Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #2 – Mark Waid, Writer; Dan Mora, Artist; Tamra Bonvillain, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: Mark Waid has had an eclectic career in the DCU, ranging from epic and classic stories to some genuinely bizarre ones. One of the highlights of that run was his time writing The Brave and the Bold with the legendary George Perez, an anthology that skipped across genres with ease. Now he’s sort of doing it again—except the genre-hopping is all happening within one ongoing story, as Superman, Batman, and their allies embark on the craziest adventure ever. To illustrate, this issue begins with Superman dying from red kryptonite poisoning, and the Doom Patrol pulling off a wild and crazy emergency surgery on a Kryptonian. Not long after that, Superman is drinking a cup of tea and we’re learning about the secret lore behind this plot—a legend involving a grieving warlord who searched across the world of magic to find a way to resurrect his warrior son. He succeeded—but his son came back wrong.
From there, the story diverges in an intriguing way with the arrival of Supergirl. I’m still not 100% sure who this Robin is (the costume looks like Tim, but some of Kara’s dialogue makes it sound more like Dick, but that wouldn’t quite make sense with the timeline of Kara’s arrival), but it’s intriguing that he and Kara don’t seem to get along. Their bickering hints at a “Noodle Incident” of sorts when things went horribly, hilariously wrong during their last team-up, and the two actually sound like teenagers here. Their time travel shenanigans take one crazy turn, while Batman and Superman face an old foe to defend an unexpected ally—Billy Batson, who has been dealt a disturbing curse. By the end of the issue, Kara and Robin are facing one peril, while Batman, Superman, and Billy have found themselves in even direr straits. It’s an old-school thrill ride brought to life by one of the best creative teams working today.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
