Superman

Worlds’ Finest #21

/ / Comics

Worlds' Finest #21“First Contact” comes to a close as the mad-scientist and evil doppelganger of Power Girl‘s old friend Ken succeeds in ripping open time and space to a portal back to Earth-2. For the first time I realized how similar this title is to Samurai Jack as the lost heroes finally find a portal home only to be denied at the last second and will continue their quest elsewhere.

Although there’s a lot of family bickering here, Worlds’ Finest #21 includes some nice moments as well including Batman and Huntress instinctively working as a team and even offer a slight celebration afterwards.

Seeing the evil Superman inside the alternate dimension the pair believed to be their old home doesn’t deter them from agreeing to continue to seek a way back to their Earth. Although I don’t think we’re likely to see a Power Girl/Superman team-up anytime soon I’d like DC continue to explore the Batman/Huntress relationship going forward to see where it may lead. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Justice League: War

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Justice League: War
  • IMDB: link

Justice League: WarBased on DC Comics’ New 52 reboot and the first arc of the current Justice League series by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee, Justice League: War isn’t as awful as I suspected. It’s not actually a good movie, but most of the issues here have to do with the source material itself rather than any mistakes in the adaptation into the film.

Replacing the missing Aquaman with Captain Marvel (Sean Astin), who I still refuse to call him Shazam, the storyline is basically intact as the various heroes of the Justice League come together to defeat Darkseid (Steve Blum) and the invading armies of Apokolips. As with Lee’s original designs, everything looks and feels too muted including the super-hero costumes, particularly those of Superman (Alan Tudyk) and Wonder Woman (Michelle Monaghan), that lack any pop. And although (thankfully) the film chooses to stay away from that awful yellow piping on the Flash‘s (Christopher Gorham) costume we saw at the end of The Flashpoint Paradox, Green Lantern (Justin Kirk) is still stuck with the unnecessary light-up pieces of his costume.

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Smallville Season Eleven: Alien #4

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Smallville Season Eleven: Alien #4Finishing the four-issue mini-series, Smallville Season Eleven: Alien #4 features Superman‘s final battle with the Monitor in Russia, and pits Batman against an evil Joker-Batman version of himself from another Earth who severely wounds Nightwing before his capture.

By the end of the issue Batman agrees to join the Justice League (at least on a temporary basis), the threat from the Multiverse has been dealt with (at least for now), and things can get back to normal (or what passes for normal in the Smallville Universe).

The ease of which Superman beats the Monitor here took me a little by surprise (isn’t this the same guy who was mopping the floor with the Man of Steel just last issue?), but Smallville Season Eleven: Alien #4 ties up all the loose ends (including quite a bit of epilogue involving Bruce finally agreeing to join the JLA), and even gives us a little of Lex being Lex (causing tomorrow’s trouble). Worth a look.

[DC, $3.99]

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Worlds’ Finest #20

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Worlds' Finest #20Continuing the “First Contact” storyline begun in Batman/Superman #8, when Superman becomes infected by the same nanites causing Power Girl to loose control of her powers the foursome of heroes split up to keep the pair of malfunctioning Kryptonians away from each other.

Power Girl and Batman fly ahead to New Gammora, where the Dark Knight Detective has deduced the trouble has originated from, and where they discover the mad scientist behind Kara’s recent troubles which are only a byproduct of his plan to perfectly clone Kryptonian DNA, while Huntress and Superman make their way more slowly to the same locale giving the Man of Steel time to recover.

Although it lacks the big moments of the characters meeting for the first time, the second chapter continues to play on how this world’s Batman and Superman are similar yet different to those our heroines remember from their own parallel world while revealing our villain. Worth a look.

[DC, $2.99]

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Batman/Superman #8

/ / Comics

Batman/Superman #8After pretty much hating the first issue of Batman/Superman I’ve given the comic a wide berth and haven’t looked back. However, the recent cross-over with Worlds’ Finest involving the Huntress and Power Girl revealing themselves to this world’s versions of their relatives begins here so I found myself picking this issue up (along with Part 2 of the story in Worlds’ Finest #20 also released this week). I was pleasantly surprised.

Despite an art style by Jae Lee that doesn’t really mesh with much of anything in the New 52 (which from one perspective can certainly be seen as a good thing), writer Greg Pak gets the beats right as Batman is confronted by his daughter from another world who he inherently trusts (but doesn’t necessarily trust that he feels that way).

We also see Superman‘s first meeting with an out-of-control Power Girl who he is determined to help whether she wants his help or not (or whether such efforts could endanger himself). I’m curious to see where this storyline will go. Worth a look.

[DC, $3.99]

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