Superhero Father Son vacation FTW!
Brave & the Bold saw the JLA's first appearance, #28, 1960. Mike Gold wrote in one JSA comic that the team up between Flash and GL was a sort of test run to see if a new team-book would work. I tried looking on CV and wikipedia for the exact issue that featured a team up between these 2 heroes alone, but I couldn't find it,
Barry Allen is also considered the first hero of the silver age. This book features Jay Garrick and Alan Scott alongside the newer heroes. Barry and Jay are also responsible for the first crossover between JSA's Earth-2 and JLA's Earth-1. Hal Jordan's responsible for an ENTIRE sector of space and has intelligence/imagination based powers but is pretty radical physically too. How cool is that? Both these guys appeared in Showcase, Barry Allen appeared in 1956 and was a huge fan of Jay Garrick. Hal appeared 3 years later in 1959 and JLA
So seeing both the Golden Age and Silver Age versions of the same characters in the same comic is wonderful.
There are a lot of leisure related imagery in this issue, and i wanna say at the start, that this story's very unkind to Hal. Takes only 1 page for Barry and Hal to meet and pick up stuff. Alan Scott and Jay are waiting on the roof of a radio broadcasting station, Alan is frustrated about how long they've waited blaming it on Hal while a more cheerful Jay explains Bar's tendency to run late. Soon they're on their way, with Hal being put in charge of chosing their vacation spot due to interplanetary "connections" through the corps. Everyone explains their origin in 4 quick panels with both GLs getting more lines. Here, Alan says he and Hal have so much in common on the surface yet-- (cut off) and when GL claims they should have arrived and seem to be lost, Barry, his friend, nags like a wife, which i consider would be ANNOYING. Scott jumps in to save the day, (telling the ring out loud to take them to the nearest hospitable planet, keep this in mind) It looks decent enough, pretty meat in fact, and Alan starts setting up camp.
When Hal offers to help Alan declines saying it has to be done right. So they all leave Scott to collect firewood, something Scott cant pick up. Jay talks about Alan's business success story. Hal gets bored when the Flashes start talking about their mundane lives, (even pissed) but doesn't want to talk when asked about what's new with him. Then they're caught in a sandstorm, which GL/Hal can't do much about due to it's yellow colour. He manages to blast Barry into the sky so he could create twin whirlwinds, apparently a drill they've used on Weather Wizard before. Back at the campsite, Barry's looking for matches while cooking and finds a girly teddy bear in Hal's stuff and we learn that Hal's a travelling sales rep selling toys now. Scott's harsh and both Flashes laugh at Hal's most embarassing moment. The teasing continue over dinner ("who are we to point fingers at a man on THE MOVE") They're ready to sleep now, everyone in a different night outfit, and Barry in pajamas, night robe and even a picture (presumably Iris) and an alarm clock beside his bed. Turns out they set up camp on quicksand, which is yellow, and Barry has to wrap Hal's ring with his costume so he could take everyone outta there.
Realizing the planet's natural quirks are conveniently made out of each GL's weakness, they're stuck on the choice between desert (yellow stuff) and the wooded area which Scott's ring is powerless against. Alan and Hal are still pretty uneasy around each other, and they're attacked by a swarm of bugs who Alan can't control with his ring. The bugs are wooden. Hal's ring didn't work on them either, and after the swarm gathers up into one giant bug (lamest idea ever, but i've seen the giant swarm in some movie too.) Alan squashes it using stone, and figures out it was (SURPRISE) Hal's monster, and Hal reveals that they didn't just randomly arrive on this planet, revealing that while tracking Hal's original planet, his ring had been jammed on purpose by his own Earth-2 predecessor! Now, compared to the traditional plot and bad guys, this is quite shocking, at least for me it was. The BAD guy is actually one of their own! (and not an actual bad guy, Alan Scott's still a hero) But it was for Hal's good. Arguing a little and Scott explaining that he's proud of Hal and wanted to give him a push, The End (of that story)
I find it ironic how Alan Scott is being a MAJOR douchebag to Hal, and at the end of the story, which don't really have real villains, Alan Scott's the bad guy who tried to get everyone KILLED! He GAMBLES with the good guy's lives, including his own, although they do have super powers and maybe it's not that big a deal. What's even weird is after all this, Hal thinks what Alan did was great. I mean sure, it was out of CERTAIN good will but STILL,