Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 30, 2024 | 7 comments

A birthday salute to the comics veteran, who was born 72 years ago, on May 30, 1952…

By JIM BEARD

You know me: I’m all about singing the praises of the unsung and mostly unsung heroes of the comic book industry, and to my mind Mike W. Barr deserves an epic poem that could also be set to music and hit the pop charts.

Mike’s one of these Renaissance guys, a workhorse who can and did do just about everything in the biz. I love that not only is he a writer, but also an editor. Why? I think that’s important to point out because as a writer he knows what an editor wants, and as an editor he knows what a writer wants, which in some ways is what I think every writer and editor everywhere should have in their toolbox to be able to work with each other as a winning team. Or maybe I’m just being naïve.

Regardless, looking over Mike’s credits can be a staggering moment for a comics fan: Camelot 3000. Batman: Son of the Demon. The Outsiders. Detective Comics. The Reaper. Batman: The Animated Series. The very first meeting of Doc Savage and the Shadow. I could go on and on.

And of course, he wrote and edited for one of my all-time favorite comics, The Brave and the Bold.

Oh, he’s also a fellow Ohioan and fan of the Justice Society of America. Any wonder that I think he’s a terrifically cool guy? Proud to know him.

So, I’m going to land this birthday tribute to Mike with some of his team-up stories for DC, because I dig team-ups and teams (check out my new book on The Brave and the Bold!) and Mike wrote some of the best. Here’s to ya, Mr. Barr! Thanks for all the great work and many happy returns!

In chronological order:

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The Brave and the Bold #169 (Dec. 1980). Mike leapt into regular scripting in 1980 and B&B editor Paul Levitz allowed him to pitch for the book—and what a pitch it was. This is significant as Zatanna’s one and only B&B team-up, a sordid and sad tale of a supposed faith-healer.

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The Brave and the Bold #177 (Aug. 1981). The writer returned to the series the next year, with the character who helped him become a comics pro in 1974, the Elongated Man. Points to Mike for giving Ralph Dibny more depth and for dedicating the story to the late, great Bill Finger.

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DC Comics Presents #42 (Feb. 1982). OK, I’ll fess up—DCCP is a team-up book, but Mike didn’t write the main story for this issue. What he did write is a wonderful little back-up tale called “Whatever Happened to the Sandman?” which to me illustrates his love for the Justice Society characters. And what more do you need to know than that?

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The Brave and the Bold #184 (March 1982). Christmas stories are oftentimes big favorites for fans, and Mike clocked in here for a memorable one, another meeting between the Earth-Two Huntress and her Earth-One “uncle” Batman. In and around the adventure itself, Mike also offered up some fascinating flashbacks for our two heroes.

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DC Comics Presents #47 (July 1982). Forget that Superman-Masters of the Universe team-up that DC now has to act like it never happened—the real deal here for me is the Mike Barr back-up called “Whatever Happened to Sandy, the Golden Boy.” It’s a sequel of sorts to one of my fave JLA-JSA team-ups, Justice League of America #113, and a story I’ll forever be in Mike’s debt for writing because it set Sandy back on the hero’s path for good.

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The Brave and the Bold #190 (Sept. 1982). Now on a B&B roll, Mike reached back to his own connection with Mystery in Space for an Adam Strange tale. It’s a fun one, with Batman pretty much on his own and up against alien invaders from Adam’s past.

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The Brave and the Bold #192 (Nov. 1982). “Give the people what they want!” and Mike and incoming editor Len Wein did just that in this issue by bringing in the Teen of Steel himself, Superboy, for a fun team-up with a guy who he’ll hang around with quite a bit as an adult. Mike does a great job here of stressing the differences between a Superman and a Superboy.

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The Brave and the Bold #194 (Jan. 1983). Whodathunk that in 1983 we’d see a Silver Age Bat-baddie like Dr. Double-X again? Mike W. Barr did and he teamed the double-dummy with a Flash foe for a quick, in-and-out issue of B&B. Oh, Mike also had Dr. Double-X battle Bats and Superman in World’s Finest #276 about a year before this. Why? Go ask him!

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The Brave and the Bold #195 (Feb 1983). Ah-ha, here’s where things got really interesting for the series, when editorial pushed for unique guest-stars and Mike conjured up vampire Andrew Bennett to put the bite on Batman. It works, trust me. This issue also heralded the impending end of B&B and the announcement of its replacement, Batman and the Outsiders. Gee, I wonder who wrote that book?

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DC Comics Presents #58 (June 1983). Superman and two of my top-favorite DC heroes, Robin and Elongated Man, all together in one adventure, written by Mike Barr? Yes, please, may I have another please?

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The Brave and the Bold #199 (June 1983). I think it’s fitting that Mike kept the spirit of the series alive by granting the Spectre, a popular B&B guest-star, one last go-round with Batman here in this story. What I love about it is Mike’s resurrection of the great Golden Age feel of the Ghostly Guardian’s 1940s solo sagas.

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The Brave and the Bold #200 (July 1983). In my book on B&B I call this series-ender a “tour-de-force” and it is. Pundits will debate the path Mike took to tell this tale, but I think it was a bold move and he made it with a brave face. One other significant feature would be the gorgeous art by Dave Gibbons, not yet world-famous for Watchmen.

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World’s Finest #300 (Feb. 1984). Mike’s all through this sprawling, multi-writer anniversary-issue story, and if you didn’t see his name in the credits, you’d feel his presence anyway. Batman and the Outsiders would have given it away, for one, and of course… Elongated Man, just to name another Barr favorite.

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MORE

— The TOP 13 Mike W. Barr BATMAN Stories — RANKED. Click here.

— BRAVE AND THE BOLD #64: BATMAN’s Memorably Bizarre Showdown With ECLIPSO. Click here.

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When JIM BEARD’s not editing and publishing through his two houses, Flinch Books and Becky Books, he’s pounding out adventure fiction with both original and licensed characters. In fact, he’s put words in the mouths of Luke Skywalker, Superman, Fox Mulder, Carl Kolchak, Peter Venkman and the Green Hornet… and lived to tell about it. His latest pop culture non-fiction tome is Breaking Bold and Brave, available here.