Batman/Superman World's Finest #40 came out last week and followed the pattern that Mark Waid has established since the beginning of the title. When an arc gets filled, we get a done-in-one story to sort of cleanse the palate.
Waid has been pretty vocal with his politics and this issue he decides to poke fun at the alt-right or toxically masculine podcasters out there. I don't pay much attention to those people in real life, so I feel that the look of the podcaster in this issue is based on someone real. And the story is pretty simple, to grab some clicks the streamer drums up a confrontation and gets a comeuppance. It is pretty simple stuff.
Honestly, I could take or leave the plot driving the issue. But, as usual, Waid has a complete command of the characters and inserts wonderful moments highlighting each one in a memorable way. It is those scenes that kept me invested.
Adrian Gutierrez is back on art and does a great job with a kaiju vs mecha fight in the city as well as those up close moments. He is a great fit for the book and glad he is back.
The first page of the book is a giant Bat-mecha fighting a kaiju with Superman in the background. But it is the background 'BATMAN!' that just kicks it up a notch.
This also reminded me of old comics where the first page was often a sort of second cover, previewing what the story was inside.
But I do love this moment where Bruce makes a pass at Lois solely to irk Clark. I love Clark's ticked-off glare. But it's Bruce's smirk that sells it. Great work by Gutierrez.
This was, without a doubt, my favorite moment in the book. It shows what great friends they are. Bruce knows he can tease. Just perfect.
We cut to the podcast where you see the host, belittling his guests as 'old' and just jabbing to try and get a response.
The best part is Perry's anger. The page before he told Gordon that no matter what, he couldn't let Rotsler rile the Commissioner. Then he himself get riled.
But again, Gutierrez adds so much. Look at the body language of Rotsler. He seems like a punk.
Leave it to Lois. She won't be stopped by a locked door when a story is unfolding. Her escape means the heroes can go. Wonderful Lois moment. My second favorite moment.
Solid art here to with that kick coming right at us!
Rotsler doesn't seem surprised leading Gordon to be suspicious.
It was cool to see Gordon using his police skills here.
The game is afoot.
They discover that the artist works on the show.
Again, there is the disparaging of adults by today's youth. This man says that he and Rotsler don't need to listen to 'fossils' telling them what to do.
When the artist gets taken out, the monster dissipates.
Then the truth comes out. Rotsler wanted the monster to attack on air to get more publicity and clicks. (I guess he was manufacturing fake news?)
And he assumed that everything would be okay because 'Superman would save everyone'. That sort of assumption irks our heroes, Superman especially. He looks both shocked and angry. Nice artwork.
Of course, what if Superman was somewhere else? Or couldn't save everyone? A drummed up catastrophe is horrific.
So I don't know if I need a story about 'dude-bro' podcasters being smarmy and inciting (Kaiju) violence. But it was punctuated by excellent art and some fun character moments. That Bruce smirk probably kicked this up a notch.
Overall grade: B
No comments:
Post a Comment