“He’s trying to be legitimately helpful. Did you see that?- Sorry, I must have been daydreaming.” – Batman/Superman
Continuing off of the previous installment of Batman/Superman: World’s Finest, Mark Waid and Dan Mora enter into the Sixth Dimension as Batman and Superman are forced to try and escape their current confines as the world’s heroes all fight their villains and their impish companions. Since the beginning of the ‘Impossible’ arc, Waid and Mora have delivered a story that emphasizes pure nonsense and comedy in the vein of nostalgic callbacks and psychedelic visuals which have been delivered but in varying forms.
Waid’s larger problem factors into the promised chaos of the story as Waid’s script compared with Mora’s expansive visuals makes the book feel cluttered. This issue has been fairly present since the previous arc in the series. The script continues to be a fun and comedic story but as we move further and further into the action-filled chaos of imps, supervillains, and Jimmy Olsens, Waid loses the charm of his sci-fi-focused world-building as it is replaced with fast past action that leaves readers feeling winded.
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Waid’s scripting for the series remains some of the best. However, if Waid doesn’t improve and move past this current issue, the storytelling in the series could feel impacted. Despite the larger issue of his writing, Waid still delivers some strong pieces of comedy, especially during the scenes with the book’s guest artist Travis Mercer. The change from Mora’s action-filled art to Mercer’s more down-to-earth style is handled perfectly as Mercer’s style changes to reflect the new dimensions Batman and Superman hop between with the help of their unwanted ally Bat-Mite.
The art between Mora and Mercer is the biggest highlight of the issue as they play with the designs of the series protagonists and obscure super-villains, and create a style of art reflective of cartoons such as Superfriends, The New Adventures of Batman, and The All-New Super Friends Hour. Their design for Bat-Mite in this issue is largely borrowed from The New Adventures of Batman with his more impish-green design and yellowish eyes reflecting a more fantasy aesthetic from it.
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The decision to majorly call back to their older animated properties is more aesthetically fitting than the nod to Bruce Timm’s DCAU readers are greeted with in the opening as a book set in an established part of the universe would be more creatively freeing using long-forgotten concepts and art. I do feel that the usage of nostalgia in this issue can become a problem in this arc if used too much because while the nod to Bruce Timm was cute it felt unneeded when it wasn’t the target inspiration of the issue.
While clunky in certain areas, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #27 is an enjoyable comic despite being weighed down by unnecessary callbacks, claustrophobic fight scenes, and a lack of Waid’s usual style. The art between Mora and Mercer breathed a lot of life into the comic and made the chaos enjoyable to sit through. However, I hope that the script next issue is more pronounced and dives into the unknown world of the imps and their boss. Ultimately, Waid delivers a fun issue with the World’s Finest crew, but issue #27 suffers from scripting issues that will require a good fix in the next couple of installments. Thanks to Mora and Mercer, the book was able to keep on its feet and continue being a fun and digestible issue.
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