Wednesday, January 29, 2014

The Classics - World's Finest #129

   As a little shaver, I had several favorites: the Justice League, of course, and I was a big fan of World's Finest.

   Perhaps one of the reasons was that you got more heroes for your 12 cents (the sound you hear is the howling of modern comics fans, who pay a bit more for their comics).

   I have to admit that Superman, Batman and Robin always seemed like an odd team-up - after all, why does Superman need Batman's help? But this issue made a good case for the fact that everyone needs friends.

   And apparently villains need friends, too, as this issue features a team-up of Lex Luthor and the Joker.

   The villains seem to embark on meaningless crimes, as they steal objects of little worth - but lest you think this menace is a lightweight, Luthor has devised a gun that turns Superman into a living ghost. The effects are temporary, but painful - and the Man of Steel may not survive repeated blasts from the weapon.

   At its heart the story is pretty silly - the reasons behind the robberies is mostly an excuse to bring the good and bad guys into conflict - but it moves along briskly, and I always enjoyed the genuine friendship between the heroes, as opposed to today's more edgy friendship.

   The issue also features a couple of fun (if somewhat goofy) adventures with Aquaman (including wonderful and uncredited Ramona Fradon artwork) and Green Arrow, who must tackle an arrow-firing robot.

    And perhaps that's why I liked this series - with five heroes in one comic, it was virtually an issue of Justice League!

Grade: B

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