Batman & Superman in World's Finest: The Silver Age Vol. 1

World's Finest: The Silver Age #1

by Edmond Hamilton, Curt Swan (Artist), Dick Sprang (Artist)

They had been fighting crime separately for years but it wasn't until the historic SUPERMAN #76 in 1952 that Superman, the Man of Steel, finally teamed up with the Caped Crusader himself—Batman. That story proved so popular that the team quickly became the main feature in WORLD'S FINEST COMICS—and thus the greatest partnership in comics was born. Their adventures together would feature heroes and villains such as Robin, Batwoman, Lex Luthor, Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk, as well as more alien threats than might seem possible.

BATMAN & SUPERMAN: THE WORLD'S FINEST – THE SILVER AGE VOLUME ONE collects the classic story of the two heroes first meeting from SUPERMAN #76 and their super team-ups from WORLD'S FINEST #71-94.

Genres: Comics, Superman, Graphic Novels, Batman, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Crime

330 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 21, 2017

About the author

Edmond Moore Hamilton was a popular author of science fiction stories and novels throughout the mid-twentieth century. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, he was raised there and in nearby New Castle, Pennsylvania. Something of a child prodigy, he graduated high school and started college (Westminster College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania) at the age of 14--but washed out at 17. He was the Golden Age writer who worked on Batman, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and many sci-fi books.

Reviews

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This is all the campy goodness I’ve been wanting from Batman/Superman comics! It’s essentially Dick going on adventures with Superman and Batman and coming up with some really silly solutions to problems. There’s a much lighter Batman here that I love! It’s nice to see the focus on his detective skills and no engineered angst just for drama. Superman is just lovely as well.

I will say, it’s a bummer they didn’t give Lois more to do short of just mooning after Superman. There’s an issue where she gets to be editor of the Gotham Gazette for a few days but, even then, the focus was on her cleaning. It was a bummer.

So, this is a tentative recommend. I had a blast while reading it and it’s nice to read comics from when things were simple and cheerful and not just superheroes fighting each other.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Your take on this depends entirely on your taste for late-Golden Age goofery - there's some charm him and some clever sleight-of-hand plotting, the art's pretty good, the writers do a nice job balancing the characters without CONSTANTLY having Superman disabled by Kryptonite or other means.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the art in this comic it gave a cool aesthetic of like old school comics, its also was some funny interactions this lois and superman and batman.

[Deacon D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing spectacular. Superman and Batman of this particular era were pretty stupid, though, frequently getting tricked by the bad guys.

And then, there's (temporarily) super-powered Batwoman, afraid to enter an old house because MICE.

Love the characters and the artwork was decent but overall this was pretty much a dud, for me.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Often clever mix of high concept stories. Really nice silver age art. I have to wonder about the contracts that were going on at DC in 1957 such that The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Aquaman (the only other superheroes concurrently published) were outside of John Mayhew's purview but Knight and Squire, Musketeer, Gaucho, and the Legionary were. (I just looked and these are not new characters, having previously appeared in Detective #215 or even earlier, in Batman #62, in the case of Knight and Squire). The same story features Lightning-Man, which seems to have been an attempt to kick Fawcett in the teeth while also be looking forward to Gangbuster in the 1990s.

This volume includes two stories featuring time-travel expert Carter Nichols, one in which the team encounters Aladdin, and another in which they join D'Artagnan when the Three Musketeers are injured. The infamous Skyboy appears as sidekick to Superman, Lex Luthor appears twice, once teaming with the Joker, and the other recurring villain is Elton Craig, who temporarily gains Kryptonian powers through the use of capsules made by Jor-El that became laced with kryptonite. Batman gets superpowers twice, and Batwoman and Robin once each. The cover implies that Bat-Mite and Mr. Myxzptlk appear--they don't, but the sentence is carefully written just to indicate that such stories exist, not necessarily between these covers.

The book opens with Superman #76, in which the two apparently meet for the first time and which is recapped in World's Finest #71 and ends with World's Finest #94, in which Batman recalls an earlier incident in which the two worked together WITHOUT knowing each other's identities. Looking over the stories back to back, one doesn't expressly contradict the other, which suggests a level of care not typical at this period, leaving me to wonder if previous adventures referred to were actually depicted previously or made up on the fly as I had assumed going as far back as when I was a kid.

[Michael Emond · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is pretty typical fare for the time - the art is passable and the writing is silly fun. Reading the book en masse you can't help but get a little bored even though the writer tries his best to come up with clever twists and I will say there isn't a repetition or a formula the writer plugs the stories into. The other thing that stands out to me is how little each character differs in personality. We are used to Batman's dark intense personality and Superman's being a morally upright boy scout - but in these stories all characters are pretty bland with no personality. Although there is one funny story (to me at least) when Batman "breaks his leg" and Robin gets to be Superman's sidekick (because Superman needs a 10 year old to help him) and Batman worries that the excitement of being Superman's sidekick will make Robin want to leave him (you know - because when you find a parent you like better you automatically get to leave your current parent for them...oh wait...).

I described them as silly because what else can you say when Batman and Superman "time travel" through hypnosis. When Batman and Superman compete to do the most good so THEIR city can host a convention. When they have to switch places to fool Lois into not thinking Superman is Clark Kent. When Batman has to become a fortune teller to draw out a superstitious mobster and needs Superman's help to make his predictions come true. When a time traveler from the future demands they redo their adventures the way HE wants so his history book will end up being more true than his rival historian's book. And so on...

Definitely geared towards young kids but it was fun to revisit some of these stories from a simpler and sillier time.

[Zack! Empire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really fun Silver age stories. It's usually not a good idea to read these kinds of comics one after another, but I read this in two big sittings about two weeks apart. I was just having some fun with it.
The stories are inventive and often pretty imaginative. They couldn't have Batman and Superman just punching people then, so you get a lot of strange stories. They do get derivative at times (a number of these stories deal with people getting or losing powers) but I think that's part of the fun! Yeah, they travel through out time multiple times, but they never go to the same place twice!
People who like Silver Age stuff tend to like it right away, so you already know if this is the kind of book you want to read.

[Yara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5
Batman & Superman in World's Finest Comics coleta episódios desses dois super-heróis (e Robin) trabalhando juntos em diversas aventuras e situações, durante a Era de Prata e sob a regulamentação da Comics Code Authority, que fiscalizava o conteúdo dos quadrinhos estadunidenses nessa época. Portanto, a história é leve, cômica e um tanto boba na maioria dos episódios, com eventos que se desdobram de forma exagerada, além da repetição de roteiro em diversos momentos que tornam a leitura um pouco maçante (tive que deixar esse quadrinho de lado por alguns dias para retomar a coragem e terminá-lo).
Enfim, apesar de ser uma leitura difícil em certa parte, foi tão agradável conhecer esse lado do Superman e Batman, mais suave e bobo, que consegui me divertir bastante com suas interações na história. Gostei e pretendo, futuramente, começar seu segundo volume.

[Raul Reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was flip flopping between a 2.5 and a 3, but a three it is. I don’t think that these issues are the crème of the crème for silver age stuff since the only issue I can think of where things get really off the whack is the mother goose issue (which is probably my favorite one off of the entire collection), but these are still fun, if they weren’t I probably wouldn’t have been able to finish this collection. My only complain is that there are certain plot points that get repeated so much that it makes those stories not stick out.

[Robert S · Rating 3 out of 5]

World's Finest Volume One is another collection of Silver Age stories, this time involving DC's two biggest powerhouses Batman and Superman.

World's Finest has some fun stories, some bland stories, some decent art, and maintains the level of fun that the Silver Age has become known for over time.

Some of the stories in this collection tend to blur together (Superman tricks Batman for his own safety more than once) but overall it makes for a fun afternoon read.

[Larry Yonce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredibly, Superman and Batman never shared adventures together until the 1950s and this omnibus collects their early team-ups (along with Batman's sidekick Robin). This is when they also learn each other's secret identities. Unfortunately, the writing is just o.k....ditto the artwork. Has historical interest, but not very engaging. In fact, it was a bit of a struggle to complete the whole thing.

[J.R. Underdown · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a certain joy to be had from reading these old comics. Yes, the plots are cheesy and campy, the dialogue a little wordy, and the art isn't the greatest, but there's a fun innocence to these stories. They also contain some clever plot twists and sleight of hand to keep things interesting. A great piece of entertaining history.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the collected edition of Superman #76 from May of 1952, and then World's Finest #71 from July of 1954 through #94 of June of 1958. Twenty-five issues of Superman and Batman teaming up. The first and the last issue contradict one another. It's campy, the artwork is mediocre, and the stories stretch incredulity to the breaking point. I am finding I am not a DC fan of the era.

[Sam Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful look back comics from the past

Loved reading the comics from the past, well presented and brought back many happy memories reading my Dad's comic collection.
Also a great way to understand how the characters where originally written

[Mhorg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always loved the silver age of DC. no logic, just fun. this is a great collection. this is when worlds first was truly that.

[Jeff Lewonczyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are some of the most ridiculous comics I've ever read. I loved every last panel.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zany, fun

These old comics are pure escapism and probably the only era of superhero comics I'll always enjoy. Pity about all the sexism, though.

[Logan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably will only appeal to die-hard fans of Superman or Batman, extreme fans of Silver age comics (I'm not one of them), or people under the age of 12.

[Yosef Shapiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of the original team ups of Batman and Superman. They are very formulaic and thus predictable. But, they are a lot of fun.

[Doctor Doom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remember when comics were fun?

1] No? Read this and learn then.

2] Yes? Read this and relive those days.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me nearly a YEAR to finish reading this, which would usually be a terrible sign. But in this case, the stories were so charming and cute, I basically decided to microdose them.

[Kauã Barreto · Rating 2 out of 5]

it's cute

[Dante:) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love world’s first so much and the amount of random bullshit everyone thinks of was really funny

[Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

everyone clap for casual 1950s sexism

[ian witham · Rating 4 out of 5]

The world's finest super team.

When I was a boy, World's Finest was the Batman book I liked least. I liked World's Finest more than Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane but looking back, I think I didn't like World's Finest for the same reason I didn't like Lois Lane. Superman is not a team player. He is too powerful.
These are the earliest stories about the Superman, Batman, and Robin team. Most are better than the ones I remember. There is one I would have loved when I was ten in which Superman became super stupid, Robin became super smart, and Robin had to tell Superman what to do.
I recommend this for young boys and those of you who must have every Batman and Superman story. I do not recommend it for girls because if she is the right sort of girl there is a story in here that will make her throw it against the wall. In an earlier story, Batman had told Batwoman to retire AND SHE DID. In World's Finest, she came out of retirement, and helped Superman, Batman, and Robin. Batman gave her his gracious permission to become Batwoman again and she didn't tell him to shove it using words that would not be approved by the Comics Code Authority.