the Brave and the Bold #9 - DC

The emphasis of the book now is . . . the Challengers of the Unknown are trying to figure out who this Megistus is. They've been sifting through this Book of Destiny for weeks, and they keep coming across the name . . . Megistus. There's a lot of character in this particular issue, but really it's just 3 little short stories that give us a little insight in to this character. The first one is with the Metal Men and Dial H for Hero. Basically, there's this giant robot lizard thingy attacking Manhattan. And there's a giant wrestler fighting it. Turns out the wrestler is a Dial H hero. The Metal Men try to help, just as Robby Reed has to undial to get free of the lizards grasp. He drops the dial and Tin picks it up. He dials up Manbot the Mighty. A real pompous hero covered in armor. The rest of the group makes him change back because he's to annoying. Anyways, as they're fighting the robot it keep saying "Me-gis-tus". Over and over again. And, really, that's the only reference we have out of this story. In the second we have we have the Boy Commandos and Blackhawk trying to fight off some Nazi's near a pyramid, during WWII, because they don't want them to get the Orb of Ra. As they're fighting, Brooklyn is abducted by one of the mummy's inside. They are to procure the Orb for Megistus, but he wants a demonstration of it's power first. Long story short, Brooklyn gets free, they lock the mummy's in, and there's no way for them to get the Orb to Megistus. Or is there? Finally in the third story, Ryan Choi is at a guest lecture in Ivytown. He sees Carter Hall in the audience. And then things are interrupted by the Warlock of Ys. He's one of Hawkman's nemesis. Ryan and Carter both go after him, but it turns out that their powers are negating each other. Until Ryan gets the idea to push the 2 together, which creates an energy release that shields them from the Warlock's blast. Unfortunately it also creates some kind of rift in space that the Warlock is sucked in to. Nobody knows where it's gone. But then, in the Challengers lab, the page of the book seem to have come to a life of their own. They basically look like a paper-mache monster. I guess we're to assume that this is Megistus. But according to the book, as Ys is reaching out of the void, so to is Megistus' paper hand reaching out in to the lab. So is Ys, Megistus? And if so, why is he mentioned so much in the book? And did Carter and Ryan accidentally create him? Well, these are all questions that are going to have to wait until next issue. As at the end of this one, June finds herself firmly in the paper monster's grasp. Very interesting. Another star-studded issue brought to us by Mark Waid and George Perez. I'm glad this book is back.