In Review: Batman/Superman: World’s Finest (2022-) #1

Synopsis: In Batman/Superman: Worlds Finest.  In the not-too-distant past, Superman’s powers are super-charged from a devastating chemical attack by the villain Metallo…and the only ally that the ultra-powerful Man of Tomorrow can turn to in this turbulent hour is Gotham’s own dark vengeance: the Batman. A nearly fatal burst of power drives Bruce Wayne to his own extreme measures to help his friend…

The Story

While helping fight Poison Ivy in Metropolis Superman has a run-in with Metallo which ends with him being infected by multiple doses of Red Kryptonite. The end result is a supercharged Superman who has lost his sense of reason. Batman and Robin who are there to back up Superman struggle to contain the Man of Steel. Thankfully they get some help from The Doom Patrol who helps them to contain the son of Krypton.

The Artwork

 Dan Mora who also did the cover art delivers some fantastic pages for this opening issue. If you like lots of action beats in your comics. Then this opening issue is a must-have. The panels in which Superman gets his butt handed to him by Metallo are brilliantly done. I really loved the panels a little later on when The Doom Patrol turn up to lend a hand. I particularly enjoyed the parts where Superman was being hit by so much energy that we could see his skeleton. 

Mora’s art gets some added pop thanks to some great color work from Tamra Bonvillain.

Overall

Mark Waid delivers a fantastic first issue. I’m always up for seeing Superman get savagely beaten up. But for me, it is the addition of The Doom Patrol that really makes this book. Waid makes brilliant use of Negative Man’s powers in order to help Batman contain an out-of-control Superman. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next issue.