First Contact Event: World’s Finest #20 – spoiled

First Contact Part 2

Levitz, Silva, Weems, Winn

SPOILER ALERT!

I will most certainly be SPOILING.

The explosion from the end of part 1 of the First Contact event has apparently left both of our Kryptonians, Power Girl and Superman falling unconscious from the sky. Power Girl wakes up plummeting to the earth. Batman and Huntress decide that they are not going to chance that the energy released in the explosion has removed their super counterpart’s invulnerability. The rescue, in and of itself, wasn’t terribly exciting, but the way Huntress makes Batman uncomfortable was an entertaining bit to add to the scene.

Apparently, Superman has caught the issue that Kara had been dealing with throughout the previous issue. Thinking quickly, Batman puts Kryptonite on Clark to subdue his power and therefore disarm his explosive potential. This bothers both of the Earth 2 heroes, but they defer to Batman’s commands for the time being. Huntress is stuck on less-than-Superman duty. When the hero is threatened, Huntress fights what looks like some kind of Iron Man like underling of Gamorra’s using his “awkwardness” to defeat swiftly and succinctly.

Batman and Power Girl are discussing tactics when she decides she will do things her own way, ignoring Batman’s tactical strategy and flies off. Now operating on two separate parts of the same mission, Batman slips unnoticed into the sewers around Gamorra’s compound, aiming to find a way inside, or at the very least, find Gamorra’s computer.

While Batman is making judgments about Kara, she is ranting about him in her own mind as she approaches the Gamorran compound. Using her X-ray vision, she recognizes the man who apparently saved her in the World’s Finest annual. Following her heart, she seeks to enter and discuss what is happening, and ends up knocking down what looks like a foot thick steel door. While Kaizen Gamorra greets her amicably, he seems far more accepting of the intruder than he should be.

The scientist begins talking to her about his Nano-machines that have been working on her, and how he has found particles that can only come from some alternate earth. He claims that Kara could be the bridge back to Earth 2.

For a scene, we revisit Superman and Huntress who have assumed different costumes and names in an attempt to get into the Gamorran compound. Kal hates being helpless almost as much as having to wear the Kryptonite ring.

Powergirl and Batman make it to their respective destinations at the same time. Gamorra explains she may simply hold the secret to returning to Earth 2, and Batman begins hacking into the server. Batman discovers that there are humans being spliced with Kryptonian DNA, at the same time Kaizen shows Kara images of her Earth. Batman hot-foots it, hoping to make it to Power Girl in time, but Gamorra spills the beans, admitting that he has created miracles from her DNA. Miracles he then orders to attack her just as Batman shows up thinking he could use Superman right about then.

The final panel of the comic shows an odd note as Superman and Huntress are being held up by bureaucratic nonsense as they don’t have Gammoran visas.

The Earth 2 angle to this issue was interesting, and the most interesting dynamics of the changing team ups have really been entertaining. The best part of the comic once again comes at the hands of Gamorra, who is creating mass produced super humans, which was his whole gimmick as a super terrorist in the Authority comics of the past. Seeing him re-envisioned wrapped up in a multiversal storyline is truly a treat, making me wonder if the Stormwatch team is going to make a cameo in this event, if only for old times sake.

My rating 4 / 5