“Annoying magical pest from a higher dimension…” – Superman
Fandom is, through textbook definition, a group of people who follow a piece of media, sport, or game into a community based upon its own subgenre. Comic books are famously familiar with fandom, as the earliest decisions made within the “Big Two” revolve around acts of shock value and drama to spark a reaction from its loud and opinionated fanbase.
In turn, DC decided to have fun with their fans over the years with the creation of Bat-Mite, an Imp with an obsession towards Batman, as an audience substitute across realities as he often mocks Batman and the adventures he goes on. Matching that, Superman has his own Imp named Mr. Mxyzptlk, who plays tricks on the Man of Steel and drives him mad. Naturally, for Mark Waid, Dan Mora, and Tamara Bonvillain, the only way to expand upon these fandom representations is to create an imp for everyone in the DC Universe. As horrifying as it sounds, we see that consequence in this week’s Batman/Superman: World’s Finest.
DC Comics
Waid and Mora have had repeated home runs in this series and this issue is no different as we are thrown into a nonsensical world that plays on the chaos of fans, imps, and alternate dimensions. Following up from the Annual and the previous installment, Mxy, and Bat-Mite seek the aid of the World’s Finest over the sudden attack on their version of the Justice League which featured members who took the form of their favorite heroes such as Bat-Mite. Funnily enough, Waid and co. had teased this arc long before the annual due to the opening gag in issue #13, which implied that Supergirl and Batgirl had been under the control of Mxy and Bat-Mite.
Script-wise, Waid’s talents are flexed as he came up with nonsensical scenarios and horror full of laughs, SuperRobins, and the groundwork for some of Mora’s best work in the series. There isn’t much to say about Waid’s writing other than that he nailed it as he has been throughout the series and for the opening of an arc that has promised to be nonsensical he plays into that brilliantly. As an evolution from the previous issue, however, it does run into a tonal shift with the previous installment presenting itself as a deep dive into the dynamics of the World’s Vilest, Joker, and Lex Luthor, but it carries itself with a strong presentation that helps establish the chaos this arc has to offer.
DC Comics
As for the art, Dan Mora and Tamara Bonvillain continue to soar to new heights with the visuals of this series as we see what might be the best action scenes so far in the series. Spanning from fights with Sinestro to Parasite there is no way for these two to run out of ideas for fight scenes and chaos within this storyline due to the unlimited amount of foes and monsters the World’s Finest are tasked with going up again. As mentioned before, Mora and Bonvillain feel like the strongest artistic duo DC has under their belt and they’re lucky to have them on one of their heavy-hitter titles such as World’s Finest.
Ultimately, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #26 is a strong start to an already striking series that continues to show how passionate and talented this already powerful creative team is at telling good comics with brilliant themes and ideas. Comics like World’s Finest are always a treat because it shows how adaptive industry veterans such as Mark Waid can be and how those veterans can influence younger creators such as Dan Mora and Tamara Bonvillain. This series stands as a perfect collaboration between the new and old.
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