Review — Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #20 — Thy Will Be Done

Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #20 cover, via DC Comics.

Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #20 — Mark Waid, Writer; Dan Mora, Artist; Tamra Bonvillain, Colorist

Ray — 9/10

Ray: After a brief diversion to retell the story of Superman and Batman’s first meeting, the original creative team reunites to pick up on one of the biggest loose ends of this series — the sad tale of Boy Thunder, Superman’s lost sidekick. He was lost in the multiverse, destination unknown — until Barry Allen discovered him while mapping the Multiverse, but also saw evidence of great danger. After tracking down Superman and Batman, the two heroes decide they’re going to take a risky jaunt into the Multiverse to find the world the boy got stuck on. As we know, that’s the Kingdom Come world, because David is destined to become the antihero Magog one day. And in a creepy twist, the heroes arrive on the right world, but at the wrong time, and find a world where just about all the heroes have been wiped out besides Magog and their older counterparts — setting the stakes high right at the start.

The search. Via DC Comics.
Normally, revisiting iconic Elseworlds long after the fact is a controversial proposition, but it’s really hard to argue when Mark Waid is the mastermind behind the original Kingdom Come along with Alex Ross, so seeing this world again with this writer feels like coming home. There are some great callbacks to the original story, like Batman’s order at Planet Krypton (and the entire kitschy theme restaurant concept). While there is some humor here, there’s a sense of tension over everything as they search for David and ultimately find him as a young man, now a full-fledged hero — albeit one who uses some surprisingly brutal tactics against villains, even low-level ones. The twist at the ending is predictable, but still delivers the tense cliffhanger we’re looking for. Overall, it’s a great return to an iconic world that gives Waid the long-awaited chance to tell the next chapter of his epic.

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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.