Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #28 – Mark Waid, Writer; Dan Mora, Travis Mercer, Artists; Tamra Bonvillain, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: The wackiest arc of this series yet hits its penultimate issue, as Doom-Mite descends on Earth, and the planet’s last hope is… Jimmy Olsen? Due to a bizarre series of events, Superman’s buddy has been chosen as Earth’s avatar of might to stand against the villain—and this surprises him as much as anyone else. Being a powerless ginger kid, he seems doomed—until Mxyzptlk transfers all his powers to Jimmy, turning Jimmy into a 5th dimensional mite and Mxy into a grouchy old man. This is by far the most silver-age comic DC has put out in a very long time, with shape-shifting and wacky twists aplenty. But unlike the Silver Age, this villain is not some harmless prankster—it’s a cosmic being that devours planets for amusement, and Jimmy might be the most powerful being on the planet, but that doesn’t mean he knows how to use that power. Things start going downhill quickly—in often hilarious fashion.
Meanwhile, Superman and Batman are dealing with their own crisis—being trapped in other dimensions on a wacky field trip with Bat-Mite, who tries to take them home and winds up trapping them in the first dimension where just about nothing exists. This is a great use of minimalism in comics in these pages, but it nicely leads to a surprisingly emotional segment between Batman and Bat-Mite, who have a very different relationship than Superman has to his 5th-dimensional imp. After all, Bat-Mite sees himself as Batman’s ally—he just hasn’t let himself believe that what Batman needs has changed. And then we head back to the main world, where the series ends with a surprisingly dark scene that calls everything we’ve seen so far into question. This is one of the most ambitious arcs of the series, and continues to deliver in terms of great visuals and a tribute to some of the most out-there DC concepts.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
