Now here’s an intriguing cover – Jonathan Kent and Alfred Pennyworth looking down on the city in a nod to Carmine Infantino’s classic Sixties Batman and Robin poster. The only change I’d make to Dan Mora’s design would be the removal of the combined Batman/Superman signal, it makes the page too cluttered.
Inside we have the equally excellent Clayton Henry drawing Mark Russell’s tale of the night Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent arranged a joint Father’s Day dinner for Alfred and Jonathan.
Unfortunately, both heroes receive a Justice League alert. While Bruce responds, leaving the eatery with the excuse of a Wayne Enterprises ‘accounting emergency’, Superman stays back to keep an eye on their elders.
Bruce gets into a surprisingly tatty old SUV, but there’s method in his apparent madness.
After JL intel lets Batman know the Flash has gone missing at a Lexcorp facility, he fights his way to a hi-tech cell containing Barry Allen.
Before too long, Superman find himself in the same situation, prompting Alfred and Jonathan to mount a search.
I’ll leave it to you to discover how things turn out, hopefully you’ll enjoy this as much as I did. This really is the team-up I never knew I wanted, seeing the men who helped two orphans become heroes share their stories is terrific.
Jonathan recounts tales of the farm.
And Alfred tells of a city childhood.
Jonathan and Alfred come from very different backgrounds, but their commonalities create a bond. Heck, we’ve already been told in a Superman issue that Jonathan and Martha have a weekly call with Alfred, this could be where it started. While I wouldn’t want them to regularly be helping out Batman and Superman, it’s great to see their believable courage and resourcefulness in the face of danger.
Russell’s script balances delicacy and laughs to provide a portrait of parenthood in the DC Universe. While I could do without a big old farming metaphor from Jonathan, the story ends on a wonderfully poignant note.
Clayton Henry, as he always does, nails the emotions and action set pieces with equal aplomb. Alfred and Jonathan are knowable through his portraits, the only offnote being the idea Jonathan Kent would wear his dungarees to a dinner in the big city, but that’s likely an instruction in the script.
I really like the Batmobile disguise – is this new?
Kudos, too, to Pedro Estouco and Steve Wands for putting the capper on the pages with their accomplished colours and letters.
After this 30pp treat, an 11pp back-up in which Bruce Wayne takes Lois Lane on a date, having been asked to keep an eye on her by an otherwise engaged Superman due to a threat from the Mannheim crime family. When Superman learns Batman quickly ended the danger to Lois, but he’s squiring her around the state fair, the green-eyed monster takes over.
And so it goes, a few pages of harmless silliness, with an unnecessary framing sequence involving Bat-Mite and Mxyzptlk. Mark Waid co-writes with a chap named Tyrone Finch and it’s amusing enough. I’m less keen on the art by Pat Boutin – I can go with cartoony but please, give us human-looking characters.
Steve Wands letters this story too, while Romulo Fajardo Jr does his usual top job with the colouring.
Overall, World’s Finest Annual is a nice change of pace issue, well worth your time – I suspect Dads will get a special kick out of it.
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 
only half the main story worked for me. Russel’s style is too much like parody. And Pa Kent’s voice was way off from how he sounds in Action Comics with Superboy. The heartwarming bits were good. I couldn’t even finish the Mxy/ Bat-Mite tale.
-Matthew Lloyd
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I missed that it was Russel in the credits and it never occurred to me since there was no preaching about anything political in even one panel. Russel usually tells us what to think at least once a page! I did like the story but I just can’t warm up to Henry like you do. His art feels airy and empty to me. I never liked Dezuniga’s art but Henry needs to be inked by someone like him or Tom Palmer, anything that makes his work look less like an animation cel.
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