Batman/Superman: World’s Finest

I finally got the chance to read the first volume of this series when it was released in paperback a while back.  What I found was a familiar superhero story set in the past of the DCU that was energized by the writing of Mark Waid and the art from Dan Mora.  I enjoyed “The Devil Nezha,” but not enough to consider picking up the subsequent volumes in hardcover.  Fortunately, it seems that DC is beginning to agree with me as volumes two-through-four of “World’s Finest” have been released in close enough proximity so that I can review them all at once.

Does this wind up being too much of a good thing?  Not really, as the short answer for the respective quality of these volumes is, “If you liked the first one, then you’ll like these too.”  What did surprise me was that there wound up being a narrative thread which connected volumes two and four.

It starts in vol. 2 Strange Visitor after a brief trip back in time to rescue Dick Grayson, who isn’t that bad off after having fallen in with a circus troupe from the era he finds himself in.  Once things shift back to the present day we get the secret history of Boy Thunder.  Who’s Boy Thunder you ask?  He’s the sidekick to Superman that we never knew about.  Rocketed here from an alternate-universe Gotham City, he’s rescued by the title characters and found to have superpowers himself.  Superman takes it upon himself to teach this kid, David, the right way to use them and how to properly act as a superhero.

While he wants to do good, David comes across as unstable for reasons we’re made clear on later.  This has the effect of him not understanding the right way to do things and wanting to take the easier, more violent way out more often than not.  Seeing Superman try his best to teach and reach David is definitely interesting, particularly when he fails due to circumstances that are beyond his reach.  However, the best part of the story is when it’s revealed who David really is; or rather, who he’ll grow up to be.  It’s one of those, “That makes so much sense!” moments – provided you’re familiar with the story he originated in.  Which, if you’re reading a series called “Batman/Superman:  World’s Finest” that’s written by Mark Waid in this day and age, it’s a pretty safe bet that you are.

Next up is vol. 3, Elementary and it’s the one volume in the series to not have any ramifications beyond it.  No follow-up story in an event series, nor a sequel storyline in this one (yet, at least).  The main storyline starts off with the death of billionaire industrialist Simon Stagg and the prime suspect is his bodyguard Rex “Metamorpho” Mason.  At least, he’s the prime suspect until research by Jimmy Olsen reveals another billionaire who had good reason to want Stagg dead:  Bruce Wayne.

Fortunately for us, the storyline doesn’t spend much time on what we all know is a narrative dead end.  Instead, things spiral rapidly out of control as what initially came off as a superhero murder mystery eventually morphs into a full-on A.I. uprising.  It’s fun seeing the storyline scale up like this and even if it doesn’t have any lasting ramifications, there’s still plenty of cleverness in its execution to render it a fun time.  Plus, we get an entertaining one-off illustrated by Emanuela Lupacchino to kick off the volume which details Robin and Supergirl having the Worst.  Date.  Ever.

Now we’re up to vol. 4 Return to Kingdom Come and if you were wondering which classic Waid story I was talking about earlier… uh, Spoiler Warning, I guess.  So this volume does pick up from vol. 2 in that we get to find out what happened to David after the end of that volume.  After Flash finds David while doing one of his runs through the multiverse, he uses some of his tech to send Batman and Superman after him.  Something which does not go well for the two as they wind up seeing the aftermath of the “Kingdom Come” story before being thrown back to before it started.

The resulting storyline isn’t just fanservice for the story in question as it does add some helpful context for the actions behind one of its original characters.  We also get to see the in-universe debut of another character that was only hinted at there and it’s his action which wind up driving things here.  There’s A LOT of superhero fighting here, which really gives Mora a chance to show off his action and design skills with the alternate-universe looks for many of the characters here.  While that’s a highlight of the story, the ending doesn’t quite land as well as it should.  Though the character arc this storyline is focused on is complete, it has the Supermen and Batmen in it acting in a very condescending manner before having to immediately change their minds after they find out how “Kingdom Come” ends.

Again, even if these stories don’t offer anything new to the genre, they’re still well-told superhero stories that have enough energy to make them entertaining reads for fans of the characters.  They also make it easy for me to see how Waid and Mora have become DC’s Team Supreme these days as they’ve gone on to collaborate on the “Absolute Power” event series, and will be handling the new “Justice League Unlimited” title – the first proper “League” series after an absence of one for over a year.  I’m still not going to start picking up this series in hardcover (assuming DC is going to keep putting it in that format first), but I’m more than happy to keep waiting for these paperback collections when they arrive.