Every day this month will have the five goofiest moment from a five-issue stretch of a particular comic book run. Once a week it will be the ten goofiest moments of a ten-issue stretch. Here is a list of the moments featured so far.
Today we're looking at the next five team-up stories from The Brave and the Bold #55-61 (issues #57 and 58 were not team-ups). They were written by Bob Haney (#55-56, #59-60) and Gardner Fox (#61) and drawn by Ramond Fradon and Charles Paris (penciler/inker team on #55 and #59), Bernard Baily (artist for #56), Bruno Premiani (artist for #60) and Murphy Anderson (artist for #61). The team-ups were the Atom and the Metal Men (#55), Flash/Martian Manhunter (plus Hawkgirl!) (#56), Batman/Green Lantern (#59), the first official Teen Titans team-up (#60) and Golden Age Starman/Golden Age Black Canary (#61).
As always, this is all in good fun. I don't mean any of this as a serious criticism of the comics in question. Not only were these writers certainly never imagining people still reading these comics decades after they were written, great comics often have goofy moments (Kirby/Lee's Fantastic Four is one of the best comic book runs of all-time and there were TONS of goofy stuff in those 100 plus issues!).
HONORABLE MENTIONS
In #61, I think Starman should be more careful. They arrest you for this sort of thing nowadays...
I suppose it is appropriate that this is the team-up that James Robinson later used as the basis for a retcon that Starman and Black Canary had a brief affair at this time.
In #56, Iris West (who was engaged to Barry Allen at the time) lays it on especially thick. First off, she calls Barry a coward to the superheroes...
Note the (I think) pointed reference of him as her "boyfriend" and not "fiance."
At the end of the issue, Iris gets another barbed shot in...
Why in the world is she engaged to this guy?! She obviously hates him!
In #55, the Metal Men are entertaining some kids. Iron's game, though, looks like it is about to end up quite painful for the children...
In #60, some of the people of Midville are really pissy about the town having a "teen government" for ONE DAY!
"His dad was a jailbird." What a jerk.
Later in #60, Wonder Girl uses her keen deductive powers to determine whether someone is lying...
I love how angry his girlfriend is.
In #56, Flash and Martian Manhunter are fighting an alien bad guy who was wronged by the queen of his planet. So they figure they will trick him into thinking she is apologizing to him. They enlist Hawkgirl for her acting skills (it is funny how shocked both Hawkman and Hawkgirl were when only Hawkgirl's help was needed). You have to love that the fair has everything needed to impersonate an alien queen...
but some fake ears would be too much work?
Some master of disguise!
In #61, Starman's old villain is using Dinah Lance's flower shop to find out which houses to rob, through hypnosis.
But his explanation of his plan goes way over the top in terms of just sounding like gobbly gook...
In #59, the bad guy is impersonating Batman. Green Lantern is in trouble - but his way out of the trouble seems way too much extra work...
Especially because if his ring can make a boot, you would think it would also just let him fly, no?
In #55, Haney hits us with some awesome "science" (quotes because, well, you know)...
Yes, at absolute zero, Mercury disappears. Well noted.
5. How do you even go down the path of finding out that you can create a molecular giant of yourself?
That's the question I wonder when we see the immensely goofy villain of #60...
4. Where's Moondoggie when you need him?
Things get even goofier in #60 when we see, for some reasons, the towns' teen surfers think that surfing after a giant was somehow a good idea...
I love how Aqualad doesn't particularly seem interested in fighting the giant HIMSELF, but he'll gladly help the cannon fodd...I mean, the surfing teens, get to the giant.
3. An early identity crisis!
It was obviously par for the course at the time, but Green Lantern casually brainwashing himself is still pretty hilariously goofy (and yet, also awesome).
2. The Green Lantern ring, as seen by Bob Haney...
The Time Commander has stranded Green Lantern one day in the past and Batman one day in the future (while the Time Commander gets stuff down today). Somehow, Batman and Green Lantern can talk to each other via Hal's ring?
It sure was terrific, Batman! Nonsensical, but terrific!
1. Who's that girl?
Can't mention these issues without spotlighting how Bob Haney added Wonder Girl to the Teen Titans without knowing that she was meant to be Wonder Woman as a teenager...
You can see how Haney got confused into making the move here.
What a way to accidentally introduce a classic character!