Aparo, Jim - Brave and the Bold, issue 142, cover (July 1978)

Brave and the Bold. Bob Haney & Jim Aparo. Batman vs. Aquaman. A villain called Mr. Big.

They all came together in the July 1978 story, ‘The Enigma of the Death-Ship!’ in B&TB #142. This one came closer to the end of the Haney & Aparo run on B&TB. They collaborated on 53 total issues from issue 98 [November 1971 – Haney writes, Aparo pencils the interiors and Nick Cardy provided the cover] to issue 157 [December 1979 – Haney writes, Aparo pencils & inks everything including the cover]. Their full body of work would encompass issues 98, 100-102, 104-136, 138-145, 148-152, 154-155 and 157. An amazing 53 issues of great storytelling featuring team-ups with Green Arrow (6 times), the Metal Men (4 times), Wonder Woman, Mister Miracle, Black Canary, Green Lantern, Metamorpho, the Atom, Sgt. Rock, Aquaman and Wildcat (3 times each), Plastic Man, the Joker, the Flash, Teen Titans, the Phantom Stranger, Deadman and Kamandi (twice each) and Robin, the Demon, the Spectre, Man-Bat, Swamp Thing, Two-Face, Richard Dragon, Hawkman and the Creeper (once each.)

I was nine when I picked up this issue – and I would read it countless times until it’s cover fell off the book. The cover was special - the usual ‘and’ in the title was crossed out and replaced by a ‘vs.’ – but how was it possible that two great superheroes could share featured billing yet be at odds with one another? Of course, only when both heroes are trying to do what they perceive to be is the right thing.

In this case, Batman is seeking the logbook of a sunken freighter to uncover evidence of a drug kingpin’s (‘Mr. Big’) identity, but Aquaman inexplicably wants the logbook to remain hidden. Batman believes the logbook will give him a clue as to the true identity of Mr. Big. In the end it all becomes clear - Aquaman is concerned that the freighter’s logbook will show that it was negligence on the part of his adopted father, lighthouse keeper Arthur Curry, which caused the freighter to sink. But, Batman succeeds in reaching the logbook and reassures Aquaman that the sinking of the ship was not his father’s fault; it was instead the fault of the notorious Mr. Big, the same Mr. Big who he now knows the identity of…but does not reveal in this issue!

The Haney & Aparo run on B&TB occurred in the power-curve of my Batman fixation as a youngster – and I remember enjoying the many characters flowing through book and the smart & interesting stories. There is all sorts of unusual and goofy twists & turns – and even a little meta-fiction for kicks [issue 124, featuring Batman and Sgt. Rock, has a cover depicting Jim Aparo sitting over an unfinished cover for the issue and a terrorist from a group called The Thousand pointing a gun at him and saying – ‘Finish the cover, Aparo! Rock kills Batman…or I kill you!’] All in all, a great run from creators who helped define Batman in the 1970’s.