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World's Finest #3 World's Finest #3

World's Finest #3 [of 4]

Scheduled to arrive in stores: December 23, 2009

Cover date: February 2010

"Book Three: Supergirl and Batgirl"

Writer: Sterling Gates
Penciller: Jamal Igle
Inker: Jon Sibal and Jack Purcell
Covers: Phil Noto

Reviewed by: James Lantz

Click to enlarge



Oracle has sent Batgirl to investigate some radiation signatures that could be Kryptonite. Batgirl has met up with Catwoman on an old Gotham Heights warehouse. Catwoman is there because she wants to collect a bounty that the Penguin has placed on the Kryptonite Man after he had disappeared at the end of the first issue. Batgirl and Catwoman also find Mister Freeze and the Toyman working on some machines in which the Kryptonite Man is attached. Catwoman and Batgirl are surprised and overwhelmed by Toyboy and his deadly action figures. Now, the pair of costumed females are trapped in a metal box at the bottom of the Gotham River.

Oracle has called Supergirl to help find Batgirl. The Maid of Might lifts the metal prison holding Batgirl and Catwoman, but she leaves the latter of the two women in the box. Afterwards, Batgirl and Supergirl go to the warehouse where Toyman and Mister Freeze are completing the machines and plans for their mysterious benefactor. The World's Finest heroines are met by Toyboy's dangerous toys. Once they are dealt with, Supergirl smashes the robotic Toyboy while Batgirl briefly confronts Mister Freeze. Toyman is distraught over Toyboy's destruction, but Freeze snaps him out of it so the pair of villains can cover their escape. They do so by activating the new, more deadly gigantic Superman-Batman composite robot that is powered by the radiation within Kryptonite Man, and its lethal lasers have hit Supergirl.

Batgirl has transmitted a Code Black alert to Oracle. Dick Grayson, the new Batman, has intercepted it and knows that the most powerful Metahuman will be needed to stop this new threat. He activates a satellite that sends a hypersonic signal to New Krypton to warn Superman of a danger that only he can help stop.

5Story - 5: This is what I've been expecting from Superman/Batman since Jeph Loeb ended his run. In other writers' defense, Loeb is difficult to top. Anyway, so far, this new World's Finest has managed to stay under the radar while Gates provides the reader with a fun and entertaining comic book. So far, this one is my favorite issue in the series.

We get a partial payoff in this issue. We have Mister Freeze and Toyman activating a Superman-Batman composite robot that is powered by the Kryptonite Man. They are using it to rid the world of Kryptonians. I'm impatient to see if my prediction for their mysterious benefactor is true. *cough* Luthor *cough* I'll just have to wait and see when the final chapter comes out. Hopefully it will be as good as this one.

5Art - 5: Normally, changes in art teams can be jarring to the eyes. This series does not suffer from that because the drawing styles are similar even with some differences. Again, we are given visuals that give the reader a feeling of nostalgia for the 1990s when DC was really putting out some fantastic books. There's some great stuff now, but the 1976-1999 stories will always have a special place in my heart. Anyway, I really liked what I saw in the pages of this issue.

2Cover Art - 2 (Supergirl Cover): The hodgepodge of images really isn't my cup of tea. Unfortunately, it makes the weakest point in this series - its covers - even weaker.

2Cover Art - 2 (Batgirl Cover): The Batgirl cover isn't much better. What the heck was DC thinking with the images used in this mini-series? They don't attract people to buy the book.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2010

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

January 2010

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