DC Comics & Batman / Superman: World’s Finest #2 Spoilers and Review follows.
Who Is The Major New Threat? Plus, Doom Patrol, Shazam and More!
The main cover above is complemented by a few variant covers below.
The promise of the issue can be discerned from its solicitation.
BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #2
Written by MARK WAID
Art and cover by DAN MORA
Variant cover by TIM SALE
1:25 variant cover by PETE WOODS
1:50 variant cover by JORGE JIMENEZ
$3.99 US | 32 pages | Variant $4.99 US (card stock)
ON SALE 4/19/22The Man of Steel and the Dark Knight have arrived at the compound of Niles Caulder—the Chief in charge of that strange band of misfits known as the Doom Patrol—but all is not as it seems. While Batman works with Niles to cure Superman of his freakish transformations, a side mission to track a mysterious figure known as “the Demon” attracts the Dark Knight’s attention…and moreover, it could have some connection to Superman’s poisoning at the hands of Metallo! It’s danger, intrigue, and the surprise appearance of Deadman in chapter two of World’s Finest!
The first few pages of the issue find very a creative way for the Doom Patrol to undertake surgery on Superman, due to his kryptonite poisoning at the end of the last issue (full spoilers here), including another novel way to purge his blood of the kryptonite’s toxicity.
A worried Batman is pleased to see his friend healed, but that is when the real mystery begins with a mystic sword and the tease of a new villain’s ancient origins…
…the Devil Nezha.
However, it’s not just Batman / Superman that have had their rogues attack seemingly in Nezha’s employ, but…
…Shazam, a Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and others.
That leads to a team-up between Supergirl and Robin, who appear frosty to one another, as Batman / Superman head over to deal with Felix Faust who has magically stopped Billy Batson from uttering the word Shazam and gaining his powers as he longer has a mouth?!
Batman and Superman are mystically trapped by Faust, but Superman is able to free them in another creative fashion as we learn elsewhere what caused the tension between Supergirl and Robin.
Looks like Supergirl is taking Robin through a time barrier back to the Devil Nezha’s heyday in the past…
…where the welcoming party is anything but as they recognize the demon sword Supergirl and Robin have with them.
The book ends in the present, well recent past in terms of when the story takes place in continuity, with Felix Faust revealing he duped them to find him all at behest of his new master who seems to want the World’s Finest, and a mouthless Billy Batson, in hell?!
While this story “present” is the recent past, I am intrigued about how this series leaps to the actual present over the summer and teases another 2022 DC Comics event.
The Pulse:
A real joy to read. A genuinely fun and entertaining tale that has super-heroics, fantasy, drama, suspense and even a peppering of humor to advance the story and these characters’ journey. What an equally string art team that helps bring the energy to the words on the page. A creative tour de force. 9.5 out of 10.
