THIS WEEK: Reviews of Batman/Superman World’ss Finest #54, Nightwing #141,Deathstroke, The Terminator #6, and New Titans #38!
Note: the review below contains spoilers. If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation on the comics in question, check out the bottom of the article for our final verdict.
Batman/Superman World’s Finest #54
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Bruno Frenda
Colorist: Luis Guerrero
Letterer: Steve Wands
In a world with green kingdoms and the vilest of seeds, it’s refreshing to have ideas that have absolutely nothing to do with the other major events coming from DC. In this case, I was not expecting that gift to come from Hell.
Specifically, I wasn’t expecting it from Mark Waid and Bruno Frenda’s version of Hell. And what better place to turn up the heat than on a baseball field, where the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been? In this case, Superman, Batman, and their fellow Justice Leaguers are forced to compete in Hell for the souls of all humanity in the wildest game imaginable. Billions of lives depend on an impossible victory against a team of the vilest, most gruesome demons in the entire underworld, with The Demon Etrigan acting as umpire to keep an unbiased eye on the game.
In short, this comic is a whole lot of fun.
The best highlights of World’s Finest in its 54-issue run have been Waid’s ability to deliver a campy, Silver Age, captivating, and deep exploration of the World’s Finest in the early years of their careers, and this issue was no exception. Not to mention the impressive run of artists behind the writer, most notably the work of Dan Mora, especially on the front cover of this issue: Superman in his batting stance, Batman ready to catch, and Etrigan behind the two of them, ready to play ball as the fires of Hell surround them.
After being able to hold this comic in my own hands, it’s clear just how much went into its creation. From having the credit pages be the baseball diamond, showing all the positions each hero would play, to the amazing artwork by Frenda bringing to life just how hellish this ballgame really would be, and Waid bringing out each of these characters’ personalities and traits even in a ball game, like having Superman refuse to cheat even if the team of demons is actively doing so.
What I find most impressive is that the comic never actually has these heroes fight the demons. While there is violence, it comes in the form of “hit by pitches” or even hits disguised as fouls. Everything is conveyed through the baseball game. It isn’t simply a nine-versus-nine matchup between heroes and demons. Both sides constantly find ways to twist the rules, bending the game just enough to “hit” one another and get players out of the competition.
There is something poetic about Waid having these heroes face off against Hell in an attempt to prevent a war, only to have them resolve the conflict without a war at all. Instead, they play something as simple as a ball game. It turns what could have been another superhero brawl into something far more fitting for World’s Finest. The heroes aren’t saving humanity by punching their way through Hell; they’re saving it by playing within the distorted rules and still coming out on top.
It also brought to mind a quote from W. P. Kinsella, who once wrote that professional baseball players are “working hard and artfully to prevent wars, by making peace more interesting.” That sentiment feels almost tailor-made for this issue. Waid takes the idea of baseball as a substitute for conflict and pushes it to its most absurd extreme: if baseball can bring people together, why can’t it prevent war on Earth?
And who better to inspire others, even in Hell, than Batman and Superman?
Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #54 is a welcome surprise for New Comic Book Day, and while the premise of the issue is wild in theory, Mark Waid and Bruno Frenda come together as a great team to deliver an issue that will go down as one of the notable releases in its very long run. What makes this issue work isn’t simply the absurdity of seeing Batman and Superman play baseball in Hell; it’s the fact that Waid uses that absurd premise to remind us what makes these characters heroes in the first place. They don’t need to win by becoming more violent than their opponents. They don’t need to become demons themselves. They simply need to play the game, beat the villains using their rules against them and, in Superman’s case, continue to believe there is a better way.
If World’s Finest has spent 54 issues reminding us why these characters work so well together, then this may be one of its strangest and most entertaining reminders yet. Even in Hell, Batman and Superman are still Batman and Superman. Like always, that’s enough to win the game.
Nightwing #141 asks the reader to believe in Nightwing one more time. With Dick Grayson is at his lowest, the citizens of Blüdhaven show up for him. Writer Dan Watters and artist DenysCowan deliver a story that very much digs into just how much Nightwing has affected Blüdhaven, the good and the bad, but choose to tell that story through the eyes of those Grayson has helped. Even when things seem to be getting better, something is always bound to happen to Grayson, however, and while this issue sets up big things on the way, seeing a guilt-ridden Grayson still feels right as this stressful arc approaches its climax.
New Titans #38 goes terribly, and that’s exactly what writer Tate Brombal and artists Samri Basri and Bruno Abdias wanted. I remember the first issue of this Titans run being a reflection on past runs conforming to repeated ideas. I’m happy to say this issue shows a very messy and disorganized team, and that’s the point. These are all new Titans learning to be a team together and dealing with new additions and changes. While some members are stuck in the past, some make very good points, and others are stuck on what the future can be. It’s all new, for sure, but it’s not bad, and while I’m still stuck on where exactly this story is going, I am more than happy to say that this has been interesting, which is something I haven’t been able to say about a Titans comic in a long time.
Deathstroke, The Terminator #6 has been one of the most stressful times I’ve had with a comic in a while. Genuinely, Slade’s life is in the gutter, more so than usual, and it only gets worse. Last issue made readers tense up with Rose getting shot point-blank, and now Slade finally reaches his breaking point against his ex-wife, Adeline. What follows is a brutal battle between three different assassins and an explosive war zone, as civilians and the city get torn up in the wake of these violent reckless assassins. I have to give props to writer Tony Fleecs and artist Carmine Di Giandomenico. The issue looks beautiful, and Fleecs’ writing makes me not like Slade at all. However, that is done on purpose. Slade genuinely has been a walking time bomb, and so many people are caught in his destruction as he refuses to be better. That is part of what makes this run kind of addicting. It’s hard to put down when each issue feels like everything around Slade gets worse, albeit due to some questionable character decisions.
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