Worlds' Finest #29 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Paul Levitz
Art By: Jed Dougherty
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: December 10, 2014

Wasting My Time

As I'm writing this, Worlds' Finest has already been cancelled, so I really doubt that anyone is interested in this title anymore......... That's the way it usually goes at least.  It's no shock to me that this is one of the titles being cancelled, it's a shock to me that it actually got this far.  During the days of Power Girl and Huntress I was all excited to read this thinking that it would be a great heroine team up that would be different than anything else in the New 52.......... What I got though, I realized as the series went on was less of a superhero story and more of an excuse to get Power Girl naked and show how bumbling Huntress is at her superheroics.  That's not the series I wanted to read!  Now though, we have Red Tornado telling us the early days of Batman and Superman of Earth 2 and for the most part, there isn't really anything to give a shit about.  This will be the third part of a story simply showing us that a being from Apokolips wants to bring Superman over to the Darkseid and that there's a prophecy that one day Superman and Batman will oppose Apokolips............. Since we already know the outcome though, it really isn't that interesting.  Okay let me get into this and Explain It! up as we run down the clock for this series.



Explain It!:

Hopefully you know the drill by now for this new direction to the series.  Shit has totally gone sideways on Earth 2 and Red Tornado (Lois Lane) is recording stories for a future generation that may or may not someday exist.  Now last issue we saw when Wonder Woman protected a young Bruce and a young Clark from death and kidnapping so that they could one day become the prophesied heroes they were supposed to be......... I say supposed to be because while they did end the big assault on the planet, the boys had no stamina and couldn't hold it together for a round two.  Let's see how things go down while Batman is chasing Catwoman and Superman is hearing about how Wonder Woman doesn't need no man.

Red Tornado tells us this month about how she was investigating Batman back in the day and for some reason she was doing it in Metropolis and has the weirdest luck in the world because on this night Batman happened to be there chasing after Catwoman, who had some sticky fingers when it came to some baddie's jewels.  So obviously Batman comes in because................ He's Batman and Catwoman escapes to the rooftops where our hero chases her down and Lois Lane chases Batman from the streets.  If this doesn't sound exciting, don't worry it's not just you.

Meanwhile, Superman is out in space trying to stop a probe from coming to Earth that he initially believes might be a relic from Krypton, but one look and the readers should know that this machine is pure Apokolips.  After getting his ass zapped and getting to know what pain feels like, Superman and the probe crash land to Earth right on Amazonia and we see that Wonder Woman no longer recognizes the small boy she saved years ago when she has a sword pressed against Superman's neck.  Now I'm not sure if all weapons on Amazonia are magical or not, but this sword definitely is because it cut Clark enough that we see a trickle of blood come down.  Now while you might think that this part is getting interesting, don't worry the fun is completely sucked out of it when all that happens is Superman is told to leave and the Amazons take the probe Superman was chasing for themselves, which he later goes back and steals but we never see.  So yeah, nothing fun.  Wonder Woman doesn't recognize Clark and Clark has a faint recollection as if she was from a dream.  Bah.

Back in Metropolis, Batman is still chasing Catwoman who does a damn fine job of evading the Caped Crusader until his big blue boy scout buddy shows up and grabs her............ Not like that, keep your minds out of the gutter!  So you know how I told you that Catwoman stole some jewels and that Batman was chasing after her?  Well it turns out that Catwoman stole her own jewels back from the thieves that took them and Batman was chasing her around................. Because it was fun?  I don't know, so Catwoman runs off and we see that she knows who Batman is and Batman knows who she is and this was all some kind of foreplay.  So that was pretty much strange and pointless.

Now that Batman isn't distracted, Superman has him look at the alien probe he found, but the Mr. Wizard session of the book is put on hold when we see a boom tube open and we get the third appearance of the Apokoliptean: Intri, who has come for the probe and for Superman if he's willing to go.  Well obviously there's a fight and now that Superman is........... well Superman, he's able to show her what he thinks about her offer.

In the end, Intri knowing she didn't stand a chance, takes the probe and goes back to Apokolips and Superman broods on top of the Daily Star building waiting for Lois to get off of work so he can tell her how his day went.

That's it for this issue of Worlds' Finest and like the header says, it really feels like I'm wasting my time here.  Every chance Paul Levitz had here to make the story interesting, it seems he decided to take it the opposite direction with the exception to when Intri showed up but I was interested the first time I saw it two issues ago.  It happens each issue and at this point I just find myself not caring because I know the outcome to the story already.  Now if this was maybe a story about Batman and Superman of Earth 2 that wasn't related to the Apokolips War, I'd probably be into it, but none of that is here.  Obviously I didn't like the story much but the art on the other hand is something different.  Here we have Jed Dougherty giving us a almost retro feeling to this comic and even though it seems strange, I kind of dig it.  While at some points it lacks detail, it really just feels like a Golden Age comic and because of the style I can't fault the art for it.  So while it's not a style I would normally go for, it felt right here and I really enjoyed it.  Make sure you're back next month when we continue this story line and hopefully see something a little different than this issue's story and a whole lot more exciting.  See you then.

Bits and Pieces:

Even with the shift in direction to this title, it feels like it can't help but be a waste of time to the reader.  For this story arc we're jumping into different points in the lives of Batman and Superman of Earth 2 that led to the events of the Apokolips War and while that might initially sound interesting, the outcome is anything but.  This title was just announced to be cancelled and since we already know the outcome to these two character's stories, I really don't see the point in reading them anymore.

4/10