The Brave & the Bold #87
Published and © by DC, December 1969-January 1970
Title: “The Widow-Maker!”
Synopsis: When Bruce Wayne becomes the target of a murderous race-car driver, Batman takes the wheel – with help from Diana Prince.
Writer: Mike Sekowsky
Penciler: Sekowsky
Inker: Dick Giordano
Review: As the 1970s dawned, the comics industry was about to move into a new era of more sophisticated, “adult” storytelling. Writer Mike Sekowsky clearly did not get that memo. While his art on this Brave & the Bold outing certainly has the look of an early-era Bronze Age book, the silly car-race plot is reminiscent of many a Saturday morning cartoon. Other elements of this story haven’t aged well, either, including Bruce Wayne’s ugly chauvinism and I Ching, Wonder Woman’s strangely jaundiced “guide to some of the mysteries of the East.” This one is definitely a product of its time.
Grade: C+
Cool factor: While terribly dated, there’s always something cool to the “depowered”-era Wonder Woman.
Not-so-cool factor: The Bat-racing helmet has got to go.
Notable: Also includes a one-pager by Jack Sparling titled “A Matter of Life and Death!” and a text feature by Marv Wolfman titled “The Greatest Hero of Them All (No. 1).
Character quotable: “I can’t let a woman and a blind man rescue me …” – Bruce Wayne, with the internal monologue of a Bat-Pig
Editor’s note: This review was written March 2, 2022.
