Review – Batman/Superman: World's Finest #40 – Fight Night in Metropolis
Batman/Superman: World's Finest #40 cover, via DC Comics.
Ray: One of the fun things about doing an ongoing flashback series is that you can do stories that wouldn't make their way into a continuity-dense ongoing series. Supergirl and Robin's date from hell is a prime example – and this issue is another oddball team-up that has some great twists. It's set in the early days of Batman and Superman's career, with Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne facilitating a podcast appearance for Jim Gordon and Perry White to defend their cities' reputation to a shady manosphere podcaster. While Bruce riles Clark up by flirting with Lois, the two older men spar with the creepy media magnate, who tries to play them against each other. It's all a day in the life – until a giant kaiju bursts through the wall, menacing Metropolis. Instead of ordering an evacuation, the podcaster orders his people to keep filming – and it falls to Gordon and White to save as many people as they can. Fight night. Via DC Comics.
Of course, the headline attraction here is Superman and Batman taking on the giant monster, with Batman debuting what's essentially a Bat-Gundam to fight the creature on its level. There are some fantastic visuals here, as Waid indulges his taste for big old-school action. But as the newsman and the Commissioner investigate, they discover some odd things – for one thing, the monster doesn't seem to have come from anywhere, just appearing in the middle of the city. A conspiracy starts to develop, and our heroes race against time to find the culprit before he lets the whole city burn. This is an incredibly packed issue for only around 20 pages, and it delivers in every way. It's action-packed, it's funny, and it even has some important commentary about the state of alternative media. It's great to see characters like Perry White and Jim Gordon get to play the starring role for a change.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
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