What is this book about?

World’s Finest chronicles the first ten-years of Batman and Superman’s relationship. It starts off with Bruce Wayne (who is secretly Batman) and Clark Kent (who is secretly Superman) attending a charity function of a mutual friend who is kidnapped and held hostage. The two heroes arrive at the scene but due to their inability to work together, they are unable to save his life. From that point on, they decide to remember that day by meeting every year and working to improve their group dynamics.

Why should you read this book?

Many who would review this book would opt for the broad overview why this is an interesting book; that it’s a great portrayal of the complicated relationship between these two characters. However, I’d like to fine tune the specific portrayal that was the most interesting to me and why.

Avid Now is not the Rhyme readers know that I am a huge fan of comics; especially comics I got into when I was kid. What comic reader isn’t? Well, I suppose the difference is I might stand in the minority when I say my favorite time in comics was during Spider-man’s Clone saga, when Diana Prince was replaced with Artemis, when Ollie Queen was dead and Connor Hawke replaced him, or when Jean Paul Valley was Batman and when four different Supermen claimed to be Superman after the original died. These are the characters I remember, these are the characters I love, and these are the characters I can relate to. So it shouldn’t surprise you that my favorite issue of this book was issue number #9.

Issue #9, has two separate stories; one for when Batman goes looking to see if any of the four new Supermen is the original by seeing if they remember that they meet every year on the same day and when Superman goes looking to see if this new Batman was told by Bruce Wayne that they meet every year.

Despite the outcry of fans that hated the replacing of these heroes and declining sales from the books after; I think it was one of the smartest things DC Comics has ever done. To have fictional characters continue to live on and on and never die is absurd to me. But that is another blog post for another time…

One of the reasons why Batman and Superman work is because the writer’s change them to suit that time era. Replacing them in the 90’s drove sales and got people back into comic books. Even though it wasn’t well received it will always be remembered and people that got into comics from those books who work for these companies later will be inspired to create books and stories based on them. Much like how creators now do with stories they grew up with from the 60’s and 70’s.

Every issue from this book is great and you should totally pick it up. You can find it here. It’s a good book for someone who is thinking of getting into comics but doesn’t want to get a ton of old books just to understand the history of the characters and the book is great for any Batman & Superman fan of any era since this books spans the entire history of the two characters and picks out significant life changing events that truly shaped the character.

On a side note, if you’re interested in books similar to this, you can read my review of Batman: Turning Points which has the same concept, except the history and friendship between Batman and Gotham City’s police commissioner James Gordon is spotlighted.

What is this book about?

Back of the book description:

Visionary writer/artist Paul Pope presents a futuristic mystery of epic proportions set in a dark, dystopian world devoid of privacy and filled with government conspiracies, psychic police, holographic caller ID and absolutely no room for “secret identities.”

In Gotham City, 2039, a federal agent is murdered and a contingent of Washington’s top agents is hot on the suspect’s trail. The Batman, a forgotten icon from the past, is wanted for the murder. Amid the chaos Gotham City Police Detective Gordon, grandson of the former commissioner, discovers that the man they are chasing shouldn’t exist at all.

Why should you read this book?

I feel obligated to recommend this book to you for it’s writing, however, the art truly justifies the purchase.

Don’t get me wrong, the story is intriguing, no doubt. But, Pope is an artist, I feel, first and forthright.

I recently read a review of this book that basically stated that he felt as though Pope inserted his own Libertarian political views into the story and didn’t display Batman’s desire and drive for the “greater good.” He compares Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, which he says kept the focus on the sacrifices that Bruce Wayne must make to protect the city he loves—letting go of the woman he loves, even taking the blame for a murder he didn’t commit, all for the greater good. He continues to point out that we never actually see him fighting street crime, only Batman taking down the government.

But Batman is taking down the government because it’s corrupt. Libertarian views or not, there are unlawful things happening here that Batman has decided falls directly in line with his views on what fighting for the greater good means.

What’s interesting about this book is that we’re not sure who Batman is. We don’t know if it’s Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, or hell Stephanie Brown with a sex-change! We don’t even know if his “Robin” or “Oracle” in Year 100 is a Robin or Oracle that we all know and love. We just know that this takes place in the future and that there is evil corrupt happenings that the Batman does not want to see come to fruition.

I think the point of this story is to lay claim that there will always be someone with evil intentions and that there will always be someone with good intentions to war against it, such as The Batman.

MY QUESTION however is, what does Paul Pope think came first…good intentions or evil? Was there ever a first? Or were the two “born” together at the same time?

Enough about the story, look at some of this art! (RSS reader’s, go to the actual post)

What is this book about?

The series focuses on the major events of Commissioner Gordon’s and Batman’s relationship. The moments when their relationship took a turn for the better, or worse.

In case you don’t know, Commissioner Gordon is the police commissioner of Batman’s home of Gotham City. He shares Batman’s deep commitment to ridding the dark and corrupt city of crime. He disagrees somewhat with Batman’s vigilante method but recognizes the necessity of Batman so the two have a mutual respect and tacit friendship which dates back many many years. So this story sort of highlights the more important story’s that shaped their friendship that would help a new reader understand their bond.

• The first issue focuses on the tentative steps toward their relationship.
• The second issue focuses on the introduction of the first Robin.
• The third issue focuses on Batman and Commissioner Gordon’s heartache after the Joker murdered Jason Todd (Batman’s adopted son) and attacked Barbara Gordon (Gordon’s daughter).
• The fourth issue is when Batman elected to have Jean Paul Valley replace him without mentioning it to Gordon.
• And the fifth issue is the then-current relationship between Gordon and Batman.

Why should you read this book?

This book is a good beginner into Batman comics. Because essentially you’re getting really quick reads revolving around the MAJOR events in these character’s history without actually reading the longer versions. Additionally, the artwork is amazing. Particularly the last issue which is penciled by one of my favorite artist’s Paul Pope, who also created one of my favorite books 100%, which is kind of a love story but it talks so much about what sex will be like in the future. It’s so awesome. Anyway…

The whole series is great and you should read all of it in unison. But particularly issue number four stuck out to me a lot. This may not be the one that captures everyone’s attention, but, maybe it will, allow me to explain why this is the issue I’ve decided to review.

This is the issue I mentioned above where Batman elected to have Jean Paul Valley replace him as Batman without mentioning it to Gordon.

This just struck me as an interesting issue because the issues where Jean Paul Valley took over in the Batman books is right around the time when I got into comics as a kid and I remember those books and love them to death. Even though many consider this to be one of the lower points in Batman’s history.

What I loved about this take on Batman was that, Batman was already dark to begin with. But Jean Paul Valley took his own brand of justice and made Batman even darker. He was more violent, more angry, and more out of control. Which isn’t the reason I liked those books. The reason I like those books was because it made you miss Batman. It made people realize how much they NEED Batman. Which is always a good reminder to have. Valley coming in and giving the villains, cops, and criminals a swift kick in the ass needed to happen but, all it really did was made us realize how much we needed the Batman who had morals and restraint. Commissioner Gordon knew this and felt way as well.

Additionally, probably the single most interesting thing that struck me about this issue and this time-period in the Batman mythos is that Batman never told Gordon that he was putting in a replacement. Which I never thought about as a kid reading those issues. How can two people who claim to be friends not communicate like that? Why didn’t Batman say anything? Did Batman feel that the change wouldn’t be noticeable? Did he not want to admit that he ‘failed’? Did he want to make himself seem strong and able and not show weakness to the police commissioner? It’s really interesting stuff! I think it asks really interesting questions about the communication or lack thereof betwixt two longstanding friends. Which people who have these types of relationships with people can relate to, and maybe even find the answers to why there was a miscommunication to begin with inside a Batman book?