“You cost me dearly, you chalk-skinned freak. My deepest yearning. Unfettered access to the whole of time and space.” – Lex Luthor, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #25
As we enter new beginnings for Mark Waid and Dan Mora’s Batman/Superman: World’s Finest, Waid takes readers down memory lane as he tells the story of the “World’s Vilest”, better known as Lex Luthor and The Joker and continues the trend of a World’s Finest duo existing throughout the DC universe but in unique ways. Previously in the series, Waid’s mainstay duo has been the book’s titular characters of the Man of Steel and the Caped Crusader, however, readers were quick to meet the awkward exes, better known as Kara Zor-El and Dick Grayson. From issue to issue, it became clear that the slow character development of these four heroes has been a major aspect of fleshing out this past timeline for our favorite characters whether it’s the embarrassing love life of teenagers or multiversal conflicts involving a God and their Demigod which inspired Waid to team up with industry veterans Steve Pugh and Andriano Lucas for “Joker/Luthor: World’s Vilest”.
The story takes up the larger part of issue #25 and functions as a break in routine as the story follows Lex Luthor and the Joker searching for the Heart of Eternium, a special artifact hidden away in the texts of pure madness and misery. Waid’s script work for Lex and Joker is a larger dissection of the two villains. We are shown the true reasons for their obsessions with Superman and Batman as he dives deep into the philosophy of psychopaths and geniuses. It is clear Waid had fun dissecting these fan-favorite villains as readers are greeted with the haunting and mastermind-esque writing of Lex Luthor’s journal which Waid uses as a narration throughout the story and the chilling scenes of Joker’s maniacal outbursts.
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The main installment is drawn by Steve Pugh and colored by Andriano Lucas. While they aren’t series regulars Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillian, the two artists help add Bronze-Age psychedelics into the story as the two villains swim deeper into their psychopathic downfall of uncooperative arguments and fights. Lucas’ coloring itself aids the series’ theme of playing with how bright and colorful comic books have been since their conception as readers are treated to a darker story. Ultimately, “Joker/Luthor: World’s Vilest” is a fun and interesting breather story as Waid and Mora set up the upcoming arc.
“Impossible: Prologue” is a short story by the two creators that set up the events for the Mister Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite crossover. The short story does many things as it shows the outside perspective of the wackiness that Mxy and Bat-Mite’s Justice League have been suffering through since the Batman/Superman: World’s Finest 2024 Annual, however, the story functions more as a playground for Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillain instead as Waid’s script is designed to be a nonsensical fight scene with dinosaurs, alien beasts, and the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.
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Something the series has succeeded at time and time again is playing with the creativity of all of its creators. World’s Finest exists as an example of a truly healthy creative department and it lends itself to why the series has become the powerhouse it is now. A large part of that is attributed to Waid’s experience over the years as he jumped from book to book making what readers consider influential books whether it was his three-time stay on the Legion of Super-heroes or The Flash, Waid’s main goal is creative freedom and trust in the artist. It is no surprise that World’s Finest reflects this as the series reminded the industry of Waid’s power in creativity.
All together, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #25 acts as a teaser to two future stories and sticks the landing as it uses all of its creative resources to tell two fun stories that function as teasers for the future of the book and their cast of characters. Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Steve Pugh, Andriano Lucas, and Tamra Bonvillain all share the same goal with this series to make good comics and they all succeed at just that.
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