In Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #26, the world’s greatest heroes must join Mr. Mxyptlk and Bat-Mite to halt a Fifth Dimension invasion of imps!
Batman / Superman: World’s Finest #26 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain & Steve Wands (courtesy of DC Comics)
Title: Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #26
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Dan Mora
Colorist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letters: Steve Wands
Main Cover: Dan Mora
Variant Covers: Salvador Larroca & Christopher Sotomayor, Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz & Elmer Santos, Scott Godlewski & Alex Guimaraes, Jim Lee & Peter Steigerwald, Maria Wolf & Mike Spicer
Release Date: April 16, 2024
Please note: This comic book review contains spoilers.
This issue picks up on a story thread from the Batman / Superman: World’s Final 2024 Annual, wherein Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk were attacked by incoming invaders. While Bat-Mite and Mxyzptlk got away, escaping into the prime dimension, many of their fellow imps were taken down by these invaders (who were dressed as supervillains).
At the Batcave, Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk explain the situation to Batman, Superman, and Robin (Dick Grayson). While they’re explaining this invasion, the Justice League calls in, reporting attacks by imps dressed as their arch-enemies. The heroes decide to split up, with Bat-Mite joining Superman while Mxyzptlk goes with Batman. This opening is a nice refresher for anyone who may have forgotten the setup a couple of months back, but more than that, the art team gives it an endearing and colorful vibe, so as not to feel as if readers are retreading plot points they already read.
Dan Mora has fun working Batman’s cold glare into his panels that hits the right note without need of dialogue. Tamra Bonvillain casts a glow over the whole scene that feels in sync with World’s Finest but also sets the tone for a lighter romp more reminiscent of an episode of the Superfriends or Justice League.
The tone quickly changes as Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) plummets in a fiery blaze in Coast City. A classic blue-and-black-costumed Sinestro and his higher-dimensional imp laugh maniacally together amidst the ruinous hellscape. Batman leaps in to catch a falling Lantern and rushes him to safety. When “Sin-Imp,” Sinestro’s sidekick, wants to leap in to fight Batman and Robin, Sinestro waves the imp off. This is about more than just Green Lantern, it’s about conquering galaxies.
Not wanting to sit this one out, Mxyzptlk grants Robin superpowers, which enables him to battle it out with Sinestro. The fiery scene here is an interesting choice. While colorful, it echoes of Coast City’s destruction at the hands of Cyborg Superman and Mongul, and I can’t decide whether that was intentional or not. If it was intentional, I’m not sure if it’s more than just a passing reference or if it’s to set the stage for something grander and more dramatic.
Either way, the art team has fun demonstrating Robin’s new powers, along with a fantastic new suit, in a couple of full-page spreads.
Meanwhile in Central City, Superman leaps in to save The Flash from Kadabra, who has used his futuristic magic to force the citizens of the city to applaud for him. While Bat-Mite interests Kadabra’s imp, Mxyptlk brings Sin-Imp to Batman, who coaxes the same information of out him.
Whoever is behind this is testing the heroes, looking for the strongest one to face. According to both imps, this as yet unnamed villain is not impressed.
For readers who aren’t sick of cutesy villain imp design, there’s a neat, nearly-full-page spread of villains as imps like Joker, Lex Luthor, and more that’s wickedly delightful.
In Central City, Bat-Mite saves Superman from Kadabra’s magic. It sparks a question in Superman, who then asks Bat-Mite if he can whip up an armor that could protect him from magic. Bat-Mite obliges, creating a new suit that has Batman detailing on it. There’s a moment of levity as Superman ponders the suit design, then he’s off to battle back Kadabra once and for all.
In Coast City, Robin knocks out Sinestro, then uses his telescopic vision to see who else might be in danger. It overwhelms him, as he hasn’t been able to train with or use powers before. Robin asks for Mxyzptlk to take the powers back.
Meanwhile, Superman takes down Kadabra, then levels with Bat-Mite. He tells Bat-Mite that Batman isn’t one to appreciate fanboys. He’s one to respect and admire assets, which is Superman’s way of trying to make Bat-Mite that much more useful to their efforts. Superman then asks Bat-Mite to scoop up Batman and Robin and meet him in Metropolis.
In the Fifth Dimension, a mysterious villain carves new imps, obsessing over how much fun he’s having.
In Metropolis, Parasite has been upgraded by his imp, Paras-Mite. This Superman foe now has the ability to absorb mass and volume, and he uses his newfound powers to turn Superman, Batman, and Robin into wall art. The issue ends on this cliffhanger.
Batman / Superman: World’s Finest #26 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain & Steve Wands (courtesy of DC Comics)
Typically, Batman / Superman: World’s Finest has been a lighter, more comforting book that celebrates the Silver Age of comics. That’s not surprising, and over the last 25 issues, it’s been consistent in its embrace of that tone and style. Certainly, there have been issues that really leaned into heavy themes and ideas, creating emotional moments that really resonate with readers as well as callback to more traditional superhero characterizations. In many ways, Batman / Superman: World’s Finest #26 is no different. It’s another entry into a consistent book that has stayed true to its idea and form.
Mark Waid is consistently at the top of his writing game with these stories, and superstar artist Dan Mora and brilliant colorist Tamra Bonvillain create some of the most beautiful panels, pages, and spreads together. Steve Wands lettering brings the tension and heightens the action to create a gripping, adrenaline rush of a read. Together, this team is arguably putting out one of the more fun books on the shelves each month.
It sounds like I’m leading up to a point, doesn’t it?
My point is, when readers look around at what’s on the shelves, especially from the Big Two, it can feel like there isn’t much “fun” to be had. Many of the big books are chasing event after event, titles associated with Gotham City are out-of-sync with one another, telling stories completely disconnected and isolated from each other. Furthermore, these stories are obsessed with analyzing and re-analyzing Batman’s psyche over and over again. Sometimes these exercises can be fruitful, offering new ideas readers can then turn on themselves for self-reflection. Most of the time, however, it’s a retread of beloved stories but distilled down in a format more obsessed with chasing sales and events than giving the readers something to enjoy. Take the main Batman book, for example. Characters like Zur-En-Arrh and Joker are recontextualized as servants to some mentor named Daniel Captio, and this long-form story being told weaves in and out of Batman’s psyche, exploring this duality of his “unfiltered self” versus his Bruce Wayne persona. It doesn’t say anything new. All it does is deconstruct Batman, yet again, on a topic we’ve already read over and over again. To add fuel to that fire, gimmicky sales tricks like the use of “Joker: Year One” are employed to pump up purchases.
It’s not a great time to be a Batman fan, but books like Batman / Superman: World’s Finest, ones that embrace a formula or vehicle that lets characters like Batman and Superman simply BE Batman and Superman feel essential right now. While we may not remember these Fifth Dimensional hijinks several months from now, we might reflect back on the comforting salve Waid, Mora, Bonvillain, and Wands are publishing each month that keeps longtime comic fans like me from having no Bat-books to look forward to.
For such a happy book, I didn’t intend to write a sad review. After the elation of reading this issue, I can’t help but wonder why we can’t just have Batman solving crimes in his main books?
Editor’s Note: DC Comics provided TBU with an advanced copy of this comic for review purposes. You can find this comic and help support TBU in the process by pre-ordering this issue digitally on Amazon or a physical copy of the title through Things From Another World.
