In Review: Batman/Superman: World’s Finest (2022-) #5

Synopsis: THE FIRST ARC OF WORLD’S FINEST CONCLUDES WITH A SHOCKING FORESHADOWING OF DCU EVENTS TO COME! The sinister machinations of the devil Nezha have run-ragged the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight ever since he made his first terri fying debut in Detective Comics #1050…but what secrets does this villain hold for the future of the DCU? Clues abound for the next big DCU series in this climactic final chapter to the first arc of World’s Finest!

The Story

Picking up from where the last issue left off. Supergirl has returned to inform Batman, Superman, and all the other heroes that they can only defeat Nezha if one of them stays behind in the crypt with him. However, which one of them will stay? They only have so much time to decide before Nezha wakes up. However, Superman may have another way of defeating Nezha. But it’s risky.

Meanwhile, Supergirl is riddled with guilt over the fact that she wasn’t able to save Robin from falling into the time storm. And struggle to inform the other heroes about what happened.

Artwork

Dan Mora gets to have all sorts of fun with this issue as we see Nezha get one more decent scrap in before he is put back in his box. The pages where we see Superman fighting him in the phantom zone are awesome. As were the bits and pieces of action that led up to that.

I also loved how the artist nails Supergirl’s facial expressions when she is trying to tell the others about what happened to Robin.

Overall

I’ve really enjoyed this story arc and the old-school approach that Mark Waid and his team brought to it. I loved the time travel element to the story as well as the science versus magic element. Added to that the inclusion of The Doom Patrol really made for a nice touch. I particularly liked Rita’s reasoning when she offered to stay behind in the crypt with Nezha.

Overall. This was a lot of fun. And the next story arc in which the team will go after Robin already has me pretty excited at the possibilities.