The Brave and the Bold #78
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Brave and the Bold #78 marks the debut of Copperhead, a snake-costumed contortionist villain who would go on to a decades-long career in the DC Universe — appearing in the Secret Society of Super-Villains, the Suicide Squad, and eventually dying at the hands of Manhunter Kate Spencer before being resurrected during Blackest Night. Beyond the villain introduction, the issue is notable as one of the earliest Silver Age team-ups pairing Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) with Wonder Woman, placing two of DC's most prominent female heroes side by side in a mainstream Batman title. The story's central device — Batgirl and Wonder Woman staging a public rivalry over Batman's affections as a deliberate ruse to flush out Copperhead — is a quintessential example of writer Bob Haney's idiosyncratic, Silver Age storytelling style that fans and historians have long debated and celebrated. It also sits at the very start of Murray Boltinoff's solo editorial tenure on the book, the same run that would shortly launch Neal Adams's transformative vision of a darker Batman.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was written by Bob Haney and pencilled by Bob Brown, with inks by Mike Esposito (though the Grand Comics Database notes there is some scholarly debate over the inking credit, with researcher Nick Caputo also suggesting Esposito while a previous index credited Brown alone). Lettering was by Milt Snapinn, with the cover lettered by Gaspar Saladino, and the book was edited by Murray Boltinoff, who returned to the title as solo editor with this very issue after previously co-editing the early team-up issues with George Kashdan. The issue carries a cover date of July 1968 and was published on May 23, 1968 (on-sale date recorded by the GCD as April 23, 1968). It also contains a backup story reprinted from Real Fact Comics #3, featuring Abraham Lincoln and Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth — which explains those two historical figures among the issue's indexed characters.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Copperhead, created by writer Bob Haney and penciller Bob Brown; the character is an unnamed master contortionist whose real identity is never revealed in the comics (listed in official records only as 'John Doe').
- Story title: 'In the Coils of Copperhead!' — Copperhead targets the Golden Casque of Montezuma, using a serpentine costume equipped with a constricting tail, venomous fangs, and a silicon-coated surface that lets him slip through any grip.
- The issue teams Batman with both Wonder Woman and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon); Commissioner James Gordon also appears, making it a full Gotham/Justice League crossover for the era.
- Bob Haney's script deploys the Batgirl-versus-Wonder Woman romantic rivalry as a deliberate sting operation — the entire public spectacle is Batman's trap to lure Copperhead out of hiding, a classic Haney misdirection plot.
- Murray Boltinoff is credited as editor; this issue represents his return as solo editor of The Brave and the Bold's Batman team-up era, a tenure that would also give Neal Adams and Jim Aparo their early Batman assignments.
- The backup story in the issue is a historical reprint from Real Fact Comics #3, which accounts for the presence of Abraham Lincoln and Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth among the indexed characters.
- The main story has been reprinted multiple times: in the Swedish Läderlappen #3/1969, in Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-Ups Vol. 1 (2007), in Showcase Presents: Batgirl Vol. 1 (2007), and in Batman in the Brave and the Bold: The Bronze Age Vol. 1 (2017).
- Copperhead's longevity in DC continuity is substantial: after this debut he joined the Secret Society of Super-Villains, sold his soul to the demon Neron during Underworld Unleashed (gaining a literal snake-hybrid physiology), was ultimately killed by Manhunter Kate Spencer, and was later resurrected as a Black Lantern during Blackest Night.
Cast · 6 characters
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Real Fact Comics #3 (1946)
Reprinted in The Brave and the Bold #116 (1974), Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-Ups #1 (2007), Showcase Presents: Batgirl #1 (2007), Batman: The Brave and the Bold - The Bronze Age Omnibus #1 (2017), Batman in the Brave and the Bold: The Bronze Age #1 (2018), Läderlappen #3/1969
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