Wednesday 16 May 2012

Review: Worlds' Finest #1

Having had to wait two weeks for my local store to get in some new stock, I was finally able to pick up the first issue of Worlds' Finest, one of DC's second wave in the new 52 focusing on Power Girl and Huntress, two heroes who are trapped on Earth 1 after an accident stranded them from Earth 2 (Doesn't make sense, but don't worry, just think alternate dimension and you have it).
The story picks up in present day Tokyo with Huntress (who is the same Huntress from the Penguin: Pain and Prejudice mini-series apparently) and Power Girl (real name Karen Starr, the same Karen Starr who guest appeared in Mr Terrific) discussing their current predicament (and dumping a huge chunk of disposition in the process). Moving on to check out a nearby lab Power girl has bought (She's mega rich in this), our intrepid heroines find the lab on fire and the valuable technology inside (which "could" send them home) under threat of destruction by possible deliberate means.
This book is a very information heavy first issue, but fortunately veteran writer Paul Levitz still manages to bring together an intriguing yarn. While intercutting between the past and present, Levitz manages to give us just enough knowledge to allow everyone to know what's going on while at the same time moving the story along at a good pace to keep the reader invested. The art by legend George Perez is equally engaging, with Perez's pencils bringing out the beauty of the characters and their surroundings. Perez's recent writing turn on Superman wasn't something I really enjoyed, but here it's good to know that his art is still as strong as ever.
While this book is indeed very strong in storytelling, it does have one major flaw: It's too dependent on the goings on in other books. During the 20 pages of this book, sister book Earth Two is referenced directly twice while, as stated earlier, Mr Terrific and the Penguin mini-series are mentioned in passing. While I have no problem with interconnecting books, making this book so reliant on others so early on makes it a little daunting to read as it has so much history to it.
Despite this, Worlds' Finest has had a good start out of the gate and, despite some faltering, has the potential to go the distance. I'm intrigued to see what happens next.

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