Ever since World’s Finest debuted in 1941, DC Comics has had a comic chubby for Superman/Batman team-ups. I mean, granted, they go well together what with all the differences between Bruce and Clark. But when I heard DC’s plan to bring back a World’s Finest limited series I was confused. I mean, Bruce is dead (sort of) and Clark is busy soldiering on New Krypton. So, how the hell do you showcase the world’s finest team-up when the world’s finest are kind of, well, anything but?

Apparently, Sterling Gates figured it how to pull this one off. Just because the main heroes are a tad predisposed, it doesn’t mean the other characters from their respective corners of the DCU can’t mingle a bit. Even better, Gates manages to pull out some of the lesser used heroes; case in point, issue one teams up Red Robin and Nightwing (the Kryptonian son of Zod, not Dick Grayson). World’s Finest #1 is all about the duo trying to rescue a kidnapped Flamebird (Nightwing’s partner/girlfriend) from the combined clutches of the Penguin and the Kryptonite Man, who are looking to sell her to the highest bidder (yeah, that’s pretty fucking creepy).

There’s more talk than action throughout most of the book, with a lot of chatter between either Red Robin and Nightwing or the Penguin and his cohorts. I’m usually bored to tears by an overly chatty book, but Gates manages to keep this book moving, even with a lot of dialogue. Actually, my only complaint was with Julian Lopez’s art, which occasionally felt a bit goofy. There’s one panel in particular of Red Robin with this giant grin lifted from a Golden Age comic. Yes, I understand he thought Nightwing was Conner and he was psyched for a team-up but, man, the guy is trying to solve his adoptive dad’s murder. Considering how pissed off Tim seems directly before and after this panel, the grin seems almost inappropriate. But that’s just me.

What the hell though, I’m going to go ahead and recommend this book. I’m excited for the other three upcoming team-ups (Damien Wayne and the Guardian, Stephanie Brown and Supergirl, and the first ever Dick Grayson Batman / Superman pairing) and issue one did have an interesting cliffhanger at the end. Slow starts be damned, I have a feeling that this book is seriously going to pay off in the end.