World's Finest #20 Review

Team-Up time!

Continuing on from this week’s Batman/Superman #8, we find the four heroes dealing with the aftermath of Power Girl’s excess discharge, which caught a willing Superman in its path.

The dynamics of the previous issue aren’t forgotten, and we see them play out in this issue as well. Power Girl though is in the limelight this issue, as we see her thoughts on what has just transpired.

Paul Levitz and Greg Pak make a stumble in the apparent villains department, but otherwise it’s a very good read. RB Silva’s pencils need work though, especially on Superman’s face.

SPOILERS FOLLOW………………

Following last issue, Power Girl and Superman both fall through the air knocked out. Batman is able to secure them in a safety net as Superman’s body starts to glow brightly.

We get some amusing banter from Huntress and Batman though as she compares him with her deceased father on Earth 2.

Power Girl awakens and tells the two to get clear until Superman discharges his excess energy, but Batman brings out the Kryptonite ring from Justice League and balances Superman’s powers until the glow subsides.

Batman and Power Girl leave, while Huntress tries to get a powerless Superman to get up.  As she spies someone heading their way, Helena pushes Kal behind some rocks and then takes out the attacker, who claims to be from New Gamorra (sounds like Genosha, sigh).

At New Gamorra, Batman and Power Girl argue about Batman’s ‘I’ll be the brain, you’ll be brawn’ strategy, and this leaves Bruce impressed by Karen’s disciplined nature.

Karen looks inside and finds that it is apparently the twin of her deceased boyfriend who is operating there. Hopeful in his promises of seeing Earth 2 again, Karen collaborates with him to open a portal using her genetic makeup.

Elsewhere, Clark and Helena do an undercover mission of their own as they try to gain access to New Gamorra.  As the portal to Earth 2 opens, Power Girl grows suspicious of Kaizen’s motives. Batman arrives just in time to see Karen take on what Kaizen calls ‘the army of Gamorra’.

While I’m still delighted to see the banter between the four heroes, as I suspected, the power problem has resulted in what seems to be a very bland villain. Though the Earth 2 portal is an important development given Karen and Helena have been searching for a way back since World’s Finest #1, Kaizen Gamorra is proving to be a nuisance to the reader as well as the heroes.

SPOILERS END………………….

While the interactions remain good, the scenes with the villain of the piece have been the weakest this arc, and detract from an otherwise well written script.

The art is competent enough, though the faces are still a problem. The development in the final pages (no matter the mediocre writing surrounding it) is interesting though.

So, I give it 7.5 out of 10

+Some great banter between the heroes

+Art is good enough

-Plot falls off in the final pages

-The villain of the piece is bland