Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #14 – Mark Waid, Writer; Dan Mora, Artist; Tamra Bonvillain, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: A new arc kicked off last month, and abruptly shifted this fun flashback series into a detective story. As Simon Stagg was found dead, his frenemy/son-in-law Metamorpho was the primary target and went on the run. That was, until someone else was arrested—Bruce Wayne, who was exposed in a shocking article by the Daily Planet that revealed how much he stood to benefit from the murder. This, of course, turns out to be an elaborate feint—the Planet was given the information and Superman ran with it, but Superman and Bruce Wayne are working together to expose the truth while Bruce is out on bail. And it soon turns out that Stagg and Wayne aren’t the only billionaires who are going through some changes—Oliver Queen soon contacts Bruce, looking to buy into one of his most controversial divisions and acting much less like Green Arrow and much more like a generic plutocrat.
This sends Superman and Robin on a mission across the world for the missing piece of the puzzle—Metamorpho, who is currently taking out his enemies one by one. This issue does a great job of digging into just how scary Metamorpho’s powers can actually be when fully unleashed, but this isn’t the focus of the issue. The goal is simply to get Rex back into the public eye, so he doesn’t look so guilty and can attend the funeral—at which point, Superman makes a shocking discovery about the body in Simon Stagg’s coffin. There’s a great twist in this issue that completely upends the concept of this arc and sends Superman and Robin after a different villain—one who is elevated into a serious threat here for the first time in a long time. It’s no surprise that Waid is leaning heavily on classic villains here, and it’s easy to see why this run is so well-regarded that it’s getting a spin-off in a few months.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
