Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #49 review

Posted on by martingray1

Last issue ended with Superman and Batman revealed as prisoners on Earth 3, at the mercy of alternate world counterparts Ultraman and Owlman, and Superwoman Lois Lane. This issue reveals how our World’s Finest heroes, in this story set years ago, found themselves on the wrong side of a space portal. It began with Brainiac.

Tossed out like trash, Superman careers into Batman in his Bat-UFO (it’s a thing) and the two are pulled into an interdimensional rift. Discovered by STAR Labs scientists, they’re identified as cross-world dopplegangers of the villains they know by the equally evil Niles Caulder, Chief of the Doom Syndicate.

Batman and Super are down, but far from out.

And things look up when Ultraman, Superwoman and Owlman leave and someone else arrives.

This being Earth 3, villains known to Superman and Batman are good. The Riddler hasn’t been overdoing arm day, last month he was thrown by Owlman into a vat of chemicals. He didn’t bump into the Joker, or Plastic Man, but he did get a bit of extra heft. And when his hideout is reached, the World’s Finest heroes find the Riddler isn’t alone.

Can the doughty band of freedom fighters help Superman and Batman get back to their own realm, giving them the opportunity to return with reinforcements and liberate the good people of Earth 3 from under the Syndicates’ collective boot?

It’s definitely worth buying this book to find out, as writers Mark Waid and Mark Russell and artist Marcus To serve up another fast-paced slice of New Bronze Age goodness. Plotting, characterisation, visual storytelling, finishes… these people know what they’re doing.

It’s tough to see where regular writer Waid ends and guest co-writer Russell begin, but custom suggests the latter is handling words after they co-plotted. There’s none of the satire Russell brings to his DC work, but the confident dialogue is there.

As for To’s contribution, a couple of favourite things are his imposing Silver Age Brainiac, and the spacesuits Superman and Batman don at one point.

Tamra Bonvillain’s purple, red and green tinges remind us we’re not on the regular Earth – despite there being a yellow sun – while the rift, entirely created by colour, looks gorgeous. And the clean letters of Steve Wands are always well placed on the artwork, illuminating rather than interrupting.

Dan Mora’s bright cover illo does the job nicely, but goodness me, that looming Ultraman surely calls for a word balloon. A big round of applause for the new corner box art, though!

The story ends here, with next month bringing a 50th issue spectacular, but there’s a sequel set up, and I can’t wait to see it come to fruition.

16 thoughts on “Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #49 review”

  1. I can’t get into Earth 3 stories because of the wild inconsistency between appearances. I’m all for one shot villains but not ones that are supposed to be continuations. At least the Johns mess was thrown out were doppelgangers who weren’t even the same gender or background of their counterparts. Superwoman as Lois is still a sticking point too. My head canon is Diana killed the original to take her place and boff Superman (who I hope never gets new posers from every exposure to Kryptonite ever again).

    As to the classic Brainiac? A big yay! Inhuman robotic Brainiac has never led to better stories than the original did. Bring back the human looking Brainiac and give the bad alternative such a crappy name no one uses him again!

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  2. Marcus To’s art’s very strong. A little slicker than Dan Mora’s, tho Dan set the art standard extremely high.

    Morrison’s Earth 3 stuff’s still my favorite. Ultraman’s suit looks like the one Quitetly designed.

    I’m not impressed with any comics writing these days. Morrison’s “Batman/Deadpool” was a rare treat. My comicbook consumption’s dwindled down to a small fraction of what it was.

    Only a few current artists can convince me to pick any up.

    I’ll grab this one, though. Thanks.

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      1. I think I did. The cover by Jim Cheung was hard to resist. But the story seemed scattershot, unfocused. Or maybe I didn’t like the focus. Seems hazy after how long it’s been.

        I animated cartoon movie written by the late Dwayne McDuffie was interesting. Again, built a bit of Morrisson’s “JLA: Earth 2” book.

        Geoff Johns at least gave us “Sea King”, who was DAO at the start of his big crossover with the CSA. That eventually had Batman joing Luthor & several villains.

        One disappointment with Waid & Russell’s handling of the Earth 3 heroes (based on the main DC Earth’s villains), was just using the same names. McDuffie used the Jester for the Earth-3 heroic Joker analog. And I think Morrisson or someone else may have use Quizmaster or Puzzler or something for the Riddler as an Earth-3 good guy. Or I’m fudging history there.

        But coming up with different names adds more to the overall story and differentiates one world from another. Even if some names are re-appropriated, but not for the direct analog. The precedent was set by the members of the Crime Syndicate not being called the same names as Superman, Flash, etc. So then why would they break precedent for the CSA’s heroic opponents?

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      2. I didn’t even know there was a CD cartoon, I wonder if it’s on any of my streaming services; I’ve just cancelled a couple cos I never watch them. Mind, I still have access for a few months. Rambling, sorry!

        That’s a great point about the villain names, what could we go with… Cat Queen? Tommy Titfer? Funguy?

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Published by martingray1

Journalist, comic reviewer, theatre critic, film lover, biscuit fan, cat indulger