Superman/Batman: World's Finest

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Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars

Exquisite Steve Rude Art Can't Help Dull Scripting July 21, 2005
5 out of 8 found this review helpful

Steve Rude had done a lot of admirable work in the comic's world. Fans of Nexus have certainly come to appreciate his retro-pulp style. His renderings of the two most recognizable franchise characters in western culture can leave no doubt to the man's vituousity. Each panel is lively and fluid, so much like his idols Toth and Kirby. Steve Ollif's earthy colorings are a perfect counterpoint to Rude's lines.

The problem here is with the confused, muddled, and talky plot wrought by Dave Gibbons. I have always preferred Gibbons, the penciler (Watchmen, the old Rouge Trooper series) to Gibbons the writer simply on a sense that the man seems temperamentally better suited to narrating through image than through dialog. "Batman Vs. Predator", an early attempt at scripting, suffers from a lack of the sort of action experience that should have been a slam dunk for the venture. Similarly, "World's Finest" troubles itself over a plot that requires too much explication, a classic, "show-don't-tell" mistake. Something about orphans. Something about an old Fagin-like character using children to commit crimes. But he's dead... but he's not dead. Someone's dead, or maybe not. And Lex Luthor wants to buy up property in Gotham and Joker wants to wet his beak in Metropolis. For some reason, this totally triggers paroxysms of self-doubt in the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight because they feel that they need to "trade" territories in order to deal with their mutual enemies. Why they do this anyone's guess. Ostensibly, Superman is too humiliated by his run-in with the Joker in Metropolis to show his face and Luthor's dismantling of a bomb that Bats was attempting to stop generates similar feelings in him. This, despite the fact that both characters have sizable rouge's galleries of their own. (One would think that it would be more difficult to learn an entire city layout than the crime-styles of a given villain...). But these quibbles would remain quibbles if the conflicts were interesting. But the sad fact is that there is very little head-to-head between the two teams of heroes and villains. In fact, Joker and Luthor meet each other more often than they meet their arches. But even that fact would be forgivable if the meetings between Jokers and Luthor rose above the simplistic "Odd-Couple" scenario. There are undoubtedly real differences of style between the characters (at least as much as between Superman and Batman) so why not exploit those differences? Instead, we are given only caricatures of the villains - Joker is nuts, Luthor is a maniacal, no-nonsense businessman. In the years after Frank Miller and John Byrne readers have come to expect more sophistication when it comes to representations of these two extremely interesting figures (and one only needs to watch an episode of the excellent Justice League Unlimited or an old episode of Batman TAS to see what other writers can conceive of with these characters).

"World's Finest" is simply a missed opportunity.

5 out of 5 stars

Definitely World's Finest May 3, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

This story is great at portraying Superman and Batman, and how they work together even with their differences. In this adventure, they battle the team of Luthor and the Joker. Full of some great action, it's well worth a read. It should also be noted that this was the first time I'd ever seen the "split screen" showing Batman and Superman's origins side by, showing the similarity in their histories.

If you enjoyed the recent Batman/Superman stories, you'll enjoy this.

3 out of 5 stars

World's Finest? May 16, 2003
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

On the whole, I would say this is a book that fails to live up to its potential.

For someone new to DC comics it is a decent introduction to the main characters associated with Superman and Batman, and in parts succeeds in capturing the simplistic attitude that saturated the fifties team-up comics to which the book pays tribute. This is spliced together with a more modern, and strangely less captivating story telling of the many shades of grey that exist between absolute good and evil.

Steve Rude and Karl Kessel's artwork more than lived up to my expectations but, in my copy at least, is seriously let down by some sloppy colour printing. If you can get past the annoying overspill of the colours into black areas then you'll be getting your money's worth.

But it isn't a 'World's Finest'. The superheroes come across as ineffectual in the face of real world injustice, which in turn leads to a somewhat unsatisfied feel to the ending. The book certainly has some good moments, particularly the interactions of Luthor and the Joker, but it wont stay in your mind for long after you've finished it.

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