Hey everybody!!! With Jackson off to NYCC to bring us some spicy gossip on the happenings in the comic book entertainment world, I decided to step in for this issue. Not that I needed much convincing as we get to see a past version of my favorite superhero team and I get a chance to talk about them in this issue. So, time to shine a light on whatever Eclipso is scheming this time.
Ok here’s the abridged version of my thoughts on the story (and on the series World’s Finest as a whole) - If you’re a fan of throwback stories to the so-called “simpler times” of DC Comics, you’ll like it. World’s Finest reads as a love letter to the past, but it definitely gets a lot of leeway because of that. For me in this issue, I could almost see the hand of the writer guiding the characters along paths that they needed to take. Again, all stories do this, however, if most of the questions that arise in the readers’ mind have answers that are not on the page itself (or are not satisfactorily handwaved away), it breaks immersion.
Why does Eclipso only possess Batman and Superman in this issue? Because they are the headliners of this title/ the most popular ones. Why can’t Spectre handle an Eclipso-possessed Batman? Because that would negate the presence of the other heroes sent to deal with him. Why can’t Doctor Fate toss Superman into the sun to purge Eclipso out of him? Because it would be cool to see Jay Garrick run in space. Why is Ollie able to snap Hal out of his Eclipso trance by negging him? Because the rest of the plot is done and we can use the League now.
Now, if these questions don’t come to your mind (and trust me there was a lot I left out), you can enjoy the story for what it is - a fun romp that requires you to not think about it too much. But alas, I am an overthinker who likes dissecting things and isn’t one to let moments that make me go “huh” slide because they were kinda cool (I blame Batman jumping off the moon without aid for killing my suspension of disbelief permanently).
But there’s another reason that people really loved this series and that was the art. While I feel it would be unfair to compare Adrián Gutiérrez to Dan Mora, as following Mora’s footsteps would be a challenge for most, it is a bit of a downgrade. Especially when it comes to the faces, which I might not have even noticed if there weren’t a bunch of panels that were entirely headshots (the most egregious one being a repeated panel of Eclipso laughing that shows up twice).
Recommended If
- You want to turn off your brain and enjoy an old-fashioned superhero story.
- You heard about the old JLA/JSA teamups and wanted to read a modern rendition.
- You like cool stuff happening.
Overall
I wanted to like this more than I did, but I just couldn’t bring myself to leap past the plot holes. And once you fall into one of them, well it's hard to stop falling. The characters take actions that seem convenient for the story to happen and any hero not named Superman, Batman, or Robin feels replaceable.
Score: 5/10
