Art By: Jed Dougherty
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: January 14, 2015
Hindsight
*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*
It's funny to me calling this review "Hindsight" because of what the issue details but I realized right as I began writing this that it has a personal meaning too. If I had only had the hindsight not to get all excited about this series when it came out, I could of saved myself a lot of pain from patiently waiting for it to get good. As you should know if you're still reading this title, Red Tornado is detailing the story of Superman and Batman throughout the years leading up to their deaths, in case Earth 2 actually falls and hoping that someone will find her memory so they can know about the world's greatest superheroes. Last issue's story was about Superman trying to stop a probe from coming to Earth while Batman chased after Catwoman............I think the Batman part was some sort of sex game. Anyway the probe was from Apokolips and Superman and Batman had to take on the Apokoliptean: Intri as she tried again to get Superman to come over to her side. This seems to be the main focus of this story arc. Anyway, Superman and Batman sent her packing and we also had the first meeting of Superman and Wonder Woman (except for when Wonder Woman saved Clark as a child). It's just a bunch of random things that happen throughout the lives of Batman and Superman, so let's check out this month's installment where we find out about Terry Sloan and his plans for Earth 2.
Explain It!:
Our story begins with Catwoman taking Robin out on patrol because she got a tip about where people who were being used for human sex trafficking were being held. Right away I'm seeing a change in this book. I don't know if it's just that I care about the Wayne family dynamic while they're wearing masks or if Paul Levitz decided to write differently, but almost immediately this issue came off as fun. So the two take out the guard and find the shipping container that the people are supposed to be kept in, but when they open the door and go inside a trap is sprung and our heroes find themselves falling into a pit. Don't worry though, even with a bunch of armed goons standing above them, our heroes will be fine because Big Daddy Batman has them lojacked. After swooping in and doing the whole scary Batman thing, we see that these fucking goons are crazy because they all explode. Can you imagine holding on to someone and saying "I'm Batman" and they just explode in your face? It's fucking nuts.
Over in Smallville we see a very familiar scene as a spaceship crash lands on the Kent family farm. No this isn't a flashback................Well it is a flashback because it's in the past but it's not that flashback. No, it seems that this ship is the one containing Val-Zod and even though Superman set up a monitoring system in space after last issue's Apokoliptean probe came down, he isn't the first one to make it to the scene. As we found out in Earth 2, Terry Sloan has a team come in and take the ship and by the time Superman shows up, the area is all cleared out except for Sloan and his helicopter. Superman wants to know what Sloan found because what are the odds of another crash landing at the Kent farm (not that he'd say that to Sloan). Now this is the part that doesn't ring true to what Earth 2 has told me about this character. Yeah, we know that Sloan's a heel but I was led to believe that before the Apokolips invasion Terry Sloan was one of the "Wonders" and I don't know if I just reached for this idea, but I would of figured all the heroes of this world worked together and trusted each other. What I'm getting at here is Superman wanted to see what Sloan recovered and Sloan opened the helicopter's door and Superman is exposed to the first piece of Kryptonite that he's ever seen. Maybe I just expected everyone to play nice on Earth 2 and things like this didn't happen. Sloan is the smartest man in the world and even though this is the first piece of Kryptonite on Earth, you know he knew it would be harmful for the Man of Steel. With Superman incapacitated what would be the worst thing to happen at that moment? That's right the Apokoliptean: Intri made her cameo for this issue and now plans on taking Superman to Apokolips in his weakened state. It's a good thing that Batman showed up and put a god in her place. I think that Batman's been preparing since their last encounter because he swoops in, beats her about the face dodging her energy blasts and even takes out her weapon, hurting her in the process...........Yeah, Batman's a badass.
In the end, Batman uses a exploding Batarang to knock Intri back into the boomtube and we find out that Batman showed up not just because he was in the neighborhood, but because he found out the trap that was set for his family was perpetrated by Sloan. Too bad that Sloan took the opportunity to escape while Batman was fighting Intri because I'd love to see how that discussion would go down. As we close this issue we see Sloan running tests on Val-Zod, hopefully nothing that he did between this and the time that our heroes find Val-Zod comes back to haunt us.
That's it for this issue of Worlds' Finest and I'm pleased to say that I didn't hate this issue. From what we've been given in the past, this issue could actually be considered good. I would of liked to see more of Sloan and how our heroes interacted with him before he betrayed everyone during the Apokolips invasion, but I'm not going to dwell on it. Now I know that these issues are supposed to be a record of the events that led up to the invasion but I wish we could see more of the interactions between the Wayne Family. That's the highlight of the book for me and I think it could do with a little more of it instead of the many times that Intri tried to get Superman to Apokolips......That's just me though. Even the art this issue seemed to be a step above what we've been given before or maybe I could actually get behind it because the story didn't bend me out of shape this issue, but I enjoyed Jed Dougherty's take on these characters. See you next month where we'll see when Intri came back to Earth again.
Bits and Pieces:
This issue is by far the best we've been given by since Worlds' Finest made the switch from Power Girl and Huntress to Superman and Batman. Maybe it's because as each issue progresses we get farther ahead in time and the heroes here are the ones that I imagine them to be, but whatever it is, I hope that we can close out the series with our characters coming off the way they did here. Again, I don't know why the issue works better this month, it just does and I'll go with it.
In the end, Batman uses a exploding Batarang to knock Intri back into the boomtube and we find out that Batman showed up not just because he was in the neighborhood, but because he found out the trap that was set for his family was perpetrated by Sloan. Too bad that Sloan took the opportunity to escape while Batman was fighting Intri because I'd love to see how that discussion would go down. As we close this issue we see Sloan running tests on Val-Zod, hopefully nothing that he did between this and the time that our heroes find Val-Zod comes back to haunt us.
That's it for this issue of Worlds' Finest and I'm pleased to say that I didn't hate this issue. From what we've been given in the past, this issue could actually be considered good. I would of liked to see more of Sloan and how our heroes interacted with him before he betrayed everyone during the Apokolips invasion, but I'm not going to dwell on it. Now I know that these issues are supposed to be a record of the events that led up to the invasion but I wish we could see more of the interactions between the Wayne Family. That's the highlight of the book for me and I think it could do with a little more of it instead of the many times that Intri tried to get Superman to Apokolips......That's just me though. Even the art this issue seemed to be a step above what we've been given before or maybe I could actually get behind it because the story didn't bend me out of shape this issue, but I enjoyed Jed Dougherty's take on these characters. See you next month where we'll see when Intri came back to Earth again.
Bits and Pieces:
This issue is by far the best we've been given by since Worlds' Finest made the switch from Power Girl and Huntress to Superman and Batman. Maybe it's because as each issue progresses we get farther ahead in time and the heroes here are the ones that I imagine them to be, but whatever it is, I hope that we can close out the series with our characters coming off the way they did here. Again, I don't know why the issue works better this month, it just does and I'll go with it.
6.8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment