Hine, Braithwaite on Brave and Bold

By John Freeman on November 21, 2008

British creators David Hine and Dougie Braithwaite team up on DC Comics Brave and the Bold title for the next four issues, delivering a story which begins with a strange child channeling the Green Lantern oath and scrawls it on a wall, a summons from forces located in another galaxy.

A fantastic civilization that has its own Green Lantern requires immediate aid and their only chance for survival rests in the hands of Hal Jordan and the Phantom Stranger.

The comic is available from all good comic shops in the UK and the US.

“This is one I’m really proud of,” David posted recently.”If you were into Brave and Bold in the Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams period, that’s the spirit we were trying to recapture. Like those old B and B stories, you can pick it up cold and enjoy it for what it is, a good old-fashioned story with a solid science-fiction background, plenty of drama and some very cool depictions of alien races and environments from Dougie.“

The story was Dougie’s last job before he signed his exclusive deal for Marvel Comics.

“I’ve known Dougie for many years,” says David. “I actually inked one of his strips for Marvel UK back when Dougie was first starting out and we’ve been wanting to collaborate again for a long time, so we pitched this book at the beginning of 2007. It has actually been finished for a while but we had to wait for a slot on the Brave and Bold monthly.

Over on Newsarama, David explains both he and Dougie are both big fans of the body of work that Neal Adams produced for DC in the late 1960s and early ’70s. “We wanted to recapture something of the excitement of those books: The Brave and the Bold, the Deadman series in Strange Adventures, the Green Lantern and Green Arrow series written by Denny O’Neil.

“If we’ve been successful, the story will recreate the appeal that DC comics had for Dougie and I when we were kids. While the Waid/Perez run on The Brave and the Bold is a tip of the hat to the Silver Age, we’re looking to acknowledge our love of the watershed era at the end of the ’60s, when realism began to enter mainstream comics, spearheaded by Neal Adams. I guess what you’d call the Bronze Age, although I don’t like that term. It sounds like a poor third place after Gold and Silver. For me it’s the real Golden Age.

“We wanted to do a story we could really sink our teeth into and create a whole alien world as a setting. Dougie’s art on this one is some of the best work he has done.”

The story will run for four months, to be followed by J. Michael Straczynski as new regular Brave and Bold writer.

David is now busy with many other projects, while Dougie, whose recent projects have included Secret Invasion: Thor, continues with Marvel projects.

“Right now I’m concentrating on my writing for an upcoming vampire book from Radical Comics,” David told Comics Bulletin recenty. ” That’s a really exciting project. Radical have a rare enthusiasm and vision for the comic book medium. They look set to become one of the major players in the next couple of years.

“I’m also developing some things for Top Cow and Image. One of those will be a one-shot for Elephantmen, which I’m drawing as well as writing. Richard Starkings, the creator of Elephantmen is the only man who can persuade me back to the drawing board these days and he’s foolishly letting me loose on his pride and joy.

“I also want to do something with the genius of British comics, Shaky Kane. We’re still in the early stages of throwing ideas at one another. I’m pretty sure it will involve dead superheroes, a bulletproof coffin and a cave girl in a bikini.

• Click the box left to order Brave and the Bold #19 from amazon.com sellers
• Read an interview with David Hine about the story on Newsarama
• Read an interview with David Hine about Brave and the Bold on Comics Bulletin

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.