“I thought for a while that I was a dupe of the prophets of old, that my burden of tongues and visions was a curse foretold and required by our holier ancestors, who walked through life having conversations with their Creator the way we might talk back and forth with a friend. Magog was the real dupe.” – Elliot S. Maggin, Kingdom Come Novelization
Following the previous installation of Batman/Superman: World’s Finest, Mark Waid, Dan Mora, and Tamra Bonvillan take readers down this new and disturbing reality of Earth-22 to see just what The Boy Thunder has been doing in his spare time and it becomes clear that things begin taking turns for the worst. We follow off from David’s attacks on Prime-Earth Clark and begin to learn that David has taken refuge on this Earth with the World’s Finest of this timeline, effectively giving David a home where his violent actions are validated. However, just how far does his influence on this Earth stretch to and how far is he willing to go to protect it? Something brilliant about Waid’s writing on this issue is that despite the recurring problem with this arc and its pacing, Waid successfully gets across the terror we’re supposed to feel in the universe as Bruce and Clark not only meet mirrors of themselves but begin meeting mirrors of their friends and loved ones.
It became clear within this arc just what Waid’s motivation was and it was to scare our main men into seeing what dangers they’re capable of committing on themselves and others for the same of David and the new, but familiar, entity he has taken comfort in. For Clark, seeing the world and the people he love feel so drained of life and love scares him due to how he strives to keep the peace of Earth and for Bruce, it’s simply the horror of seeing his own son protect and worship something evil in nature, or something that Bruce perceives as evil. The action and violence allows Waid to get inside of the heads of these characters and in strong ways, however, I do feel as if this arc is starting to feel too action-heavy within each issue despite the comic series starting off as an action adventure series where Dick Grayson and Kara Zor-El argue about their date while falling through time.
DC Comics
All of this to say, I do appreciate and enjoy what Waid’s doing by having the action tell the story; however, if we’re to really get to the bottom of this universe and its understanding of its new timeline thanks to David Sikela seemingly replacing the original David, then how are we to if we continue to see only fighting in this saga? Thankfully, despite my problems, I can see Waid noting this himself and making an effort for more character-to-character scenes in the third installment. As for what has been consistently beautiful, Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillan kill it again with this issue and we see how the two truly bounce off of each other in their fight scenes and the colorful scenes we see issue to issue in this art is reminiscent of classic comic imagery; something needed in this universe due to Kingdom Come existing as a “fixed point in time”, for classic comic books and giving the status of ‘Batman/Superman: World’s Finest’ existing as a return to the past for these characters the imagery is needed to get a modern touch on a vintage world.
Mora also returns with his darker imagery with a new Nightwing design that is somewhat inspired by Dick Grayson’s costume in the Schumacher Batman flicks, with the vigilante sporting a cape with a red symbol rather than a blue one, a detail that will go noticed by readers and fans of the character. In fact, I would say the biggest reveal of this issue lands thanks to this design and how the former Boy Wonder almost looks like life was sucked out of him by an unknown force. Grayson looks pale and tired while maintaining a strong build used for beatdowns and it makes you wonder just how rough his partner in crime, Kara Zor-El, looks in this universe. Waid uses this new design Mora conceived to tell some brilliant visual storytelling for Bruce, as mentioned above, and starts to reveal the meat of this arc which is a dissection of how these two heroes view their younger counterpart parts.
DC Comics
For Bruce, he would do anything to make his son happy despite the problems they’re faced with but for Clark, he hasn’t had a moment where he’s truly thought of his younger cousin yet. However, it becomes clear that David’s outbursts and anger issues remind of Kara, just how Bruce is reminded of his own son through David and his friendship with the Teen Titans. They are forced to come to terms with the idea that they’ve failed a child and that child is harming versions of their children causing them to grow up into fractured shapes of themselves, or more fractured shapes in Supergirl’s case. It is thrilling and leaves you on the edge of your seat.
All together, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #21 is a flawed but compelling entry into the adventures of Kingdom Come. Waid’s pacing and action-heavy writing aside, he continues to take hard swings into establishing the tone and atmosphere for this world in ways we have not seen before and through Mora and Bonvillan’s art and coloring this continues to remain a fascinating entry and I am excited for the next.
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