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For the next couple of months, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest and Justice League Unlimited will be sharing a storyline as part of the “We Are Yesterday” crossover event. As such, we decided that it would be a good idea for Akash and I team up and discuss our thoughts on the event together. You’ll be able to tell us apart because Akash’s text will be in purple while my text will be in blue.
It’s almost ironic that we decided to start our joint reviews with this issue, since 99% of it has nothing to do with the crossover. Aside from the very last page suddenly introducing the larger threat, this is entirely a self-contained story about Gorilla Grodd doing evil Gorilla stuff.
Yeah, there’s almost nothing about the Inferno plot or anything. It reads like a normal adventure in World’s Finest – Superman, Batman, and a random hero (Flash) deal with a slightly modernized Silver Age plot. This time it’s Titano attacking and Grodd taking over Superman’s body. If the point was to show that Grodd realized that the usual way of operating wasn’t going to work and he needed to change, well we’ve got little to work with. What this issue may be attempting was to sort of remind readers what Grodd was like. A sort of primer.
It definitely serves as an introduction to a somewhat more obscure area of the DC universe. World’s Finest has done that a few times now, like when they explained how the politics of Atlantis work. It’s safe to assume that readers will know about characters like Joker and Lex Luthor, but every new face comes with a bit of exposition to bring everyone up to speed.
Since Gorilla Grodd is mostly a Flash villain, he gets to tag along to explain to Batman and Superman (and conveniently, the audience) who Grodd is and how Gorilla City works. It’s a bit clunky getting everything laid out so quickly, but I enjoyed the goofy Silver Age gorilla plot that it set up. Is it the most complex plot? Definitely no, but it has gorilla armies and a giant space ape with kryptonite eyes.
I think the most recent comic appearance of Gorilla City might’ve been the Injustice 2 comic. So this issue serves as a bit of a palate cleanser compared to that… stuff. Grodd is a villain that should be a lot bigger than he is. And I do like that he is getting a chance to be the Big Bad for once. This comic shows that he is charismatic enough to lead a troop (heh gorilla troop) and intelligent enough to pull off a complex scheme.
He was a fun villain – for what little we saw of him. I’m going to sound like a bit of a hypocrite here as someone who often bemoans how decompressed modern comics can be, but the story here moves at such a breakneck pace that there’s not much room for the characterization that makes this series so endearing. It’s extremely plot-driven in that you get one beat leading into the next into the next, until it’s done.
It does feel representative of the era it is trying to emulate that’s sure. Everyone just has personalities in this comic compared to a random Silver Age story where you could read out the dialogue and not tell anyone apart. Still, if there is a gripe I have with this comic its the unnecessary retcon of the reveal of Gorilla City to the world. Mark Waid has never been the type of person to try to re-write history and I’m not sure I like him starting now.
Well considering that Waid is literally writing “New History of the DC Universe” out in June, I think you might need get ready for potentially a lot more changes from him. As someone not super familiar with the previous Gorilla City canon, I thought that this version was fine but not anything that blew me away. They showed up suddenly, were quickly dealt with by our trio of heroes, and then went away.
Oh God, I’d forgotten about that.
Hal’s inclusion might be a sly nod to the original origin of Gorilla City, where he was responsible for bringing them to Earth from the planet Calor. This was retconned after Crisis on Infinite Earths but its a fun thought. Because ringless Hal could’ve been any random person other wise.
True, but if you’re going to have a test pilot in a DC story, it’d be hard not to want to use Hal.
Speaking of things that I thought were “fine” but not anything that blew me away: the art. It’s serviceable enough to get the job done, but never particularly evocative. This meant that some of the big action moments and comedic visual gags fell flat. I expect Dan Mora’s departure is going to feel particularly noticeable as this series alternates with Justice League Unlimited. With him gone, it’s often been colorist Tamra Bonvillain that has kept a consistent visual style through the series as a whole.
I think Clayton Henry was fine. I’m honestly happy Mora isn’t drawing this. Man needs a break. But yeah, its serviceable at best.
One last thing I’ll bring up is that the story’s resolution felt really sudden to me. This sort of ties in with my earlier point about the pacing, but the way they defeated Grodd felt really out of left field. I’m still not quite sure as to the mechanics of how they got them to switch back.
I’d go so far as to say this issue might’ve just been added to the crossover so that there would be six issues for the trade. As for how Grodd was defeated and they swapped back, I’ve always assumed World’s Finest ran on Silver Age logic so things just happen
Recommended If
You want to see a bunch of gorillas fighting superheroes
Short and simple comics are something you enjoy
You don’t mind waiting another issue for We Are Yesterday to really begin
Overall
Akash: Batman/Superman World’s Finest #38 is barely a prologue to “We are Yesterday”, instead serving more as a reminder to fans about who Grodd is and what his usual shtick tends to be. Its fine but calling this issue Part 1 feels a bit much. 7/10
Jackson: So long as people aren’t expecting to actually see the opening chapter of “We Are Yesterday”, this comic provides a decent one-shot of the World’s Finest teaming up with Flash to fight some gorillas. The story and art can feel a bit rushed at times, but it’s a fun enough adventure. 7/10
Score: 7/10
DISCLAIMER: DC Comics provided Batman News with a copy of this comic for the purpose of this review.
“}]] For the next couple of months, Batman/Superman: World’s Finest and Justice League Unlimited will be sharing a storyline as part of the “We Are… Read More