World's Finest #17 - A Review

I fear my patience with World's Finest has finally worn out.  Generally, I've enjoyed this book and I've found Paul Levitz's take on Huntress and Power Girl to be enjoyable.  I've especially liked how he made an effort to include small moments that revealed the characters in each issue, showing the character's personalities outside of their lives as superheroes.  


That being said, it's become apparent that Levitz is being forced to tread water while DC Editorial figures out exactly what it wants to do with these characters in the grand scheme of either Earth 1 or Earth 2.  Why else would the on-going plot of Power Girl's quest to get home be neutralized in favor of her randomly losing her powers while Huntress suddenly becomes obsessed with a super-powered killer who is targeting fashion shows?  Even with part of this story taking place inside of the villain's mind, we're still no clearer on her motives and the whole affair feels very repetitive after last month.


The artwork is a larger issue.  To be quite blunt, Scott McDaniel and R.B. Silva are completely incompatible as artistic partners.  McDaniel's sketchy style is an acquired taste and while his work looks quite good in close-ups, it loses all charm and detail in the mid-range and long-range.  Silva is a good detail-oriented artist, but his strengths lie in depicting rounded, cartoonish figures.  For him to try and ape McDaniel's more angular style is a disservice to them both. 

World's Finest #16 - A Review

World's Finest #16 offers more of the same high-quality superhero action readers have come to expect from this title.  Trapped once more on Earth One following their battle with the villain Desadd last issue, our heroines are reacting quite differently to their missed chance to leap home.  Helena "Huntress" Wayne elects to throw herself into her work and an investigation of a mysterious arsonist targeting fashion shows.  Karen "Power Girl" Star, by contrast, is wallowing in self-pity - not only because of the missed homecoming but because the battle with Desadd has left her superpowers in a state of flux. 

Paul Levitz does a fine job of playing up Karen's loss without making her seem overly emotional.  It helps that Karen's reaction seems far more natural than Helena's mute acceptance of that which she can't control.  Then again, Helena's always been more of a cypher compared to Karen under Levitz's pen and her interest in returning to Earth Two was limited to begin with.


This title's biggest problem has always been its' artwork and a lack of consistency due to the continually rotating art teams.  That trend continues with yet another new team of artists that proves to be far less competent than the previous one.  Scott McDaniel has delivered quality work in the past and indeed his work with Chuck Dixon on Nightwing remains one of my favorite series of all time.  That being said, his breakdowns on this issue are sloppy and R.B. Silva is a poor choice for a finisher.  I liked Silva's work on Superboy but Silva's rounded, deliberate style is at odds with McDaniel's angular sketchy schtick.  The final product is odd to say the least! 


I fear World's Finest is a title adrift.  With the road to Earth Two closed, there is no long-term goal for its' characters nor is their ultimately a point other than heroism for heroism's sake.  That is not necessarily a bad thing given how rare it is to see honestly heroic characters in modern superhero books.  Yet one senses this divide is the one of the few things preventing this book from being a great title rather than a merely good one.  A consistent art team couldn't hurt, either! 

Superboy #1 - A Review

The biggest problem with Superboy #1 is that it really isn’t about Superboy – it’s about the organization that created him and the people who want to exploit him.

Meet NOWHERE – a mysterious group of scientists (my, but there seem to be a lot more of those in this New DCU) who have created a clone using a mix of Superman DNA and an anonymous human donor. Most of the issue is told from the perspective of this so-called Superboy, who absorbs knowledge easily and remembers things without knowing how he learned them. He starts out in a tank, unresponsive to outside stimuli until the scientists try to kill him at which point he is moved into a VR simulation of small-town Kansas based on the memories of his “parents”. Despite showing a complete lack of empathy, the Powers That Be are anxious to put Superboy to work at some sinister yet undefined purpose. Meanwhile, a mole inside NOWHERE feeds information to reporter Lois Lane about the sinister goings on.

This script by Scott Lobdell reads more like a #0 Issue for his upcoming Teen Titans book than a Superboy comic, with everything leading up to a final splash-page depicting him standing alongside other teen superheroes. There is more focus upon Superboy’s doctor – a skinny redhead prodigy with glasses (figure that one out, comic fans!) and a security guard named Rose Wilson (no prize for guessing who she is) than there is on Superboy himself. This is not surprising given that, at present, Superboy is a cipher with the emotional maturity of a toddler, who can’t begin to understand the emotions his teenage body and implanted memories inspire. While the idea of telling part of the story from this perspective is an inspired idea, I’m afraid Lobdell can’t quite pull it off. Using the redhead Doctor who seems to have developed an attachment to Superboy as a focal point throughout might have been more effective, particularly if she is who I think she is… or will be.

Thankfully, the art by R.B. Silva and Rob Lean is all-around excellent. My one complaint is that some scenes seem posed and lifeless, with little organic flow to them. Still, all of the characters are distinctly designed and the line-work is particularly noteworthy: the inks aren’t too thick, yet the foreground figures are quite clearly separated from the background without any mess.

In the end, your tolerance for Superboy may come down to how big of a fan you are of Teen Titans or Scott Lobdell’s writing. The story here isn’t bad but there has to have been an easier way to streamline Superboy’s origins, staying true to what came before while utilizing the interpretation of the character from the Young Justice cartoon. Perhaps there will be a pay-off in the upcoming Teen Titans #1 that will make this worthwhile in the end. We can only hope.