Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials

Batman and Superman: World's Finest #4

Scheduled to arrive in stores: May 19, 1999

Writer: Karl Kesel
Penciller: Dave Taylor
Inker: Robert Campanella

"Underworlds"

Michael (George) O'Connor Reviewed by: Michael O'Connor



Seven years ago...

In the Batcave, a brooding Batman hunches over his computer as Alfred serves dinner. As usual, the Batman is too engrossed in his studies on criminal activity to spend much time listening to his faithful butler, who reminds him that young Master Dick will be in a school play. The Batman seems less than thrilled about the concept of attending as he learns that someone is watching Superman and decides to travel to Metropolis.

In Metropolis, Superman saves a woman and her children from an apartment fire. As Superman learns that another child is still in the building, he rushes to save the child, only to be too late... the Batman has already saved him.

Superman leaves the scene, finding an incendiary device and accepting an invitation to breakfast with the family that he has saved.

Flying away, he meets Batman on the rooftop, where he and Batman begin to track down the criminals responsible for the incendiary device and for tracking the moves of the Man of Steel.

Elsewhere, Desaad meets with Boss Mannheim as they continue their deal to supply Intergang with intricate weaponry. Superman and Batman suddenly interrupt them however, and the group of thugs is quickly wrapped up, even as they attempt to use the weapons on the heroes.

Desaad escapes through a boom tube with Mannheim, however and the two leave behind an explosive deviSuperman, in a trance from looking through the boom tube, doesn't even notice the explosive. Batman hurls it back through the boom tube just before the tube disappears and then promptly disappears, tracking down the source of the equipment that has been monitoring Superman.

Soon, Batman finds himself in Cadmus, a top-secret instillation which houses aliens and government conspiracies of all sorts, where he encounters Westfield, the Assistant Director who has been examining Superman. The Batman threatens Westfield, claiming that if Westfield ever spies on Superman again, the Batman will track him and shut him down for good.

Batman finishes his work only to see Superman with the family he saved earlier. A spark of humanity reaches the mind of the Batman as he watches Superman and it causes him to decide to go to Dick's play after all.

3Story - 3: One of the weaker stories by far, it was nevertheless still entertaining. There didn't seem to be all that much going on though and Superman didn't play an integral part. There also wasn't the feeling that Batman was as out of his element as Superman was in Arkham Asylum in the last issue. It might have been more effective if Batman wasn't able to get anywhere in Metropolis. The story was fairly simple, but the overall story is progressing fairly well and next issue should be an improvement.

4Art - 4: Not bad, but some of the characters in Cadmus were too cartoony. I'm not sure if this was on purpose, but it really detracted from the realism. I also found that Desaad and Mannheim looked rather strange and there weren't very many good poses from Superman. Taylor's Batman is, as usual, gorgeous, but the rest of the characters were rather weak and less dynamic.

4Cover - 4: Interesting, but it's hard to tell what's next to Batman. Are those statues or people? Plus, the entrance to Metropolis looks kind of ancient with the mythic-like characters painted on opposing walls.


Mild Mannered Reviews

1999

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic was on sale.

June 1999

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