Originally published on Patreon
The first arc for Batman/Superman: World's Finest was an enjoyable adventure story about ancient magic users, gods and demons, and featured appearances from Supergirl and the Doom Patrol. This new arc seems to be taking a less grand approach, and is going in a more character focused direction as it tells the story of Superman's forgotten side-kick.
The story begins on another world, another Earth in the multiverse, where a pair of scientists in Gotham city load their teenage son, David, into a special pod and blast him off into space as the planet is destroyed. Rather than hurtling through space, the pod shifts into another dimension, bringing David to Earth-0.
As the pod crashes to Earth it's met by Batman and Robin, and Superman. Upon hearing David's story Superman feels an instant connection to him (because of course he would). However, it turns out the sun on David's earth is different to this one, and much like Superman the Earth-0 sun gives him powers. Rather than being a simple duplicate of Superman, however, he gains heat based powers.
After being checked over in Kandor and the Fortress of Solitude, Superman gives David a Kryptonian suit to help regulate his powers. Meanwhile, in Gotham, Bruce has managed to find this world's version of David's parents. however, when David tries to see them, he's confronted by his own grief and loss when they have no idea who he is, and want nothing to do with him. To try and help David, Dick takes him to meet the Teen Titans.
One of the things that this series has always seemed to do well is to capture a lighter feel that was present in older comics. Even when dealing with darker material, this series feels like something of a throwback, with happier characters, and slightly silly things happening. This really helps it to feel like we're seeing past events, but it also makes the series incredibly enjoyable to read. And this issue really benefits from that.
David's story is an incredibly sad one, and whilst it mirrors Clarks it has more tragedy to it as he's not an infant. He had a life on his world, he remembers his parents, his family, his friends. He knows what he's lost, and he feels that grief. He's a young man dealing with an immense tragedy, and in other hands it could make for a very depressing story. But here it doesn't quite feel like that. The other characters are trying their best to help him, to show him some good, and to make him feel like he could make a life for himself on this new Earth.
As far as first issues go, it's a decent start, and you very quickly come to care for David and want to see good things for him. Which I guess has me worried; as we know this isn't a character that's ever been around before. Which means he's probably not going to last. Now, this could mean that he gets a happy ending elsewhere, or it could mean his story ends in tragedy. We have no idea what direction they're going with this yet, and as such, I am kind of worried that it's going to end badly for David.
This issue also saw the return of Dan Mora as artist, after taking an issue off last month, and the artwork is absolutely gorgeous. I've loved his work since I first saw it on Power Rangers, and think that he's able to elevate the story a lot of time. His background and environments always look superb, but it's the characters that really stand out to me; especially teens. Characters like Dick and David, and the other Teen Titans, all look really good; and I'm looking forward to seeing more of them next issue.
If you have't tried out this series yet, issue seven is a great place to jump on for what's one of the more entertaining and enjoyable reads from DC.
This article, and many others, can be read a month early on my Patreon for as little as $3 a month!
No comments:
Post a Comment