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World's Finest #4 World's Finest #4

World's Finest #4 [of 4]

Scheduled to arrive in stores: January 27, 2010

Cover date: March 2010

"Book Four: Superman and Batman"

Writer: Sterling Gates
Penciller: Phil Noto
Inker: Phil Noto
Covers: Phil Noto

Reviewed by: James Lantz

Click to enlarge


Nine months ago, there were some great changes in the families of the World's Finest heroes. Dick Grayson took on the mantle of the Batman in the place of the deceased Bruce Wayne, and Superman has become the second in-command of General Zod's military forces on New Krypton. Now, the new Dark Knight and the Man of Steel must work together to stop a gigantic Superman-Batman composite robot from killing Supergirl and Batgirl as it rampages through Gotham City. Unfortunately, the radiation from the Kryptonite Man that powers the machine makes it impossible for Superman to go near it. Worse yet, there is a Kryptonite bomb inside. Once the monstrous automaton reaches its objective of New Krypton on the other side of the sun; the explosive will detonate. Millions of lives on two worlds are now at risk thanks to Mister Freeze, the Toyman and their mysterious benefactor.

The Superman-Batman robot has Supergirl and Batgirl trapped in its giant, metallic fists. Batman fires a missile that strikes the one that held Batgirl. Robin catches her, thereby preventing her from falling. However, Batgirl wishes he hadn't after getting a sample of his attitude. Meanwhile, Toyman and Mister Freeze have programmed their machine to fire a Kryptonite laser at Superman. Batman needs the steel goliath's mouth opened in order to stop it from destroying his city, and his plan requires Superman's help. Fortunately, the Man of Tomorrow has some tricks up his sleeve.

As Batgirl and Robin deal with the Toyman and Mister Freeze, Superman has hurled a water tower at the Superman-Batman robot. This gives Batman a chance to enter inside the mechanical monstrosity. He finds a weakened Supergirl, and she leads him to the machines's power source - the Kryptonite Man. The radioactive villain has been hooked into the automaton by wires that Batman soon cuts. The Kryptonite lasers pose no threat to Superman now. However, before he can do anything, Toyman's control device is destroyed. There are no navigation codes to guide the Superman-Batman robot, which means it will detonate in four minutes. The World's Finest heroes will need all the speed at their disposal if they are to save two worlds.

Superman has smashed the flying Superman-Batman robot's exterior, but Kryptonite Man's radiation is getting to him. In spite of this, he throws the chamber holding his foe outside. There are mere seconds to spare before the gigantic machine detonates. This is no problem for Superman, Supergirl and Batman, who leave as the explosion lights the night sky of Gotham City. Shortly afterwards, Batman and Superman help a frozen Robin and Batgirl stop Mister Freeze and Toyman only to find that the latter is actually a robot. The World's Finest heroes then go their separate ways impatient for their next team-up, but not before Supergirl and Batgirl teach Robin how to treat a lady.

With Superman returning to New Krypton and Batman protecting Gotham City, nether costumed crime fighter is aware that the real Toyman is in the office of his benefactor, who has promised to remove some chemicals that the Black Mask had placed in the deadly toy maker's brain during his time in Arkham Asylum. General Sam Lane is the one who had provided the material for the Superman-Batman robot, and he wants the Toyman to create something else to rid him of every Kryptonian on Earth and on New Krypton.

5Story - 5: Remember Prodigal, the Batman story after Knight's End in which Dick Grayson was Batman? I loved that one, and I always wanted to see Dick's Dark Knight team-up with Superman. It looks like I got my wish with the final issue of this mini-series. That may be coloring my opinion of the book, but I really had fun reading it. That helped make this an entertaining comic.

I boldly had said in my review of book three that I believed that Lex Luthor had been the mastermind of all of the events of the series with Toyman and the other villains. The story would have become way too predictable had I been right. Sam Lane is perfect as the benefactor. He also made the conclusion have some plot threads that will hopefully pan out in the Superman titles in the future.

All in all, I enjoyed the new World's Finest. It's a pity that it lasted only four issues. It deserves to be a monthly comic.

4Art - 4: Superman doesn't look quite right in certain panels throughout this issue. Aside from that, the art looks pretty good and fits well into the atmosphere of this entire series.

5Cover Art - 5 (Superman Cover): Finally, we have an image worthy of this great series. This is what I was expecting from the previous issues' covers.

5Cover Art - 5 (Batman Cover): While I do wish that the Batman cover interconnected with the Superman one, it's just as good as the one featuring the Man of Steel.

Mild Mannered Reviews

2010

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

January 2010

February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 August 2010 September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010

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