Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #38
Scheduled to arrive in stores: April 16, 2025
Cover date: June 2025
“We Are Yesterday” – Part One
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Clayton Henry
Cover: Dan Mora
Variant Covers: Adrian Gutierrez & Matt Herms, Gavin Guidry & Luis Guerrero, Elizabeth Torque & Sabine Rich, Brandt & Stein
Reviewed by: Tony Parker
Above the African Congo Basin, Bruce Wayne is testing out a new reconnaissance aircraft with the help of Hal Jordan, while Clark Kent reports for the Daily Planet. Suddenly, something goes wrong, the plane explodes, and Hal Jordan vanishes into thin air.
Only to suddenly reappear on screen, having been tossed aside by Gorilla Grodd, who declares war on the human race.
Snapping into action, the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight call on the only superhero who knows of Gorilla City, the Fastest Man Alive, The Flash (Barry Allen), who gives them the lowdown on the place and Grodd, then vibrates them to the location.
Immediately, our heroes are in danger, but Superman and Flash deal with the problem easily… Too easily. While Flash and Batman go investigate the prison, Superman talks to the failed army, that reveals Grodd had something prepared just for him: Titano, the Super-Ape.
While Superman suffers under the Kryptonite gaze of the mutated chimp, Flash finds twelve guards dead and Grodd sitting in a chair surrounded by a force field that knocks the speedster back. Batman finds Hal and King Solovar, leader of Gorilla City, who puzzles at how Grodd could declare war when he has no clear strategy and a small army. Batman then realizes what’s happening when Flash informs him of the force field: He’s mind transferred with Superman. As Grodd in his new body tries to attack a french army shooting at the city and his oldest enemy, The Flash, Batman rides Titano and gets him to fire at “Superman”. But Grodd beats their gambit. He won’t surrender until he dies. And Batman won’t kill his friend.
But Solovar will. Kicking Batman off Titano, he gets the Kryptonite back on, leading to Batman needing an even crazier gambit: asking Flash to try and jumpstart another mindswap so Superman can get his body back.
They just about succeed, and a furious Grodd gets tornado’d away while Superman recovers. Flash assists Gorilla City in recovering, Solovar vows to heal Titano, and all’s well that ends well…
Except…
Grodd, lying in prison, is suddenly melded with a version of himself from the future, one who’s ready to cast an inferno all across the planet…
To Be Continued in “Justice League Unlimited #6”.
Story – 3: A really fun Grodd story, but not much else to it, really. That doesn’t mean it’s bad, not at all, but… It’s a mite too simple, even for a book as fun driven as World’s Finest. It’s about as simple and short as it sounds: Grodd does Grodd stuff, Superman, Batman, Flash and Hal Jordan stop him, that’s about it. The connection with Justice League Unlimited (which I read, including all its spinoffs, to be all caught up for this crossover event) is tenuous at best so far (excepting the very last bit), and there wasn’t even any Robin.
Not to say that I wasn’t feeling it, or that this isn’t a fine little romp: We’ve got Gorilla City, a rare but welcome appearance from Titano, some fun mind swapping, and decent action.
But this was really nothing that interesting or amazing. You could honestly skip this issue and mostly get what’s happening with the crossover. Seeing as this is the first part, that’s not great.
Art – 2: Pretty bare bones. No unique coloring or inking, no striking visuals outside of the Grodd mind melding at the very end, no real massive set pieces. Pretty underwhelming for a book that normally delivers excellent visuals.
Cover Art – 4: Low key banger. Good poses, good dramatic and striking lights, and Grodd looks positively devilish.Variant Cover Art – 3: A sweet little friendship cover between Superman, Batman and Robin.Variant Cover Art – 2: About as basic as it gets. Too basic.Variant Cover Art – 3: Posing is decent, to be fair.Variant Cover Art – 4: Normally I hate Joker over saturation, but this cover is too charming to hate.
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