by Mark Waid, George Perez & Jerry Ordway
collects Brave & The Bold # 7-12
the premise: The Challengers of the Unknown track a villain known as Megistus through the history of the DC Universe, leading to a cataclysmic battle in the present.
the lowdown: The second volume of Mark Waid's B&B run picks up where the first left off - with the Challs and the Book of Destiny. Most of this volume is made up of tales of various groups of characters fighting Megistus at different points in history, as Waid shows us the villain enacting a plan with a VERY slow burn.
Unfortunately, the chemistry of the first volume doesn't quite make the leap. Some of the teamups are very cool (Aquaman and the Teen Titans, Flash and the Doom Patrol), while others just don't work as well (Blackhawks and Boy Commandoes). The cast this time around is even larger than in Volume 1, but that comes at the expense of some of the glue holding the book together. In vol. 1 Batman and GL were there to anchor the arc - this time the Challs fill that role, and they're just not that interesting.
Perez's art on the first four chapters is stellar, but he's replaced mid-arc by Jerry Ordway. I like Ordway's work but he's no Perez, and the conclusion suffers a little for the transition.
the verdict: Not a bad book but kind of a letdown after the stellar first volume. Just not as crisp for whatever reason.
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