Review – Batman/Superman: World's Finest #30 – A Murder on Themyscira

Batman/Superman: The Best in the World #30 – Mark Waid, writer; Gleb Melnikov, artist; Tamra Bonvillain, colorist

Beam – 9/10

Beam: This series has always been a bit of a retro story, but occasionally it goes back even further to reveal a major “first” for Batman and Superman. This issue takes Batman, Superman, and Robin to Themyscira, where they team up with Wonder Woman for the first time. So what prompts the Amazons to roll out the red carpet for two grown men and a very excited teenager? Only the first murder that has ever taken place on Paradise Island. The victim is the never-mentioned Tech Wizard of Themyscira, Io's mentor, and the inventor of the Purple Ray. She was apparently murdered in a locked room, and Diana has already lassoed all the other Amazons and found no culprits. This makes for a thrilling issue as Batman profiles the island and even investigates Diana herself – before coming to a rather shocking conclusion that turns the entire concept of the issue on its head.

There are some surprisingly big villains in this issue – an obscure but very interesting Wonder Woman villain, and another with a major connection to him that I don't think we've ever seen before. There's a large-scale battle, as well as the first great depiction of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman fighting together as a unit. It's not hard to see who made these three the bedrock of the Justice League. As good as this issue is, I have to say that Robin really steals the show here. You'd expect a teenager on Themyscira would be a bit of a minefield, but actually Dick is really more fascinated by… the Kangas. This is a great example of how to portray Robin as an optimistic counterpart to Batman, which gives this issue a really fun bit of positive energy. The next issue brings Eclipso as a threat to the story arc, but I just hope Waid continues to find new stories from DC's past for as long as he wants.

Reviews of all DC issues can be found under “DC This Week”.

GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.

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