Single Issue Bliss

Occasionally I'll write an entry about a single comic issue that I found you can read without having ANY previous knowledge of continuity, and still gain a satisfactory experience with.  ... The only minus about that plan is that pretty much any comic from the last 10 or so years is automatically excluded from that category.  (We live in trade paperback times, my friends.  Bleh.)  So these books will be on the "older" side of things, but I will promise you that you can find my featured issues relatively easy, and without breaking your bank account to find them!  Because one positive thing about the times we live in: online auction sites are our friends.  So without further pause, let's discuss today's anniversary SPECTACULARRR!

"World's Finest #271" was a break from the normal "Dollar Comics" formula of presenting the reader with an anthology of stories of different characters.  To mark 200 issues of the Superman/Batman team, Roy Thomas crafted a double-sized bash that not only told a brand new tale, BUT also crammed... Every. Single... origin story of the World's Finest team into one narrative.  As if that wasn't a treat enough, you get some killer artwork Rich Buckler for the occasion!  So... what tale could justify such a rich history, double the length, and the participation of a blazing star of an artist?

Superman keeps having nightmares about a guy he supposedly never met called Atoman, who can shoot Kryptonite rays from his hands.  Stirring from his troubled sleep, he turns on the tube, and finds a news report about a fire in Gotham City, with Batman on site to lend assistance.  Of course, Supes being who he is, decides that while Batman is rather gallant, Superman is actually rather useful in a fire situation.  (What I wouldn't have given for Clark's television's first broadcast to be an episode of USA's "Up All Night".  He could've caught "Student Bodies"!)  Fire fought, the collected duo, and firemen, discover a metal coffin under the fire site, bearing the Atoman symbol on the lid.  Coffin explodes, Atoman awakes, and in the words of the People's Champ, the Rock, he layeths the smackdown on Batman and Superman.  While recovering, they basically try to put together the pieces of what just happened, and how it ties into their team-up past.  Because while Superman knows no Atoman, his costume looks a LOT like a robot fake-out he made to ward off Batman and Robin from a case called Power-Man.  (Luke Cage should've nipped that in the bud...)

The weird thing about Atoman is he keeps referring to landmarks that would exist in the 40's, and that he insists he and Superman fought during World War 2.  (I smell Earth 2 involvement...)  But to cut to the heart of the matter, after a lot of history is recounted for us readers, and for our heroes put together the pieces, Atoman makes a public challenge to Superman to duke it out in an arena... TO THE DEATH.  Oh yeah... and if the "Boy Scout" doesn't agree to the fight, Metropolis is screwed.  Royally.  This all leads to the big duke-a-roo, and to avoid spoilers too much, I'll just say remember my other Earth tease, and you can see how this conflict shapes up, and how it ties to Atoman's memories.  (Oh, before I forget, Atoman also is a Nazi, so we get our standard comic book German speak for his dialogues!  If it weren't for comic books, I would never have learned the German I know that would probably be bound to get my butt kicked if I were to ever converse with the citizenry of that nation.)

I think for this approach to the issue, I'll tackle the pros and cons on a bullet point basis.  And to be fair... and not completely DC-biased... I'll showcase the cons, first:

• This comic is DENSE.  It's thick with about 40-years of team up history, and Roy Thomas is not shy about word usage.  So if you're not aware, even being a comic book reader "pro", you may be reading this issue at about double the time you would a normal comic of any era.
• Speaking of the flashbacks, I could say that they do overwhelm the story.  I should have taken an actual count of page ratios dedicated to current-time material to the flashback material.  So the current time story does play backseat driver to the story.
• One REAL big gripe I have, especially with the thick history of the book, is that the fight sequences feel the pinch!  With such a dynamic artist like Buckler, we could've seen a hell of a showdown between the World's Finest team and Atoman, but it feels like in certain sequences, we only get smatterings of a greater conflict.
• And who the hell decided to stick Steve Lombard in my World's Finest issue?  Grr!  Jerk!

But now for the positives!

• This comic is DENSE.  I know I mentioned that as a "con", but there are times where I really want my comic reading experience to last more than 10 minutes.  And in today's world where books are dialogued so lightly, and it feels like 14 pages out of a 20 page book are devoted to entire page splashes, I find comfort in a weighty read.
• Roy Thomas, for all his flashbacking, DID manage to tie in all of the then-current origin stories of the World's Finest team together in a chronological fashion that makes sense.  He even managed to include the radio show origin of the team-up!
• Atoman does provide a genuine threat to our team.  He isn't just some one-off "jobber" showing up for the anniversary; the character is revealed to have some ties to multiple versions of Superman's history.  And he can't be brushed off so easily by just beating the tar out of him.  If it wasn't for a handy trick Superman figures out towards the end of the story, I imagine things could've gone a lot more disappointingly for our heroes.
• Did I mention the artwork, yet?  Rich Buckler is one of my absolute favorite Bronze Age artists.  And you get a whole super-sized issue of his stuff!  The only way this book could have been more divine was if either Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez or George Perez provided the artwork.  But with Buckler, you still cannot fail.

Equal amounts pros and cons, I know, but my pros are FAR more impassioned than my cons, which are probably more nitpicks than anything else.  So I highly recommend to the blog readers; if you enjoy a solid DC story featuring Superman and Batman... together in ONE TALE... you should see to treating yourself to a solid single issue sense of bliss with "World's Finest #271"! 

(And also admire the back-cover's "Daily Planet" feature talking about upcoming titles.  Man... a "Superman" tabloid, and the first issue of "All-Star Squadron"...  Sweet times!)