Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #17
Kevin Rossi
Recap
World War A.I. hits its climax, guest-starring dozens of DC heroes in a war against Newmazo and his machines that will determine the fate of humanity—and lay threads for a menace that will soon pop up in the pages of Shazam!
Review
While most DC shifts gear to Knight Terrors, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest stays its course with issue #17. While Knight Terrors is off to a promising start, readers are lucky that World’s Finest has found its nice little corner of the universe by taking place sometime in the past or possibly not during the main continuity. It would be a shame for the series to lose its momentum now. Issue #17 brings the current arc to a close in fantastic fashion. Some readers might find the issue a little bloated with characters and action, but most series readers will love every second.
Mark Waid brings the entire toy box out for World’s Finest #17 and gives Dan Mora free rein to line them up. Waid has included many teams in this series, like the Titans and the Metal Men, and almost every major character has appeared in the series, but this issue takes the cake. Having that many characters on the page together can be overwhelming. Still, Mora and Tamra Bonvillain truly do a masterful job taking the material Waid has written and getting it all on the page in a fantastic fashion. Waid can capture a feeling of urgency and seriousness while still existing in a series focusing on the past. Readers know everything will be okay, but World’s Finest is an excellent example: “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” Newmazo is an unstoppable villain, so it is so much fun to see everything thrown at him. Knowing everything will be okay at the end of the day makes seeing every hero give it their all that much better. It is precisely what you want to see when opening a comic book.
Final Thoughts
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #17 moves quickly and fast-paced through pages and pages of absolute fun. This issue also ends with small previews of what is to come next: “The untold origin of the Superman/Batman team” and “The return of Boy Thunder!” Readers will be quick to spot Batman and Superman in their Kingdom Come-era suits. By now, World’s Finest readers are well on board for what's to come but once again, it seems like this would be a great jumping-on point for new readers.
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #17: The Final Touches
- Writing - 9/109/10
- Storyline - 9/109/10
- Art - 9/109/10
- Color - 9/109/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10
