BATMAN/SUPERMAN WORLD’S FINEST #5 DC COMICS
Now I have been praising this title since it started all those months ago. Mark Waid’s story has been inventive and well done. Dan Mora’s art has been splendid. But to be honest, I feel a little cheated at the ending. While I will give no spoilers here, as the lead up to the last page is ingenius, A tagged on epilogue is not only confusing but seems to be there only as a page ad for a new series called Batman VS Robin. It muttled the ending to the point where I had to confirm on line that there was an issue #6 coming out next month. Also was a bit annoyed by the ad for the Super-Pets movie blatantly tossed on the cover. For pity’s sake people, It’s a cityscape backround! No one thought to put the ad in a billboard or painted on the side of a building? C’mon guys, you’re supposed to be professionals. Because of these use of unnatural sales pitches (not the creative team’s fault) this one is dropping down to a 7 out of 10 Grahams.
DEFENDERS BEYOND #1 MARVEL COMICS
Al Ewing and Javier Rodriguez’s story is very interesting and begins quite well. Taking the final spell of Doctor Strange into the hands of the retroactively placed hero the Blue Marvel. But then the Marvel Age of movies takes over as alternate version Loki and America Chavez show up straight from Disney Plus. Follow that up with a visit from Galactus’s Mom (apparently because we haven’t gotten enough milage out of that character). And because we want to be as quirky as possible, we get some version of Tigra that I’m unfamiliar with. And again I’m left asking why was this series necessary? I was there when seemingly random crossovers in the original Hulk, Sub-Mariner, and Doctor Strange titles culminated in Marvel Feature #1 (1971). And I’ve sat through the years and years of this non-group filled up with more heroes than the Avengers line-up. This version vaguely reminds me of the Secret Defenders series for the early 1990’s. I give it a 6 out of 10 Grahams. 