title. I in fact first encountered Liam Sharp’s artwork from reading the first issue of that Rebirth run too. I do think there’s a great idea behind this title, but that the execution was slightly off. Definitely try it out once there’s a huge price-drop or something.
Sweet! I’ll drop by as soon as possible. 😀
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Okay maybe I’d consider this one for the fun factor… Batman and Wonder Woman meet Celtic fantasy…. hmmm….
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Fantastic idea, right? I just wish it had a better execution. 😮
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Ooh I do like the sound of the celtic mythology colliding with the DCU- that’s a cool concept. Shame that the writing was a bit unrefined though. The idea definitely does hold promise though. Great review!
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Yep. Great idea, and hopefully the next story arc will do better… Or someone else will think of giving us something much more refined. 😀 Thank you!
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How disappointing to have beautiful graphics paired with inexpert writing.
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Yep. This is what most fear when they pick up a comic book where the artist decides to write the story too unfortunately. 😦
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