Batman/Superman: World’s Finest vol. 1 — The Devil Nezha

Not too long ago, Poison Ivy and Metallo showed up in Metropolis and led to a team-up between Superman and Batman (and Robin).  Then Superman got hit with a Red Kryptonite cocktail, causing him to hallucinate and lose control of his powers.  That’s when Niles Caulder and his Doom Patrol had to be called in to help save the day.  Yet what prompted this villainous team-up and why are more supervillains attacking their nemesis at the same time?  The answer lies in the past, of a villain so great that he couldn’t be defeated, just sealed away.  A villain who has now escaped into the current era of the DC Universe and is set on taking everything for himself.

I’ve been wanting to read this for a while, even though I didn’t feel like picking up this volume in hardcover.  Now that I’ve finally read the first volume of this latest incarnation of “Batman/Superman” I can say that I was right on both counts:  I’m glad I didn’t shell out for the hardcover edition, but I am glad that I read it.  What we have here is a very high-energy superhero story that shows writer Mark Waid and artist Dan Mora firing on all cylinders.

This means you get a story that, while it may be generally predictable, is smart about how its characters use their characters to get out of sticky situations, and about the general details.  “The Devil Nezha” is a story where you’ll see Batman smile for good reason, and smile yourself when you realize that Superman not believing in Hell is an idea that makes perfect sense.  It’s also one where the action comes at you in furious, well-detailed fashion in a way that also energizes the story.  Though this story isn’t set in the present day (Robin is Dick Grayson here) it does end on a note that sets up the “Batman vs. Robin” event and makes me more interested in checking that out.  Along with future volumes of “Batman/Superman.”  In paperback, of course.