Comic Title: Brave and the Bold #1
Publisher: DC (National Comics Publications, Inc.)
Address: 480 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
Cover Date: Aug/Sep 1955
Approx. On Sale Date: June 7, 1955 Copyright Date June 5, 1955
Source: Library of Congress, Periodicals 1955
Until 1958 DC did not report actual on sale dates to the copyright office
The publication dates listed in LoC records are NOT release dates.

Frequency: Bi-monthly
Cover Price: $0.10
Page Count: 32
Editor: Robert Kanigher

Title: "The Thunder of the Chariots"
Pages: 8

Feature(s):
Golden Gladiator

Writer: France E. Herron
Artist: Russ Heath

Reprinted In:
DC Special #12 (1971)
Best of the Brave and the Bold #1 (1988)

Feature Character(s)

• Golden Gladiator (Marcus; next appearance in Brave and the Bold #2)

Supporting Character(s)

• Lucia (Cinna's niece; next appearance in Brave and the Bold #2)

Villain(s)

• Cinna (next appearance in Brave and the Bold #2)
• Caius and Cotta (gladiators; no further appearances)
• Cinna's co-conspirators (no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• Preator Clodius Crassus (a Roman leader; no further appearances)
• Crixus (a friend of Marcus; no further appearances)

Synopsis:
When a plot to kill Praetor Clodius Crassus fails the conspirators behind the attack frame an innocent shepherd boy Marcus for the crime. Marcus is sent into slavery aboard a merchant galley. When a lion aboard the vessel escapes captivity, Marcus is able to use his immense strength, earned through endless toil, to halt the beast. When the ship returns to Rome, Marcus is sold as a gladiator.

Marcus is bought by Cinna, the lead conspirator in the plot to kill the Praetor. Cinna wants Marcus dead, so he puts him in the arena against the fiercest competition. Marcus prevails and wins a chariot race which earns him his freedom and the title of Golden Gladiator.