A large and mysterious alien body has crashed landed on the moon! Superman, while already in space saving an astronaut notices the dead body the lies on the moon. What Superman finds not only confuses and startles him, but sends him and Batman on a dangerous intergalactic murder mystery. Who is this alien and why did he attempt to come to Earth? And why did it carve Superman and Batman’s symbols into the the moon’s surface?
The Positives
“Universe’s Finest” written by Tom Taylor and penciled by Robson Rocha was a good read. It’s always awesome to see the two world’s greatest heroes work side by side. The artwork Rocha has done was amazing as each page seems to jump out at you with detail. He does a great job of showing the fear, anger, or any other emotion any character shows in this book, and it’s great. Taylor compliments it further with a good murder mystery type story, and the conversation between Batman and Superman is as always fun to read. The banter that takes place between the two is one of respect and cooperation, as well as brotherly competition and funny remarks towards the other. Taylor does a great job of showing how close these two characters are outside of the Justice League and just how crucial they both are to the DC Universe as a whole.
The Negatives
There’s not really a lot of action in this particular story, but that’s because it’s setting you up for something major in the part two. Towards the end of the book, another alien makes an appearance on the moon to claim the alien’s corpse, and Superman and Batman race to find out the situation. Since this is a murder mystery, Batman really shines in this particular book and you can see the brawn and brain alliance that Taylor is giving us here. Although the action is in few moments in the book, it’s fine because it’s not drawn out or forced however I do suspect that in the part 2 we will see the heroes trading blows with someone or something eventually.
The Verdict
“Universe’s Finest” gets a good score in my book. If you’re a fan of Batman/ Superman team ups, then you’ll enjoy this book. You readers know how I feel about my action sequences, and although this issue stops short of giving us alot, its completely justified in doing so. I believe that the next issue will either expose this unknown threat, or it will produce more answers that will eventually give our heroes a villain to fight. However this issue is still an entertaining read if you’re a fan of two of the world’s greatest heroes.
