Batman/Superman #9 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Jae Lee (art), June Chung (colors)

The Story: Some memories are repressed for a reason.

The Review: I feel bad for writers who do the true crossover storyline, where the plot actually advances through alternating books. Not only do the writers have the challenge of crafting a cohesive story across multiple series and issues, since they have no guarantee that a reader will go out of his way to pick up all the participating titles—ahem, like me—they’ve got to make what’s happening in their individual series coherent on their own as well. Talk about patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time.

To his credit, Pak manages to achieve this balancing act, though he reduces the plot to a trickle to do it. If it wasn’t for the fact that our paired-off heroes have switched partners since the last time you saw them, you’d be forgiven for believing there hasn’t been an intervening chapter since then at all. To sum up, our quartet is still in New Gammora, Clark and Karen are still out of control, and we still don’t really know what’s going on, even after reading through this issue.

Batman/Superman #8 – Review

By: Greg Pak (story), Jae Lee (art), June Chung (colors)

The Story: Which World’s Finest is the finest?

The Review: The Earth-2 arc that led off this series was a strong storyline whose promise was nearly ruined by the following arc that turned Batman and Superman into living avatars controlled by the collective nerd-rage of a host of gamers.  Returning to Earth-2 is thus a wise decision on Pak’s part.  It reminds discouraged fans of what made this title initially attractive, and it pairs this World’s Finest with that of another world, making for a mighty fine foursome.

I don’t know how Paul Levitz will handle the Batman, Superman, Power Girl, Huntress dynamic in coming chapters of this storyline,* but Pak gives them an endearing chemistry, surprisingly devoid of the misunderstandings that plague encounters between people of different worlds.  Even Batman discovers, to his slight horror, “In my heart, I believe every word [Huntress] says[.]”  This immediate trust lets Pak bypass obligatory conflicts to focus on the story at hand.

World’s Finest #4 – Review

By: Paul Levitz (story), George Pérez, Scott Koblish, Kevin Maguire (art), Hi-Fi & Rosemary Cheetham (colors)

The Story: Next: Japan executes a nationwide no-entrance decree for Huntress and Power Girl.

The Review: Let me tell you, whenever I finally buckle down to drop a title, I always feel a relaxing feeling of relief, like breathing through your nose after a month of congestion or setting down a backpack full of textbooks after a long walk.  That feeling lets me know that I’m making the right decision, and usually it gets preceded with a pretty substantial amount of longing for the moment I can finally unburden myself of something which gives me little pleasure.

And so it goes with this series.  I can’t deny the end comes with some disappointment.  I always want to support female-led titles, either in terms of characters or creators, so when they don’t work out, it feels like a step back for the cause, to a certain extent.  But this title has also failed to live up to its own aspirations.  World’s Finest was once the glowing byword by which one referred to DC’s two greatest icons, and to be honest, the pre-relaunch Supergirl and Batgirl naturally had more of that World’s Finest feel than Power Girl and Huntress.

World’s Finest #3 – Review

By: Paul Levitz (story), George Pérez (pencils), Scott Khoblish (inks), Kevin Maguire (art), Hi-Fi & Rosemary Cheetham (colors)

The Story: Japan is getting pretty sick of both destructive behemoths and nuclear crises.

The Review: Look, these are comics, and I will never demand that they obey the laws of physics or rules of behavior we live by in the real world.  But comic book readers are real-world humans, so you can’t just let a story leap off the logic train altogether.  Pseudo-science may drive actual scientists crazy, but when it’s well done and based off of some semblance of natural rules, then at least its falseness doesn’t take you out of the story’s believability.

I’m guessing Levitz doesn’t have the firmest grasp on scientific principles.  I don’t either, which is why I feel very suited in saying this.  At one point, Huntress claims that her “unnaturally high hereditary immunity to all sorts of poisons” will somehow shield her from the effects of being drenched in both radiation and (from the looks of it) fresh radioactive waste.  Judging by my high school physics and chemistry scores alone, I’m an idiot when it comes to this kind of thing, but even I recognize how incredibly stupid—there really is no other word for it—Huntress’ words sound.  And that’s really all it takes to pull the rug out from the whole story.

World’s Finest #2 – Review

By: Paul Levitz (story), George Pérez (pencils), Scott Koblish (inks), Kevin Maguire (art), Hi-Fi & Rosemary Cheetham (colors)

The Story: BFFS don’t just picnic and shop together—they fight mutant criminals together!

The Review: Without a doubt, the criticism I hold against Levitz the most is his hammy dialogue, but what do I mean by that, exactly?  It’s one thing to say a line sounds over the top or melodramatic, but can you really identify the features that make it that way?  Or are you more like Justice Potter Stewart of the U.S. Supreme Court, who very infamously declared that “hard-core pornography” is hard to define, but “I know it when I see it”?

I tend to break things down this way: if it’s something you’d feel sweaty and lame saying out loud, then it probably isn’t very natural or convincing.  In any form of media, dialogue like that tends to be the kind better kept silent and formless in a person’s heart than expressed in words.  Take, for example, when Huntress glares at Hakkou as he beats down on Kara and muses, “…no one—no one—hurts my best friend like that.  No one.”  What I find silly about this kind of narration is it just states the obvious; it’s the equivalent of watching a cinema kiss and having a voiceover saying, “Nothing—nothing—feels better than Frenching this person I love.  Nothing.”

Worlds’ Finest #1 – Review

By: Paul Levitz (story), George Pérez (pencils), Scott Koblish (inks), Kevin Maguire (art), Hi-Fi & Rosemary Cheetham (colors)

The Story: Introducing the Thelma and Louise of the DCU.

The Review: Longtime readers of the site know the dissatisfaction I felt reading Levitz’s work on Legion of Super-Heroes and Adventure Comics.  At the time, his writing came off pedestrian and outdated, unable to inject any of his old energy into the characters he helped make famous.  But longtime readers also know that I’m always willing to give creators a fresh look when they offer something new.

So although I have zero interest in jumping aboard the leaky ship that is Legion of Super-Heroes again, seeing what Levitz can do with Huntress and Power Girl sounds a lot more palatable. From the start, Levitz has a very clear vision of how his heroines think and how they interact.  Helena Wayne, in contrast to the hotheaded avenger she was as Helena Bertinelli, seems cooler, more sensible and down-to-earth.  Karen Starr doesn’t seem all that changed from her usual portrayal: brassy and full of life, she thinks and dreams big, in perfect proportion to her b…right and vivacious personality.  At every turn, Helena tries to rain on her friend’s parade (“You go on believing in fairy tales, princess…I’m making the best of this nightmare.”) and Karen lets it roll right off her back (“Best part of a nightmare is waking up.”).

Earth Two #1 – Review

By: James Robinson (story), Nicola Scott (pencils), Trevor Scott (inks), Alex Sinclair (colors)

The Story: With some stories, it’s better to start at the end.

The Review: I can hardly believe this, but pretty close to a year ago, I talked about how much I liked parallel-universe ridiculousness in all its forms.  I’m such a sucker for that kind of stuff that if you told me there’d be an episode of Glee where for some musical-related reason, everything went the opposite of how it should be (read: watchable), I’d probably show up.  So obviously, I really like DC’s Multiverse concept, and was excited to see its return, starting with Earth Two.

And for most people, you can’t hear “Earth Two” without associating it with the Justice Society.  I imagine the purists will be frothing at the mouth once I mention the Society doesn’t appear for even a moment in this issue—at least, not as such.  But have faith and remember who’s writing this thing: Robinson, the man who brought the Society back to prominence for the new millennium, so his track record is pretty good here.