World's Finest #71-74

World's Finest #71-74

Originally released in 1954

Written by Alan Schwartz (#71-72), Edmond Hamilton (#73), Bill Finger (#74)

Art by Curt Swan

I wanted to give some older DC comics a try, so I went with some issues of World's Finest for today.  I chose relatively later issues because, from the looks of it, the early issues were part of an anthology that had a Batman story and a Superman story, rather than having the two working together.  I know that, prior to Crisis On Infinite Earths, the two were portrayed as good friends rather than being at odds with each other over their different mindsets, so I wanted to see how that was portrayed.

This hasn't quite reached the days of "Superman gets Batman accused of being a witch" just yet (that issue is on DC Universe Infinite, World's Finest #186, but the issues that follow it weren't included on there, I wanted to read several issues today, and it's a two-parter that continues in issue 187, which isn't on the app), though the two of them do come across as messing with their supporting cast for no good reason.  When Lois Lane spots Clark Kent changing into Superman in order to save a crashing Bat-Plane, Batman comes up with an elaborate scheme - in order to fool Lois Lane, he will make her think that Bruce Wayne is Superman, while Clark poses as Batman!

This foolproof plan somehow comes undone fairly quickly, because Lois immediately figures out what's going on.  Meanwhile, Clark has a much easier job of posing as Batman, though even he runs into trouble when it turns out that the crooks that Batman had been tracking have gotten access to some Kryptonite.  Of course, they leave this radioactive meteorite sitting out on the table, as one does.

Robin gets the short end of the stick here; the story is described as "starring your two favorite heroes" while Robin is treated as though he's an accessory to Batman.  Still, he plays a key part in keeping up the illusion that Bruce Wayne is Superman, and it's funny to see him lurking near Bruce like some kind of goblin. (I don't know if it's the mask or the facial expression, but he looks like he's seconds away from cackling in some shots)

If they're trying to make Lois question what she saw by driving her crazy, she doesn't have to take a long trip to get there - within moments of figuring out that Bruce Wayne is pretending to be Superman, she makes a call that would likely result in her being responsible for the murder of a millionaire philanthropist if Bruce hadn't been Batman:

Of course, Lois doesn't find out Clark's secret identity, though she was handled better in that regard than I thought she'd be.  While Superman goes to extreme lengths to gaslight her into thinking that Clark Kent couldn't possibly be Superman, she clearly suspects that something is up and can easily follow the somewhat insane leaps of logic that Batman and Superman make to come up with alibis for Clark.

Batman, Robin, and Superman are the only ones who know each other's identities (I know that Alfred wasn't added to the series until later), though Batman doesn't do a great job at hiding that he knows that Clark Kent is Superman.  Still, it makes things easier for the three of them since they can cover for each other if needed and they don't need to hide anything.

These stories tend to follow the same pattern - Batman and Robin, or Superman, are trying to catch some thugs, and they need the help of the other one to do it, whether Batman is posing as a fortune teller and needs to make seemingly impossible predictions come true or Clark Kent and Lois Lane have been captured and Clark can't risk revealing his secret identity.

It feels like a missed opportunity; Batman and Superman have two of the most iconic rogues galleries in all of comics, and yet the only villains they face in these issues are one-off criminals.  I would have liked to see Superman match wits with the Riddler, or Batman take on Mr. Mxyzptlk or Lex Luthor.  I'm sure a team-up between Lex Luthor and the Joker happened at some point, but whenever it did, that issue isn't on DC Universe Infinite.

Issue 74 mixes things up a bit with a shape-changing alien, which makes for an entertaining change.  The alien is a child who doesn't know right from wrong, so Batman and Superman have to set an example for him.  The issues were entertaining (especially issue 71 - the inclusion of Lois Lane made it hilarious when we see how far Clark will go to protect his secret identity), but not as ridiculous as I was hoping they would be.