Written by: Mark Waid
Art by: Dan Mora
Colors by: Tamra Bonvillain
Letters by: Steve Wands
Cover art by: Dan Mora
Cover price: $3.99
Is It Good?
But for a confusing bit of action in the third act, Batman / Superman: World's Finest #10 is as good as it gets from the recent crop of DC comic offerings and another stellar offering from the dynamic duo of Waid and Mora.
When last we left the World's finest, Superman, Batman, and their friends shut down a terrorist attack by Joker and the Key. However, the attack was a diversion for the supercriminals to capture David, aka the Boy Thunder. Now, we catch up with Joker interrogating David to discover the secret identities of Batman and Superman. The heroes desperately pull out all the stops and enlist as many junior heroes as possible to find David.
Waid does a phenomenal job building up the tightening pressure of a parent who lost their child and desperately tries everything and anything to get them back. Superman, in particular, shows a side of his personality you rarely get to see as a man who feels powerless. The emotional weight of Waid's script is masterful.
Likewise, Mora's art style is unmatched for this type of material. The detail lines, hatching, shadows, and unique panel angles are exquisite. When Superman gets pissed (and, Boy, does he!?), it's an exciting change of pace to see the unflappable man of Steel look intimidating to even the most hardened criminals.
That said, the third act runs into a confusing hiccup, but it needs to be clarified if the hiccup is due to the art, the writing, or a disconnect between the two. When the World's Finest finds David, Joker, and Key, the sequence of panels needs to be clarified. First, the villains are confronted, then they're gone, then a giant alien dragon is suddenly attacking. The melee is meant to be chaotic, in theory, but the execution still needs to make sense. Here, it does not.
The issue wraps up with a rage-fueled confrontation between David and Joker. When the scene hits its peak, the next panel jumps forward in time for a wow moment that brings David's adventure to an intriguing tipping point. Waid nails the cliffhanger with the implications of the last page reveal.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.
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Bits and Pieces:
Batman / Superman: World's Finest #10 continues to hold the top spot as DC Comics' best comic series. Everything about this comic screams "QUALITY," from the outstanding writing by Waid to the mesmerizing art by Mora. But for a confusing stumble in the third act, this would be a perfect comic.
