THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD 66 (1966)
by Bob Haney & Mike Sekowsky
cover by Ramona Fradon
Considering he’s a shapeshifter who turns into other elements, it was just a matter of time before Metamorpho met the Metal Men.
This is the first time Metamorpho shows up in my reviews. All you need to know about him is that he was transformed into a monster with the power to turn into any element, and he works for billionaire jackass Simon Stagg because he’s in love with his daughter.
Once he visits the Metal Men, they treat him like a celebrity. While Metamorpho is not exactly a household name outside of comics, in-universe he WAS quite popular with the public.
Amusingly, it’s Tin who has the worst case of hero worship.
Metamorpho is not here for the Metal Men, but because he hopes Doc Magnus will be able to turn him back into a human. You know, the roboticist.
Doc instructs the Metal Men to retrieve “certain chemicals” he’s going to need to cure Metamorpho.
However it turns out that Random Evil Scientist is currently monitoring Doc Magnus (WTF!?) because he wants revenge.
The reason why he wants revenge is actually pretty funny. He lost 15 years of his life stranded on a desert island, and once he came back with his newest invention… well…
Amazingly, Doc was actually very gracious. Where was THIS guy in the regular series!?
As the various Metal Men recover various chemicals, Lead is tasked with bringing back some snake poison… and gets poisoned by a bazooka!!!
Time to cure Metamorpho for good!
AND IT WORKS!!!
Jus then, the Metal Men mysteriously collapse…
…and transform into jackasses.
Frankly, I don’t see what the big deal is. They look great to me.
So when Simon Stagg shows up to recover Metamorpho, Random Evil Scientist has already taken over.
Random Evil Scientist locks away both Doc and the newly humanized Metamorpho… who immediately regrets the whole thing.
He’s turned back into Metamorpho off-panel, and it’s time we reach what the cover promised: an elemental fight!
Where was THIS Mike Sekowsky during his awful run of the main series!?
Between this and Brave & The Bold #55, I get the feeling Bob Haney knew WAY more actual science than Kanigher.
Sometimes it’s hard to believe Simon Stagg and his daughter are actually related. Then she makes THIS goofy face.
Metamorpho’s solution is to melt down Lead (!!!!) by turning into a heated copper wire, which gets rid of the device that was making him evil.
He’s not shown in the following panels and sometimes melting the Metal Men kills them, so I’m counting this as a death for Lead.
And that’s about it!
Metal Men significance: 0/10
Despite being a great fit for each other, there is no second Metamorpho team-up.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Considering how utterly absurd both Metamorpho and the Metal Men can get, this is pretty tame.
Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
The fight itself is FANTASTIC. Unfortunately the rest is quite underwhelming… Metamorpho being cured is HUGE for him, but it’s dropped after barely a page!!!
Should this have been part of the main series?
While this is not as good as the Atom story, it’s a very firm YES!!! The next Metal Men issues sold after this one was Metal Men #20.
Number of elements: 61
Adding the knockoffs of Iron, Mercury, Lead, Tin and Gold. Since according to Random Evil Scientist they had the same powers of their metals, they still count even if we never see them do anything.
Times Nameless has died: 5
Times Platinum has died: 20
Times Mercury has died: 21
Times Gold has died: 22
Times Tin has died: 26
Times Iron has died: 26
Times Lead has died: 28