DC Finest: Team-Ups: The Impossible Escape

DC Finest: Team-Ups #1

by Bob Haney, Arnold Drake, Neal Adams (Illustrator)

Dynamic Duos and Daring Escapes—Batman’s Greatest Team-Ups Collected

DC Finest: Team-Ups – The Impossible Escape brings together some of the most thrilling and unexpected superhero pairings from DC’s Bronze Age. Featuring classic stories from The Brave and the Bold and Super-Team Family, this volume showcases Batman teaming up with heroes like Mr. Miracle, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Deadman, and even Kamandi. With writing by Bob Haney and Arnold Drake, and art by legends Neal Adams and Jim Aparo, these tales are packed with action, mystery, and the kind of wild storytelling that defined an era. From “The Impossible Escape” to “The Hour of the Beast,” this collection is a celebration of DC’s most daring collaborations.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics

560 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 2026

About the author

Robert G. Haney was an American comic book writer, best known for his work for DC Comics. He co-created the Teen Titans as well as characters such as Metamorpho, Eclipso, Cain, and the Super-Sons.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is charming in a 1975 sort of way. Bob Haney ran out of fucks to give long before this so continuity is right out the window. Batman teams up with post World War II Sgt. Rock three times, Wildcat three times, and the Spectre once, all without time travel or traveling to other Earths. We also get multiple team ups with Green Arrow, sometimes with the Atom in tow. The Atom, while we're on the subject, also crawls into a vegetative Batman's ear and controls him by walking around on various parts of his brain. He teams with other heroes and even the Joker, but the above are the high points.

The milkshake that brings all the boys to the yard belongs to Jim Aparo, though. Aparo draws the shit out of every gonzo plot Bob Haney cooks up and never once does it seem like Batman isn't dead serious about every bit of it, even when he's using a phone booth in broad daylight or flying on a commercial airline instead of the Batplane.

Three 2026 stars, four and a half 1975 stars.

[Gary Sassaman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 560-page volume is comprised pretty much of just The Brave and the Bold Batman team-ups by Bob Haney and Jim Aparo. It reprints B&B 106 through 130, and covers and a couple of stories—one inked by Wallace Wood—from Super Team Family 1-7, which started in the same timeline, 1973 through 1976. Bob Haney’s Batman exists in a world all his own, totally divorced from DC continuity (which was minimal at the time), except for the Caped Crusader’s team-ups with other DC heroes (Haney seems to have paid the most attention to Swamp Thing’s origin). His Batman hangs out with Commissioner Gordon in the daytime a lot, including going to the racetrack (he doesn’t bet on any races, though), and even flies coach in one story (I guess the Batplane was sidelined during the gas crisis in the mid-70s). Aparo’s art is great throughout, and you can get some inklings of who the more popular co-stars are (like—surprisingly—an aged Sgt. Rock, who appears in an incredibly meta story that also stars Aparo, Haney, and editor Murray Boltinoff!). This volume is one that has the most amount of issues that have already been reprinted elsewhere in the DC Finest line: Four of the B&B issues were in the recent Joker volume, and another is in The Spectre. Still, it’s an enjoyable read, but thankfully there are only two Super-Team Family stories, because they’re not so hot.

[Gaute Hjartåker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is written by Bob Haney - or should I say Bob Zany, heh. Because this is the Haneyverse, a world where anything can happen! In the first couple of stories, his style threw me for a loop. But once I tuned into his particular frequency, I had a ton of fun with this volume.

We get a good chunk of Batman team-ups from 1973 to 1976 here, as well as a couple stories from Super-Team Family. Heroes from all corners of the DC-verse is represented here: Plastic Man, Metal Men, Metamorpho, Man-Bat, Sgt. Rock, the Demon, and.. Kamandi? You’ll have to find out for yourself how that’s possible lol.

Things move at a breakneck speed here. This is the opposite of decompressed storytelling. I’m amazed how much action they manage to cram into 20 pages, all one-and-done stories.

Haney has a reputation for playing very fast and loose with DC continuity. But I don’t really care about that - just give me a good story, that’s much more important. And these are great stories, though they sometimes strain credibility. Like the time the Atom goes into a comatose Batman’s brain, and makes him move and knock out opponents by stepping on different parts of Batman’s brain.. Good lord, give me some of what Haney was smoking.

The artwork by Aparo is always solid, fluid and dynamic. The visual action manages to match Haney’s ADHD storytelling, no mean feat.

Be warned: This is 70s DC storytelling, some might prefer a more modern Batman. But if you’re into that, this volume is crazy fun. A very strong four stars out of five.

[Matt Fuller · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were too many issues in this already in recently released Finest volumes which made it less enjoyable they really gotta stagger these releases better. Stupid but entertaining writing elevated by the art. 1973-1976. 6/10