Review: Batman/Superman World's Finest #19

Batman/Superman World's Finest #19 came out this week, the ending of a quick 2 parter looking at the origin of the team. I have really been impressed with the overall cadence of this book. We have 5 parters; we have done-in-ones. Now we have a two-parters. Fantastic.

Kudos to Mark Waid for not stretching out stories to fill a trade. This was a quick little story. I suppose you could have dragged this out 5 or 6 issues. But there is no need. That makes me happy.

Waid continues the 'origin' of the World's Finest pair and I like how the turning point is where Batman learns about how the death of Superman's parents (and the rest of Krypton) is something that drives him a little. There is a commonality between these two that would bring them together. As this is an early take on these two, I like how both are still pretty raw. 

But Waid really got me with a callback to Aethyr, the oversoul of the Phantom Zone from the 80s that has been revisited now and then. You can count on Waid to lean into DC history!

Travis Moore brings a clean take on the art here. This issue is pretty action heavy and Moore cranks up the power, giving us Kryptonians brawling away. 

If the 'done in ones' are an amuse bouche in comics, this was a meaty hors d'oeuvre. 

On to details.

Review: Superman #3

Superman #3 came out this week and was my favorite Brian Michael Bendis penned issue of this title. I have been enjoying Action Comics a bit more than Superman because Bendis seems to have a great grasp of who Superman is, what he means, what he would say, and how people would react to him. Action Comics is mostly Metropolis based plot with street level crime and lots of Daily Planet scenes. So that works.

Up to know Superman has been the more Super and less Man of the books. The opening story has the entirety of Earth sent into the Phantom Zone where Rogol Zaar has been exiled. I haven't warmed up to Zaar as a villain yet. The new take on the Zone as a Hellish physical realm is still one I am wrapping my head around. So this arc hasn't exactly grabbed me.

This issue does move the plot along pretty nicely. We learn why all this is happening. We see Zaar scheming from the zone. But most importantly, we see how Superman is leading in this crisis. And we see the profound effect he has on people. We also get a look inside his head to see his thoughts when all this is unraveling. We get an oddly moving moment with a classic DC villain. This was a character issue. And that made me happy.

Add to that the gorgeous art by Ivan Reis and Joe Prado and this issue is a winner. Reis and Prado have the tough task of drawing Earth-side calamities as well as massive space fights in the deeper Zone.  There stuff is wonderfully detailed and just gorgeous. I hope their run on the book is long.

On to the details.

Review: Action Comics #21 Back-Up

Action Comics #21 came out last week and continued the World of Krypton back-up story that looks back at Jor-El and Lara's early days.

Part of DC's impetus for The New 52 was that it allowed creators to have some freedom with characters, another reboot to try to inject some freshness into some classic characters. It can't be easy. It is tricky to try to reconfigure characters that have decades of steady characterization. An angry disaffected Supergirl doesn't work. An army of Firestorms doesn't work. An aloof Superman doesn't work. That isn't new energy or freshness. It is simply wrong.

But minor characters that can be tweaked? Now that is where new universes can be used to their maximum potential. So I am having a fun time reading this World of Krypton story by writer Frank Hannah and artist Philip Tan and its interesting take on Superman's parents.

I am used to seeing a square-jawed Jor-El who is both stoic and morose. I am used to Lara being a devoted mother, fussing over a cradle. So I don't mind seeing a young Jor-El wide-eyed and exploring ruins. And it is fascinating to see a Lara in military garb throwing backround kicks at Colonel Zod (?). Both of these new characterizations, done in the character's youth, build on the foundation of desperate and intelligent parents willing to buck the system and build a rocket to save their child. It is a refreshing look at these two without shattering what has come before, without erasing who they have been and trying to re-write history.

This is how you can mesh a fresh take on a character as well as maintaining a historical perspective and a respect for what has come before.

Last issue ended with a Colonel from the Kryptonian military barging into the Government council and assassinating the Minister of Science. This opens up with this dramatic shot of Lara, a soldier in the military, attacked her commanding officer for such treachery.

After decades of seeing a brave Lara say that she would rather die with Jor-El than risk getting into Kal's rocket, we get to see just where that courage may have sprung from.

Now I think (and I will reread) that this Colonel has so far been unnamed. It would be easy to think this was Zod but how can you be promoted after this act of treason?

We also got to meet Jax-Ur last month, another cadet in the military who is romantically linked to Lara.

Now in the past, Jax-Ur has been a murderer and rogue scientist, condemned to the Phantom Zone. Here, at least, his villainy remains preserved even if he is, instead of a genius, someone following along with this mutiny.

He does his best to try to convince Lara to fall in line and join the revolution.

Philip Tan's line work is very slick here. I like these sort of retractable, malleable helmets.

Now you can imagine that it might be easy for a low ranking military officer to just be quiet in this sort of situation and try fall in line. But Lara again shows some steeliness here, bashing Jax-Ur and making her escape.

This is a far cry from the Lara of old. This one is strong and pro-active. And yet that doesn't invalidate that picture of the 'desperate parents' trying to save their son in any way possible.

The text here is a little over the top but nicely captures how crazy this decision is by Lara to be the lone voice of reason.

What I did like was this action splash page, so reminiscent of Superman splash pages and iconic pictures. Her fist jutting forward, red cape flapping ... you can almost hear her saying 'up, up, and away!' albeit through grit teeth. Maybe their is some 'nature' to Kal's heroism to go along with the Kent's nurture.

She thinks of the only person who can help her stop this coup ... Jor-El! He is the enemy of her enemy and unfortunately being hunted down himself.

So overall a very nice (if too short) back-up feature again showing us a young Lara and a young Jor-El. I think this look at their early lives when they were flush with young vitality is an interesting time period and one that I don't recall reading too much of in the past. That makes it feel fresh.

But again, these adventures in their youth seem to bolster their main story, that of courage in the steps they took to save Kal.

Kudos to Frank Hannah and Philip Tan for this great little feature.

Overall grade: B+