Trapped on a parallel Earth, surrounded by heroes who believe they are imposters, Batman and Superman are confronted by Gog and his chief disciple, Thunderman. But they are about to learn the secret of Gog and what his plan is, and it is darker than they could have expected in Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #22, written by Mark Waid, drawn by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain and lettered by Steve Wands.
Batman must lead a prison break on the alien ship he is trapped on to keep from being shot out into space. Can the odd collection of allies he has collected, including a Tamaranean bounty hunter and a robot that just wants to be punched hard, work together to save the lives of all the ship’s prisoners? Batman: Off-World #2 is written by Jason Aaron, penciled by Doug Mahnke, inked by Jaime Mendoza, colored by David Baron and lettered by Troy Peteri.
Catwoman is planning to use one of her newly discovered nine lives to steal the biggest score of the cannibal killer and thief, Eduardo Flamingo. But to do it, she must make it not just past Flamingo, but an entire Theater of Death. Catwoman #60 is written by Tini Howard, drawn by Stefano Raffaele, colored by Veronica Gandini and lettered by Lucas Gattoni.
Matt Lazorwitz: So, listen, I am against the homogenizing and conglomeration of all media under one or two banners. It’s bad for art and artists. However, does the idea of a Warner/Paramount merger get my nerd blood pumping with the idea of seeing Batman sitting at the science station on the Enterprise? Yes, yes it does.
Will Nevin: The craziest thing about that potential merger and what we talk about here? I’m sure Trek comics would still be published over at IDW, *and* I’m positive we wouldn’t have a Next Generation ongoing.
But, yeah, Batman hashing something out with Spock would be the fuckin’ tits.
Kneel Before Gog!
Matt: This issue puts a lot of the pieces we’ve gotten so far in the arc into place. We learn the origin of Gog and exactly what his plan is. This is the densest issue of this arc so far, with plenty of exposition and backstory, but it’s illustrated so well, and Waid has such a good hand at this kind of thing that it doesn’t feel like it drags like books we’ve read for the podcast lately have.
Will: Hooboy, we’ve had some … winners … here lately. Let me ask you this as someone who both remembers more of his Kingdom Come and has read more of the other related books: Do you feel like this is adding something essential to that story? Or is it more tangential?
Matt: That’s a good question. I have talked often about how I don’t feel like every villain needs a tragic backstory or a motivation beyond them being a shitty person. And I’m sitting and reading this, what is the origin of Earth-22 Magog, and that is a character who was created to be fairly two dimensional; he was a satire of all the ’90s EXTREME heroes. So while there is room for that, I don’t think it’s essential. It is, though, better than “Thy Kingdom Come,” the sequel from Justice Society of America that introduced Gog and was co-written by Alex Ross and Geoff Johns.
Will: Alex Ross is a masterful artist. And that’s the best thing I think I can say about that writing pair. Woof.
Matt: And to allay any fears you may have, that story has no Batman in it, so you will never have to read it for any of our projects.
Of course, no story has to be essential to be good. We have read a lot of trifles that are enjoyable. And this is not a trifle. There is real emotion here, and a sweeping scope. But I think Kingdom Come, like Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen, is a seminal work that probably should just be left to be its own thing. The occasional nod to it is fine, like using a costume design from there or introducing one of the background characters into the main DC Universe, but going back to the story could easily have diminishing returns.
Will: You’re right in that Waid’s pacing helps, and we didn’t spend too much time with Earth-22 Superman and Batman kicking around their multiverse-traveling counterparts. It also helps that we got an explanation for why the former were seen kneeling in the last issue: Gog, it seems, has a way of manipulating even heroes into worshiping him.
Matt: That makes way more sense than Batman and Superman actually buying into his line. It makes me wonder if Kid Thunder/Thunderman/Magog is also being manipulated, or if he’s doing this because he’a true believer. I feel like he’s not being played, as he does show some doubt, which no one else seems to. But that’s a question to be answered. And while I don’t feel like we need to know Magog’s history, I do find the journey to learning it to be interesting.
Will: I agree with you there — and this also makes me want to reread Kingdom Come. All in all, I think that’s the best you could hope for with something like this, that it’s at least interesting and it makes you want to revisit the inspiration.
Matt: And just to say it, and yes I know it’s what we’ve said about every issue of this series he’s drawn, but Dan Mora completely kills this story. Gog is imposing as all hell sitting on that Mobius Chair looking down at the heroes. It’s a phenomenal visual.
Punch-Bot: The Sensational Character Find of 2023
Matt: I think with issue #1 of Batman: Off-World, you were hot on this book, and I was warm. Issue #2 has moved my heat meter up. I really liked this issue.
Will: Jason Aaron really fuckin’ gets Batman as a guy with a singular mission, and that’s to be the best crimefighter on the planet, one ready to take on all comers. Not only that, he’s a guy pissed off by injustice and would absolutely work to protect those determined to be expendable, whether they’re aliens or robots or alien robots. Give this man an ongoing.
Matt: Batman charging back and possibly sacrificing himself to save a masochistic robot is the kind of moment that is perfect. So often, lazy writers take the One Rule and bend it so it’s convenient for the story; the end of Batman Begins is a good example of that. But Batman at his core respects all life. And what we see here is how that is rewarded: Batman is saved because he showed Punch-Bot more respect than anyone ever had.
Will: “Thank you for teaching me to punch back.” Heart. Broken. And, look, I wouldn’t dare guess where this series is going next, but we could do a lot worse than Batman going from planet to planet fighting the baddest dudes around in what amounts to a space Western. Again, this is good shit.
Matt: We also spend more time getting to know Ione, the Tamaranean prisoner who becomes Batman’s chief ally in his escape. The warrior from the peaceful planet is a pretty standard sci-fi trope, as is the inverse, the pacifist from the warrior race. And the Tamaraneans have been portrayed in varying ways over the years, but allying Batman with someone whose moral code is different than his and watching how that affects both of them is a tried and true storytelling technique as well. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Ione either; I figure she’ll be the one dropping Bruce back off on Earth by story’s end.
Will: He’s gotta get back somehow, right?
Matt: But not before he fights some more badass-looking Doug Mahnke monsters.
Oh, did you read that moment where Batman punches an alien in the armpit and it falls down because that’s where its genitals are as a Star Trek VI reference? Because I absolutely did.
Will: 1,000% yes. Batman probably doesn’t hold a grudge, though.
Nine Lives
Matt: Coming out of “Gotham War,” Catwoman is in an unusual place. This arc, “Nine Lives,” is blending classic Catwoman caper/heist stories with a touch of something supernatural, right out of Batman Returns. But the supernatural isn’t overtaking the more crime-related plots, just giving Selina a new trick up her sleeve.
Will: Yeah, for a story about someone with now literally nine lives to play with, it reads as pretty grounded. The punchline to the second story in the arc — that Selina had somehow escaped a lethal dose of poison with her remaining lives intact — was a delightful little touch. Even someone dancing with the edges of immortality can use some luck.
Matt: Stefano Raffaele’s art definitely helps ground this story. A more bright, bold superhero style might make this feel more like a magical story. But Raffaele, artist on GCPD: The Blue Wall before this, is in the Michael Lark/Steve Lieber school of artists, a school that is definitely made for crime comics, and so that definitely helps keep this feeling like a Catwoman story, rather than Catwoman being inserted into a magical story of some other character.
Will: We got two different references to her heart being removed. We read that story for the show, didn’t we?
Matt: Yup, that was “Heart of Hush.” Which just again puts us in a place where continuity is just a big question mark, as we haven’t seen that referenced in ages, and it doesn’t line up with other things that have been mentioned or happened since various reboots. DC really is at a point where any story can have happened to these characters as long as they’re referenced, and you just have to sort of shrug your shoulders when these things come up.
Will: As much as I want to ignore and forget anything Hush related, invoking it here does make sense. It’s basically a wink at the reader, “Hey, Selina’s been through weirder shit before. So what if she’s got extra lives to gamble with now?”
Matt: And again, we’re balancing the mystical, the extra lives, with some grounded capers. She’s not stealing Kryptonite or Dr. Fate’s helmet. She’s bringing down a murderer and stealing the score from a thief/serial killer. These are the kinds of things Selina would do, but the extra lives give her a little more freedom to not worry about what would normally be a suicide run.
Will: Could you fence Dr. Fate’s helmet?
Matt: Probably not, but like fine artwork, it’s the kind of thing you steal for someone who you know wants it and doesn’t care no one else will see it. Or, wants to use it to bring about the apocalypse. But that’s the kind of thing Selina wouldn’t want to do, as if you blow up the world, where would she keep all her cats?
Bat-miscellany
- It’s our annual Christmas stories episode over on the BatChat podcast.
- I never expect to see Amalgam Comics ever again, but if we ever did, with Gog being the survivor of the previous world of the gods, he needs to be amalgamated with Galactus to form Goglactus. Put his downward facing horns on Galactus’s helmet. It would be a look.
- Oh, we’ll get Amalgam again, sure — when WBD+Paramount merges with Disney to create the *one* entertainment company.
- The cover of World’s Finest has this arc called “Return to Kingdom Come.” The title page says it’s “Heir to the Kingdom.” I kind of wish they went with the title page title in both places, because I think it’s a better title.
- “My god, man, a cover is no place for cleverness and subtlety!” — DC editorial
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Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of 5. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the podcasts BatChat with Matt & Will and The ComicsXF Interview Podcast.
Will Nevin loves bourbon and AP style and gets paid to teach one of those things. He is on Twitter far too often.
