‘Batman/Superman: World’s Finest’ #28 ventures across dimensions

The thrill of highs and lows and teenage tomfoolery that we expect to see from Supergirl, Robin, and Jimmy Olsen.

June 18, 2024

“Oh my god, he gave a toddler a flamethrower.”

Things get stranger following the previous installment of Batman/Superman: World’s Finest as Mark Waid, Travis Mercer, and Dan Mora dive into the horrors of the Fifth Dimension through the eyes of the title characters while showing a war against Imps on Earth starring Batman and Superman’s kid heroes Supergirl and Robin in this arc’s penultimate issue.

As the arc has gone on, we have seen the good and bad of Waid and Mora as due to how strange the arc is in its intended nature readers are greeted to new weak spots from these creators. Whether it’s the claustrophobic paneling or its awkward cuts from hard action to dialogue focused panels or an unfunny joke, Waid and Mora still managed to push through and craft a penultimate issue that improves on the initial complications the arc had delivered previously.

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Off the bat, Dan Mora’s action is way less claustrophobic in style as we are greeted to stylized pages of Supergirl, Robin, Earth’s Heroes, and of course, Jimmy Olsen. There is a level of dynamic storytelling and tension that Mora shows in this issue with Robin in particular as he taught the new entity hellbent on killing Jimmy Olsen.

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Overall, it’s always clear to see which characters Dan Mora loves drawing and it’s always Kara Zor-El and Dick Grayson. Every issue, every arc, and every cameo shows Mora drawing them into some of the best pages of the series and that character bias shows here with how fluid the secondary story following the heroes of Earth is. It’s a strong improvement from last issue and it is refreshing to see Waid and Mora jump back into the saddle at the right moment.

This also goes for Travis Mercer, an artist that has a fascinating presence in this book as Mercer tackles secondary art within the issues for the scenes following Bat-Mite, Batman, and Superman. Ultimately Mercer’s style, while phenomenal, doesn’t feel like it entirely fits World’s Finest as a book as it does leave readers feeling somewhat empty handed once the book transitions back into Dan Mora’s style.

However, to Travis Mercer, that is a benefit as it allows Mercer to play with fairly unusual scene transition concepts that either work brilliantly or come off somewhat strange. Page thirteen highlights one of Mercer’s better transitions as we see Bat-Mite, Batman, and Superman fall through a portal back into their own dimension with a cut back to Dan Mora’s style only for them to fall back into Travis Mercer’s style and into a new dimension.

It shows a shared goal between Mercer and Mora that makes the awkward moments worth it and shows how, as a book, it can make best of even the more awkward but ambitious stories the creative team tries to pull off. In this note, Mark Waid’s scripting of this issue has its highs and lows that are improved upon by the arc’s artistic duo.

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Waid’s overall storytelling is at its most inspired with glimpses of Bruce Wayne’s humanity, Jimmy Olsen’s show stealing scenes, and the comedy of Dick and Kara’s complicated relationship haunting them even in dire times. However, the biggest concern of the arc is the amount of characters in it.

Considering the scale of World’s Finest as a title, it still manages to feel somewhat awkward during scenes where the entire DC Universe is battling against a shared threat. Fortunately for Waid, the scale and characters are perfectly balanced with Mora and Mercer’s art taking a more direct approach to the overall script and helping Waid stick the landing for a lot of scenes.

Collectively, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #28 is a strong issue with the thrill of highs and lows and teenage tomfoolery that we expect to see from Supergirl, Robin, and Jimmy Olsen. As a penultimate issue it shows how the creative team can overcome challenges and it brings hope that the creative trio can nail the arc’s finale.

‘Batman/Superman: World’s Finest’ #28 ventures across dimensions

Batman/Superman: World's Finest #28

Overall, the creative trio in this book help lift each other up in admirable ways as each hurdle is balanced with either Waid's script or Mora and Mercer's dynamic and engaging art. It makes me hopeful the trio will stick the landing in the final issue of this arc.

Reader Rating0 Votes

Dan Mora's action scenes are a vast improvement from the previous issue's problem of overcluttered pages

Mercer's art helps benefit the weird as he experiments with unusual scene transitions and paneling that wouldn't normally be seen in a DC comic

Waid's scripting is a vast improvement from last issue as we see the best of Waid's more emotional writing with Batman and Bat-Mite

The arc still feels somewhat cluttered and gives off an awkward feeling during pages that highlight Earth's heroes as they fight against the Imps

Great

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