Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #31: Total Eclipso of the Heart

Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #31 kicks off a new arc with artist Adrián Gutiérrez joining the creative team. Writer Mark Waid has done a fantastic job incorporating characters that don’t get a lot of play nowadays and celebrating the beginnings of these characters while still modernizing them enough to capture attention. This new arc throws Eclipso into the mix, and his chaos quickly spreads throughout the Justice League. Eclipso is a character that is used often and is certainly not a household name in this day and age. However, Waid does an excellent job of throwing the reader right into the thick of it. Something Waid has done well is giving readers just enough information to understand the nature and origin of the character. Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #31 is a smooth and efficient setup that doesn’t waste any time getting things going, which is something Waid has done well with Absolute Power as well. 

Dan Mora set a style and tone to this series and so far all of the artists that have stepped in have fit the bill. Gutiérrez’s style is similar to Mora’s but also takes a step into cartoonish elements that work well with the arc. Readers will notice more exaggerated and humorous elements presented at times a wink and nod. Waid has kept the series with one foot in the spirit of the Silver Age, which Gutiérrez picks up on well. With that being said, Gutiérrez’s style does an excellent job balancing large casts and fight scenes, which is something that this series has given readers in every arc. Tamra Bonvillain’s colors play a major role in the success of the art. Her style and choices ensure that this book feels like the same book from issue #1 no matter who the main artist is. Like the colors, the lettering by Steve Wands does a lot of the heavy lifting in this issue. Waid trusts the creative team to show so he doesn’t have to always tell, and Wands is the perfect bridge between the two.