"World's Finest" is an idea that DC started way back in 1941. It typically involved a team-up between Superman and Batman. As you know, Superman is off planet on New Krypton and Batman...well we know that Bruce is lost somewhere in time and Dick Grayson is filling in for him. The question may be, how can DC put out a new World's Finest mini-series when the key characters are not available to appear.
In order to keep this comic relevant, DC has gone in the direction of teaming up a member of the Bat-family along with someone from the Superman-family. It's a great idea. We already have Superman/Batman still going on. We have the potential here to see team-ups between characters that may not have worked together before.
Sterling Gates does a good job of setting this team-up. The tricky part would be to pair up Tim Drake and Chris Kent without making it feel forced, just for the sake of this issue. We know Tim is off running around the world in search of Bruce. It makes sense that a Kryptonian would be able to find him. It also makes sense that Chris would seek Tim out to help him in his time of need. With Superman off planet and Batman...elsewhere, there really isn't anyone else Chris could turn to. Despite liking this idea, the story felt like it left me wanting a little more. The story is nicely wrapped up here and it just felt like the 'battle' happened too fast. Also while I'm intrigued with Tim's new journey and Chris' continued development, the two together simply doesn't get me super-excited. It's an interesting pairing but not one that I would be running around telling everyone about.
Julian Lopez's art is good here. Tim is looking more and more like Bruce in the Batman cowl (minus the pointy ears). Nightwing looks cool in his suit and Penguin looks spooky. I also liked the cover by Phil Noto. It's almost a simple design but having Red Robin centered among a green background with Kryptonite Man at the bottom made the book stand out on the shelf to me at the comic store.
My rating may not have been super-high but it's still a good book. I think there is potential in this mini-series. There's also the fact that DC (and Marvel) put out a bunch of books this week. Perhaps if it had been released the previous week, I might've gotten more into it? If you're a fan of Tim Drake/Red Robin, you'll want to pick this up to see him in action. Will he be able to take on the Kryptonite Man?
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