Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials

World's Finest: Our Worlds At War #1

World's Finest: Our Worlds At War #1

Scheduled to arrive in stores: August 29, 2001

Cover date: October 2001

Writer: Jeph Loeb
Pencillers/Inkers: Various Artists

"Finale"

Reviewed by: John-Paul Zito (ZitoMan11@aol.com)



World's Finest opens up in the Bat Cave with Superman trying to persuade Batman to attend the many number of funerals and memorials that are taking place as a result of the war. As their argument escalates Wonder Woman teleports in to put a stop to the bickering. Bruce says he doesn't have time to mourn for the world just yet, and Wonder Woman asks Kal to respect that. Supes and Wonder Woman teleport off as the Red Tornado enters the Bat Cave. The Tornado informs Bats of the search for Young Justice and how hard it will be to find them.

Out in the middle of the Atlantic ocean the JLA is gathered to pay tribute to Aquaman. A giant holo-statue has been set up in the parted ocean where Aquaman was killed and Atlantis disappeared. The Atom informs everyone that the holo-statue will act as a warning to ships passing through to avoid the waterless canyon, and it is also a homing signal that Aquaman or anyone else from Atlantis can use to home in on it. Manhunter informs the League that Aquaman's official status is MIA as is all of Atlantis.

Meanwhile by a lighthouse the Titans have gathered to help Garth, A.K.A. Tempest, deal with the loss of Arthur. The flash soon shows up and offers his condolences as Tempest laments over his screw up with his magic that has somehow left Atlantis missing. Interrupting, the Flash then asks if now that Arthur is dead, does that make Garth the new Aquaman?

Over at JSA headquarters three old mystery men from the 1940s get drunk and remember their fallen friend Hippolyta. The golden age Flash, Green Lantern, and Wild Cat play a round of poker thinking back to glory days, and talking about what made their Wonder Woman so great. Suddenly Sand bursts in on them and gets angry at their behavior. He just doesn't understand.

In Arlington national Cemetery one tomb stone among a million stands. No ticker tape parades or fancy memorial service. Not for Frank Rock. For Rock the war, all the wars, are over.

In space Superman and Wonder Woman arrive on the Alien Alliance transport vessel to pay their respects to Maxima who gave her life to help end the war. When they arrive they find Mongal. Mongal has usurped the throne of Almerac, and the people of Almerac have little to say about it. Lost without their queen Maxima, they fall in line behind the daughter of Mongul.

Later that day Superman and Wonder Woman arrive at the memorial service for Sharon, the Strange Visitor. The only other person there is her irate ex-boyfriend Billy. Billy blames Superman for what happened. Billy tells him that there's no way Superman could understand his pain. Little does Billy know that Clark and Diana both lost their parents. Billy storms off and Supes lights the "eternal flame" for Sharon. Superman asks Diana that now that the war is over, what do they have left to hold on to? Where's the little nugget of success to make them carry on? Superman leaves Wonder Woman then so he can attend Sam Lane's funeral.

In the JLA Watch Tower, Red Tornado looks over some star charts and discovers that Young Justice was last seen on Apokolips. And as if on cue Young Justice boom tubes back into the Milky Way landing at the Watch Tower.

Later that day Clark, Lois, Mrs. Lane, Lex Luthor and a battalion of soldiers show up to pay respects to the now deceased Sam Lane. Even Superman shows up for a brief moment to salute the fallen general.

After the sun sets Clark flies Lois down to what used to be the Kent farm house. It's in utter devastation. Clark picks up the rusty old mail box that used to sit at the end of the long dirt drive to the house. Did he really win the war?

5Story - 5: What a way to cap it off. I have to say this is the first crossover even since Crisis to go this big. I thought Superman's grief was handled well. And I can see that Lois is still in shock over her father, it hasn't all come together for her yet. I really feel bad for Garth, but this will give the character a chance to step out and become his own person and not the grown up "Aqua Lad." I wonder what the memorial service for Guy Gardner was like? Or maybe the funerals for other heroes and even villains who died off camera. Be interesting to see, in the coming months, who else bought it that we don't know about yet. I have to say there were a lot of very touching scenes in this issue. The JSA portion alone was all too real. I mean it really felt natural. Not something you always get when writing a book about a character's death.

4Art - 4: All the art was great, I just don't like it when the industry does these books where thirty artists do 3 pages a piece. It's distracting. However, individually I have a few comments about certain artists featured. Ringo's Superman is getting cooler and cooler looking. I really think he fits in the Super books well. Doug Mahnke's art was the best it's been in months. His JLA looks great, obviously this was his way of letting the fans know he can tackle the UN of super heroes. I was really Digging Buckingham's JSA, I hope he gets the chance to do more some day.

4Cover Art - 4: I didn't really like these stylized covers when OWAW started a few months back, but they really started to grow on me. I'm kinda glad they went with it, it gives the whole story a uniform look.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2001

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic was on sale.

January 2001

February 2001 March 2001 April 2001 May 2001 June 2001 July 2001 August 2001 September 2001 October 2001 November 2001 December 2001 Annuals

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