{"id":7901,"date":"2012-02-04T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2012-02-04T08:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=7901"},"modified":"2012-02-01T15:18:35","modified_gmt":"2012-02-01T15:18:35","slug":"showcase-presents-worlds-finest-volume-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2012\/02\/04\/showcase-presents-worlds-finest-volume-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Showcase Presents World’s Finest volume 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Jerry Coleman<\/strong>, Bill Finger<\/strong>, Edmond Hamilton<\/strong>, Jim Mooney<\/strong>, Curt Swan<\/strong>, Dick Sprang <\/strong>& various (DC Comics)
\nISBN: 978-1-84856-053-6<\/p>\n

For decades Superman<\/strong> and Batman<\/strong> were the quintessential superhero partners: the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153World’s Finest\u00e2\u20ac\u009d team. They were friends as well as colleagues and the pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes could cross-pollinate and cross-sell their combined readerships.<\/p>\n

This most inevitable of Paladin Pairings first occurred on the Superman<\/strong> radio show in the early 1940s, whilst in comics the pair had only briefly met whilst on a Justice Society of America adventure in All-Star Comics<\/strong> #36 (August-September 1947) – and perhaps even there they missed each other in the gaudy hubbub\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Of course they had shared the covers on World’s Finest Comics<\/strong> from the outset, but never crossed paths inside; sticking firmly to their specified solo adventures within. However once that Rubicon was crossed thanks to spiralling costs and dwindling page-counts the industry never looked back\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This second blockbusting black and white chronicle gathers their cataclysmic collaborations from World’s Finest Comics<\/strong> #112-145, spanning September 1960 to November 1964, just as the entire planet was about to go superhero crazy and especially Batman mad\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Issue #112 by Jerry Coleman, Dick Sprang & Sheldon Moldoff featured a unique and tragic warning in ‘The Menace of Superman’s Pet’<\/em> as a phenomenally cute teddy bear from space proved to be an unbelievably dangerous menace and unforgettable true friend. Bring tissues you big baby\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

In an era when disturbing menace was frowned upon, many tales featured intellectual dilemmas and unavoidable pests. Both Gotham Guardian and Man of Steel had their own magical 5th<\/sup> dimensional gadflies and it was therefore only a matter of time until ‘Bat-Mite Meets Mr. Mxyzptlk’<\/em> in a madcap duel to see whose hero was best\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 with America caught in the metamorphic middle.<\/p>\n

WF<\/strong> #114 found Superman, Batman and Robin shanghaied to the distant world of Zoron as ‘Captives of the Space Globes’<\/em> where their abilities were reversed but justice was still served in the end, after which ‘The Curse that Doomed Superman’<\/em> saw the Action Ace consistently outfoxed by a scurrilous Swami with Batman helpless to assist him\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Curt Swan & Stan Kaye illustrated #116’s thrilling monster mash ‘The Creature From Beyond’<\/em> as a criminal alien out-powered Superman whilst concealing an incredible secret, and all the formula bases were covered as Lex Luthor used ‘Super-Batwoman and the Super-Creature’ <\/em>to execute his most sinister scheme against the World’s Finest heroes.<\/p>\n

In #118 Sprang & Moldoff illustrated ‘The Creature that was Exchanged for Superman’<\/em> as the Man of Tomorrow was hijacked to another world so that a transplanted monster could undertake a sinister search and leaving the Dynamic Duo to fight a desperate holding action whilst ‘The Secret of Tigerman’ <\/em>in #119 (and inked by Stan Kaye) found a dashing new hero in charge as the valiant trio attempted to outwit a sinister new criminal mastermind.<\/p>\n

Veteran artist Jim Mooney began illustrating Coleman’s scripts in #120 starting with ‘The Challenge of the Faceless Creatures’ <\/em>as amorphous monsters repeatedly siphoned off Superman’s powers for nefarious purposes after which the Gotham Gangbuster was eerily transformed into a destructive horror in the trans-dimensional thriller ‘The Mirror Batman’<\/em> and #122 (inked by Kaye) saw an alien lawman cause a seeming betrayal by the Dark Knight, leading to ‘The Capture of Superman’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Zany frustration and magical pranks were the order of the day in #123 as ‘The Incredible Team of Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk’<\/em> (Sprang & Moldoff) returned to again determine whose hero was greatest, whilst ‘The Mystery of the Alien Super-Boy’<\/em> (#124, illustrated by Swan & Moldoff) pitted the heroes against a titanic teenager with awesome powers and a deadly hidden agenda whilst ‘The Hostages of the Island of Doom’<\/em> (Mooney & John Forte) saw Batman & Robin used as pawns to compel Superman’s assistance in a fantastic criminal’s play for ultimate power\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Luthor’s eternal vendetta inadvertently created an immensely destructive threat in ‘The Negative Superman’<\/em> (#126, scripted by Ed Herron for Mooney & Moldoff) which stretched Batman and Robin’s ingenuity to the limit before ‘The Sorcerer From the Stars’<\/em> (by Coleman) challenged the heroes to stop his plundering of Earth’s mystic secrets whilst ‘The Power that Transformed Batman’<\/em> (#128, Coleman & Mooney) temporarily made the Caped Crusader an unstoppable menace.<\/p>\n

Dave Wood, Mooney & Moldoff pitted the World’s Finest team against their greatest enemies in #129’s ‘Joker-Luthor, Incorporated!’<\/em> whilst Coleman & Mooney posed an intergalactic puzzle with devastating consequences for the heroes in ‘Riddle of the Four Planets!’<\/em> and Bill Finger, Sprang & Moldoff presented a stirring action thriller when the team inexplicably added a surplus and incompetent fourth hero to the partnership in ‘The Mystery of the Crimson Avenger’<\/em> from #131.<\/p>\n

With Finger the new regular scripter, tense mysteries played a stronger part in the dramas, such as when Superman was forced to travel back in time to rescue ‘Batman and Robin, Medieval Bandits’<\/em> (art by Mooney) and clear their names of historical ignominy, whilst #133 found ‘The Beasts of the Supernatural’<\/em> (Mooney & Moldoff) leeching the Man of Steel’s power and the Gotham Guardians hard-pressed to fool the mastermind behind the attacks after which the heroes battled for their lives against an alien dictator and ‘The Band of Super-Villains’<\/em> (Mooney)<\/p>\n

World’s Finest Comics<\/strong> #135 (August 1963, inked by Moldoff) was Dick Sprang’s last pencil job on the series and a great swansong as ‘Menace of the Future Man’<\/em> saw the heroes valiantly and vainly battling a time-tossed foe who knew their every tactic and secret, after which ‘The Batman Nobody Remembered’<\/em> (Mooney & Moldoff) offered a paranoid nightmare wherein the Dark Detective faced a hostile world which thought him mad, whilst ‘Superman’s Secret Master!’<\/em> (#137, Finger & Mooney) seemingly turned the Action Ace into a servant of crime until Batman deduced the true state of affairs\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Finger bowed out in #138 with ‘Secret of the Captive Cavemen’ <\/em>as an alien spy’s suicide led the heroes back 50,000 years to stop a plot to conquer Earth after which Dave Wood provided an eerie sci fi thriller in ‘The Ghost of Batman’<\/em> (Mooney & Moldoff) and a classic clash of powers in #140’s ‘The Clayface Superman!’<\/em> (Mooney) as the shape-shifting bandit duplicated the Metropolis Marvel’s unstoppable abilities\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

A new era dawned in World’s Finest Comics<\/strong> #141 (May 1964) as author Edmond Hamilton and artists Curt Swan & George Klein <\/em>ushered in a more realistic and less whimsical tone in ‘The Olsen-Robin Team vs. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the Superman-Batman Team!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d’<\/em> wherein the junior partners rebelled and set up their own crime-fighting enterprise: however there was a hidden meaning to their increasingly wild escapades\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

In #142 an embittered janitor suddenly gained all the powers of the Legion of Super-Heroes and attacked the heroes out of frustration and jealousy in ‘The Composite Superman!’<\/em> after which the Dark Knight suffered a near fatal wound and nervous breakdown in ‘The Feud Between Batman and Superman!’<\/em> a condition cured only after a deadly and disastrous recuperative trip to the Bottle City of Kandor.<\/p>\n

Super-villains were becoming more popular and #144 highlighted two of the worst when ‘The 1,000 Tricks of Clayface and Brainiac!’<\/em> almost destroyed the World’s Finest team forever and this stellar second collection ends on an enthralling high note when Batman was press-ganged to an alien ‘Prison For Heroes!’<\/em>: not as a cell-mate for Superman and other interplanetary champions, but as their sadistic jailer\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

These are gloriously clever yet uncomplicated tales whose dazzling style has returned to inform if not dictate the form for much of DC’s modern television animation – especially the fabulous Batman: the Brave and the Bold <\/strong>series – and the contents of this tome are a veritable feast of witty, charming thrillers packing as much punch and wonder now as they always have.
\n\u00c2\u00a9 1960-1964, 2008 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jerry Coleman, Bill Finger, Edmond Hamilton, Jim Mooney, Curt Swan, Dick Sprang & various (DC Comics) ISBN: 978-1-84856-053-6 For decades Superman and Batman were the quintessential superhero partners: the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153World’s Finest\u00e2\u20ac\u009d team. They were friends as well as colleagues and the pairing made sound financial sense since DC’s top heroes could cross-pollinate and cross-sell … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Showcase Presents World’s Finest volume 2”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,76,97,43,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-batman","category-dc-superhero","category-kids-all-ages","category-showcase-presents","category-superman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-23r","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}