The Batman/Superman title may have been canceled but DC Comics has given us one more bite at the apple with the Batman/Superman Authority Special #1 which came out last week.
I suppose it serves any number of purposes. The Warworld Saga is about to start in the pages of Action Comics and this acts as a bit of an hors d'oeuvre for that. With Batman prominently displayed on the cover, I bet DC is hoping fans of the Dark Knight might pick this up and get intrigued with the Warworld arc and head over. The Superman and the Authority mini series also just wrapped up. While that seemed very trippy and self-contained, it did indeed lead here. So maybe DC is also hoping that folks who enjoyed that title and are mulling over reading Action Comics might also give this a try and get hooked.
But specials like this usually don't figure into the main plots they are teasing in a major way. So as a stand alone story, they better be worth it. Luckily, this one fits the bill. Outside of one significant 'how did that happen' moment at the end, this is a pretty interesting tale which hints at being a prologue of its own.
Writer Philip Kennedy Johnson has already shown a deft touch for creating potential families for major characters having given us the House of El lineage. Here he gives us the Dark Universe evil progeny of a major DC character that needs to be foiled by the World's Finest and the Authority. This plot grabbed me more than I thought it would. (I have avoided Metal and Dark Universe stuff as much as I can.) In particular, the Batman and Midnighter moments stand out.
And given this is a story told in two universe, we have two very different artists. Ben Templesmith brings his unusual style to the Dark Universe proceedings with a nice dark palette of murky colors. Trevor Hairsine does the work in the main universe. The contrast works very well.
On to the particulars.
