The Brave and the Bold #93
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Brave and the Bold #93 is a structurally singular entry in the entire Bronze Age Batman canon: it is the only issue of a superhero team-up title in which Batman's co-star is not another hero but an anthology horror title — literally the House of Mystery itself, with that book's host, Cain, serving as narrator. Written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by Neal Adams, it stands as Adams' first return to the book's interior pages since his celebrated year-long run ended with issue #86, and the story's gothic atmosphere, environmental mystery plot, and psychologically vulnerable Batman represent exactly the darker, grittier direction that O'Neil and Adams were pioneering across DC's Batman line at the dawn of the 1970s. The issue is further distinguished by a notorious mid-press-run printing error — part of its run went to newsstands with the indicia reading 'The Brave and the Bowl' before the mistake was caught and corrected, creating two distinct variants from a single print run, an exceedingly rare production accident in mainstream comics publishing. Its sustained reprint history across more than a dozen international and domestic collections, spanning five decades, confirms its standing as one of the most celebrated individual Batman stories of the Bronze Age.
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Editor Murray Boltinoff oversaw the issue, departing from the title's established formula in two key ways: the script came from Denny O'Neil rather than the book's near-permanent writer Bob Haney, and Neal Adams — who had concluded his regular stint on the title with issue #86 in late 1969 — returned to handle both pencils and inks on the interior story. Boltinoff himself praised the completed work on the issue's own letters page as among the finest art he had seen in the medium, and the book's on-sale date of October 27, 1970 — just four days before Halloween — gave the horror-inflected story an unusually apt seasonal release. According to the Grand Comics Database, colorist Jack Adler's contribution was not credited in the issue itself but was acknowledged in the letters column of issue #96.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by DC Comics; on-sale October 27, 1970; cover-dated January 1971. Edited by Murray Boltinoff under executive editor Carmine Infantino.
- Story title: 'Red Water Crimson Death' — written by Denny O'Neil, with pencils, inks, and cover all by Neal Adams. Lettered by John Costanza; colored by Jack Adler (credited belatedly in issue #96's letters column).
- Unique format: Batman's 'team-up' partner is not a superhero but the House of Mystery anthology title, with Cain — that book's horror-host — narrating the Batman adventure, making this the only Brave and the Bold issue structured this way.
- Plot involves a burnt-out Batman sent on forced vacation by Commissioner Gordon, who travels to a cursed Irish island and uncovers an industrialist (Aloysius Cabot) poisoning the local waters with chemicals while exploiting supernatural superstitions as cover.
- Neal Adams' first return to the book's interior artwork since his regular run ended with issue #86 (Oct.–Nov. 1969); also his final solo Batman story in Brave and the Bold (aside from an 8-page backup).
- Printing error variant: a substantial portion of the print run went out with the indicia misreading 'THE BRAVE & THE BOWL #93' before the error was caught and corrected mid-press-run, producing two distinct indicia states — an exceptionally rare occurrence in mainstream comics production.
- Reprinted at least 13 times across multiple countries and formats, including: Limited Collectors' Edition #C-59 (1978), Best of the Brave and the Bold #5 (1988), Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 2 (2004), Showcase Presents: The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-Ups Vol. 2 (2008), Batman by Neal Adams Omnibus (2016), and the Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Bronze Age Omnibus (2017), among others.
- In a 1984 Amazing Heroes interview ('The Batman Tapes,' issue #50), Denny O'Neil himself acknowledged that a story beat — Bruce Wayne discarding his Batman costume — seemed out of character, reflecting the creative team's own retrospective candor about the story.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in All Star Adventure Comic #69 (1971), Limited Collectors' Edition #C-59 (1978), Batman Superband #9 (1979), Gigant #6/1983 (1983), Batman #1 (1984), The Best of the Brave and the Bold #5 (1988), Batman #6 (1990), 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), 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 by Neal Adams #2 (2019), Batman in the Brave and the Bold: The Bronze Age #2 (2019)
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