Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #50 – Mark Waid, Writer; Dan Mora, Adrian Gutierrez, Artists; Tamra Bonvillain, Luis Guerrero, Colorists
Ray – 9/10
Ray: It’s pretty impressive that DC has not only set up an ongoing flashback series that lasted a full fifty issues, but it’s been done with Mark Waid writing almost every issue of the series. For this anniversary oversized special, we’ve got two stories – the first being by original series artist Dan Mora, one of the most prolific artists in the business. Superman and Batman have returned to Earth to discover that a curse has taken away Earth’s ability to dream, courtesy of Doctor Destiny, and the heroes travel into the Dreamstone with Zatanna’s help. But when they’re there, they start transforming, their deepest insecurities coming to the surface as they turn into monstrous versions of themselves and turn on each other. The visuals here are great, showing us what these heroes look like as their worst selves – and what they truly are underneath all those dark shadows. Mora continues to be a master of horror visuals in particular.
The second story, with art by regular artist Adrian Gutierrez, is a much lighter tale picking up on one of the funniest subplots in this series – the intense enmity between Supergirl and Robin. The two of them are involved in another argument, and this time Batgirl and Jimmy Olsen have been roped in. Soon, they’re setting off on a quest to settle their dispute, boys vs. girls, to track down a legendary Egyptian statue with a supposed mysterious secret behind it. The dialogue in this segment is really funny, and when the truth behind the statue is revealed, it turns the story into a great action-adventure segment straight out of the Silver Age stories that clearly inspired it. The narration of the teens as they try to explain to their mentors how this all went so wrong is a highlight, and it’s pretty impressive that Mark Waid, who has been writing comics since the 90s, is still able to write such a fun story featuring teenagers.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes
