Here’s another Future’s End Month issue, but unlike last time I visited five years into the future, I got a bit more of what I was expecting coming into this whole experience. Worlds’ Finest has been getting increasingly better as our heroine pair of Helena Wayne and Karen Starr, better known as Huntress and Power Girl, have made their way back to their home world of Earth 2. The entirety of the Worlds’ Finest line has been focused around the two returning home, and I was excited to see what would happen after they have an Apokolips-themed homecoming.
Then this issue starts right back where our heroes had spent five years of their life and over twenty issues trying to leave, right back on Earth-Prime. That’s right, Earth 2 got their butts handed to them in Worlds War One (I’m copyrighting that), and most of the surviving Earth 2 Wonders are in captivity on Cadmus Island. Now, I have my own set of issues with the Earth 2 Wonders – they’re Wonders, call them Wonders – seemingly being so soundly beaten, and I’m also curious about a host of Wonders we haven’t seen. I haven’t been following Future’s End, but from what I’ve read, it still hasn’t introduced some of my favorite Wonders.
Cadmus Island is the setting for this story, an espionage mission-gone-wrong starring Power Girl. She is attempting to infiltrate Cadmus Island in order to save Helena, who has apparently been captured and is being held in the Wonder prison compound. It was surprisingly well-written relative to the vast majority of the Worlds’ End line, but there are some serious flaws in Power Girl’s plan.
- I understand the whole digging through the ground thing because Cadmus had dampeners around the facility, but she couldn’t hear the blue dude who walked by? She couldn’t wait, like, two minutes for him to leave. I understand we need suspense, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t hear him (but what about the dampeners?) I was a little confused about the effectiveness of the Cadmus technological capabilities.
- Also, did she have to blow up the dryer and bring obviously unwanted attention to herself? Couldn’t she have just hidden it somewhere? Or lowered the level of her laser beams? Or just buried it? Or torn it up? Or anything other than making a huge scene by blowing up stuff?
Paul Levitz’s follows Karen as she explores Cadmus Island, and we learn a little bit more about the atrocities that Cadmus has been committing on the Earth 2 denizens. Cadmus is easily becoming my least-liked organization in comics, and that’s pretty much entirely from this issue (and the Justice League Unlimited series). Her creeping around turns violent as she’s ousted by Deathstroke, and there’s some quality action that ramps up the pace of the story and is pretty well done.
There are a bunch of female-centric cameos that pop up, and I’ll put them in the Spoilers Section, but it added to the story. The artwork by Paul Neary and Yildiray Cinar was very strong for a Worlds’ Finest issue, popping and coming alive during the fight sequences near the end of the issue. If this is the team that will be taking over Worlds’ Finest going forward or just the story of Huntress and Power Girl, then our duo is in very good hands.
- I couldn’t get one issue without a hotness joke? Not one? You couldn’t allow the gravitas of the situation to develop fully? “Guess it’s one more sign my hot days are over.” Ugh…
- Um…that cover…it has Huntress and Earth-Prime’s Tanya Spears. This is 95% about Power Girl.
- Got a little Hawkgirl cameo in the middle of the issue. Glad to see she’s alive, but she’s shackled up and looking pretty defeated. Looks like at least one of my favorite five Wonders is still alive.
- Helena is still alive, too, which is a good sign for the more bearable of the pair.
- There is no way Deathstroke should have had a chance against Power Girl, nor should he have been able to catch her when she was flying away. I get that he’s like a super mercenary or whatever, but nah.
- Oh, Fifty-Sue. **** that noise. It’s the first time she’s been in an issue I’ve read and seriously, **** whoever came up with that idea.
- Tanya, who I still think is the 4th Earth 2 Kryptonian, joins the fight, but loses on purpose because Fifty-*******-Sue starts killing random people.
Favorite Quote: “If Kryptonians are powerful enough to do anything, can we rip our own eyes out? Or should I just destroy this whole place?” – Power Girl
Recommended If…
- You’re a fan of a Power Girl.
- You want a little Deathstroke action.
- You want to know more about what’s going on at Cadmus Island.
Overall:
An entertaining semi-one-shot with decent writing and strong action was a surprise for me coming off of last week’s horror show. If you’ve been wondering whether or not to jump on the Worlds’ Finest bandwagon, this is a good place to test the waters. Go for it.
SCORE: 7/10
