The Brave and the Bold #89
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Brave and the Bold #89 marks the first team-up of Batman and the Phantom Stranger, pairing the DC Universe's foremost detective with its most enigmatic supernatural figure for an occult mystery rooted in Gotham's own colonial history. That pairing proved durable — the two characters would meet again in B&B #98 and beyond — helping establish the Phantom Stranger as a natural foil and ally for Batman in Bronze Age continuity. The issue also arrives at a transitional moment for the series: Neal Adams had just completed his celebrated one-year run as interior artist (ending with #86), and #89 is part of the Ross Andru bridge period that connects Adams's tenure to Jim Aparo's, giving the book a snapshot quality that collectors prize when surveying how the title evolved stylistically at the dawn of the Bronze Age. Coming under editor Murray Boltinoff and writer Bob Haney — the two architects of B&B's distinctive anything-goes ethos — the story also features Dr. Thirteen, making this a rare three-way intersection of DC's mystery-hero corner.
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The issue was written by Bob Haney, who scripted nearly every issue of the Batman-team-up era of B&B from #50 onward, and pencilled by Ross Andru with inks by Mike Esposito — a pairing confirmed by the Phantom Stranger Wikipedia article's footnote citation of the original issue. The cover, however, was produced separately: the Grand Comics Database Bronze Age Omnibus index credits Dick Giordano as inker on the cover, a common practice at DC where cover and interior teams differed. Murray Boltinoff served as editor throughout this stretch of B&B, and his collaborative relationship with Haney — both famously indifferent to strict DC continuity — gave the book a narrative independence that distinguished it from mainline Batman titles. The story, titled 'Arise, Ye Ghosts of Gotham,' was eventually reprinted in Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-Ups Vol. 2 (2007) and again in Batman in The Brave and the Bold: The Bronze Age Vol. 1 (2017).
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: May 1970 (April–May 1970 per GCD indicia); DC Comics, The Brave and the Bold Vol. 1 #89.
- First Batman/Phantom Stranger team-up in comics history, under the story title 'Arise, Ye Ghosts of Gotham.'
- Also features Dr. Thirteen (the Ghost-Breaker), who arrives in Gotham to debunk the supernatural events and comes into conflict with the Phantom Stranger.
- Written by Bob Haney, pencilled by Ross Andru, inked by Mike Esposito; cover inked by Dick Giordano (per GCD Bronze Age Omnibus index).
- Edited by Murray Boltinoff, who helmed B&B throughout the Haney era and shared Haney's deliberate disregard for strict DC continuity.
- The issue falls in the short Ross Andru interior-art window (he also drew #89–90) between Neal Adams's celebrated 1968–1969 run and Jim Aparo's long tenure beginning with #98.
- Reprinted in Showcase Presents: The Phantom Stranger Vol. 2 (March 2008) and Batman in The Brave and the Bold: The Bronze Age Vol. 1 (DC, 2017), making it accessible in both black-and-white and color collected editions.
- Batman's co-star Neal Adams — who drew earlier B&B issues #79–86 — provided the cover for this stretch of issues; the GCD Bronze Age Omnibus table of contents lists Giordano inking the #89 cover specifically.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams #2 (2004), Batman: Gotiske netter [Alle Tiders Superhelter] #[nn] (2005), Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-Ups #2 (2008), Showcase Presents: Phantom Stranger #2 (2008), Batman Collection: Neal Adams #3 (2009), Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams #2 (2013), Batman by Neal Adams Omnibus #[nn] (2016), Batman: The Brave and the Bold - The Bronze Age Omnibus #1 (2017), Batman in the Brave and the Bold: The Bronze Age #1 (2018), Batman by Neal Adams #2 (2019)
Key issues in The Brave and the Bold
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