JIM BEARD | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture

Apr08

BRAVE AND THE BOLD #64: BATMAN’s Memorably Bizarre Showdown With ECLIPSO

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Apr 8, 2024

BRAVE AND THE BOLD #64: BATMAN’s Memorably Bizarre Showdown With ECLIPSO

Dig this ECLIPSE DAY excerpt from Jim Beard’s new B&B history guide… — Hey, you mighta heard that there’s a big ol’ eclipse Monday. Of course, that means it’s time to celebrate the greatest eclipse-based character in all of comicdom — ECLIPSO! Dig Jim Beard’s piece below, including an EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT from his new Brave and the Bold guidebook, Breaking Bold and Brave. Then click here to check out 13 ECLIPSO COVERS. Far out! — By JIM BEARD They say you never forget your first eclipse — for me, it’s that I’ve never forgotten my first Eclipso. I’m talking about DC’s “Hero and Villain In One Man,” of course, Bruce Gordon, the on-again-off-again baddie called Eclipso, one of the company’s underappreciated characters, in my opinion. All the eclipse fever we’ve been experiencing has sent me down Memory Lane, and recalling my first brushes with the dude and the impact he’d left on me… you might say it’s been a total Eclipso of my heart. Looking back, I see my first Eclipso viewing came in Justice League of America #109, coincidentally the very first JLA my dad ever bought me back in 1973. He seemed like the perfect villain for the League to battle and I knew right then and there he was something special — and creepy. I didn’t actually get to see an “old” Eclipso story until 1974’s World’s Finest #226 reprinted the third Bruce Gordon tale from House of Secrets #63. I had no idea the story was more than 10 years old at that point (older than me!), but I totally grooved on the Alex Toth art. Thankfully, I had only to wait until World’s Finest #228 for another dose of the black diamond’s totality on my young soul. The real kicker came in mid-1976’s Super-Team Family #5. That crazy little book gave me the stuff my dreams are made of: A reprint of the Batman-Eclipso “team-up” from The Brave and the Bold #64. There it was, my favorite hero in the same story with my new-favorite bad guy, all from the pen of Bob Haney, soon to become one of my favorite comic book scripters. B&B #64 is remarkable in many ways, but one of the most intriguing things about it to me is the fact that Haney was ahead of the curve in “camping...

Mar15

ZANY BOB HANEY: Dig 13 MORE Great BRAVE AND THE BOLD Stories

Posted by Dan Greenfield on Mar 15, 2024

ZANY BOB HANEY: Dig 13 MORE Great BRAVE AND THE BOLD Stories

A BIRTHDAY SALUTE: Columnist Jim Beard returns to Earth-B, two years later… — The late Bob Haney was born 98 years ago, on March 15, 1926. This year, we have a two-fer BIRTHDAY SALUTE. Jim Beard’s column below and a companion piece by Paul Kupperberg. Click here for that — and dig ’em both! — Dan — By JIM BEARD I love Bob Haney. I really do. That’s why I’m sequelizing an article honoring him that I did back in 2022. Bob was a guy who played by his own internal set of rules when he wrote. He never met a piece of so-called continuity he wasn’t ready to throw out or ignore if it meant for a better story. Story was everything to him. Story was king. I’m sure his editors hated him or at least tore out some hair over his scripts, but for a very long time he was one of DC’s most prolific writers and I feel good in supposing he made a good chunk of change for them throughout the 1960s and ’70s. He wrote fun stuff and sometimes significant stuff. He wrote comic books, and he could always be counted on to tell a story. Now, by definition a Bob Haney story is wild and wacky, so picking out 13 MORE of the wildest and wackiest was not an easy task, but Dan has an obsession with the number 13 and I’m not Bob so I do what my editor says and picked out the required number of stories for my second birthday tribute to the man. Fortunately, I’ve recently read all 200 issues of The Brave and the Bold for an upcoming book on the subject so Haney is fresh in my mind. And Blazes! What a fun trip it’s been. One does not visit Earth-B and not return un-entertained. Here they are, chums, 13 more picks for the wildest, wackiest, way-outiest Bob Haney B&B team-ups — B&B seeing you! — The Brave and the Bold #56 (Oct-Nov 1964). No Batman here, ’cause this was prior to the Batman team-ups taking over the book, but what you get is the unlikely pairing of the Flash and J’onn J’onzz with a bunch of wild Justice League hero mash-ups you have to see to believe. — The Brave and the Bold #63 (Dec 1965-Jan...

Home » JIM BEARD