By John Chidley-Hill
Writer J. Michael Straczynski is known for his work on the ground-breaking television show Babylon 5 and for his controversial run on Spider-Man.
At Toronto’s FanExpo 2009, he was talking about his latest project, a new look at the Brave and the Bold, a classic DC Comics series that started in the Fifties.
“It took a while to find the next thing I wanted to do,” he said. “The idea of the Brave and the Bold, where I could make up stories without being tied to continuity is a big draw.”
From 1955 to 1983, the series had several formats like anthologized adventure stories, as a try-out title for new characters, and finally as a team-up book where different heroes would join forces with Batman.
In 2007, DC brought the title back as a random team-up book, with various creators guiding the stories.
After a Question and Answer period at the convention, Straczynski explained how he wants to use the Brave and Bold to examine the ethical dilemmas inherent in super heroics.
“In one episode, the Flash finds himself immobilized during World War 2 and has to decide if it’s proper for him to kill,” he said. “When is it right for someone to kill and not to kill? That’s the kind of question we’re dealing with.”
Straczynski will stay true to the title’s roots, with the Flash teaming up with the Blackhawks for that story. Later issues will see Batman team with Dial H for Hero and Green Lantern work with Dr. Fate.
The Brave and Bold will be a break in subject matter for Straczynski who completes a popular run on Marvel Comic’s Thor in September.
Thor, the immortal and nigh-invulnerable god of thunder, is a challenging character to write since there’s little dramatic tension in the action scenes.
Straczynski found a way to solve that: “I realized that you can’t pierce his skin, but you can pierce his heart.”
His work with artists Olivier Coipel and Marko Djurdjevic was character driven, with Thor and his fellow Asgardians moving their city to a field in Oklahoma.
It was the interactions between the Viking gods and the residents of rural middle America that added some levity to the series. Although Thor was a founding member of Marvel’s most popular team, the Avengers, Straczynski’s run was far removed from most of the company’s large crossovers.
“I requested that,” he said of his two years on the book. “I wanted to get [Thor] on his own so that I could make him his own character.”
Earlier this year, Marvel’s editors decided that Thor should be tied closer to their continuity, so Straczynski made his exit to DC. “I wanted to write the stories that I wanted to write and didn’t want to get pulled off into other events.”