Noteworthy Issues: Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #12 (February, 2023)

One of the things that this World’s Finest series has been playing with is that the Dick Grayson Robin and Supergirl really don’t like each other very much.

This issue basically explains why.

Issue:  Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #12, February 2023

Writer:  Mark Waid

Artists:  Dan Mora, Emanuela Lupacchino, Norm Rapmund, and Wade von Grawbadger

The Plot:  Robin and Supergirl go on a date.  That was a bad idea.

Commentary:  Yeah, this issue was basically a nice, comedic story about two young heroes going on a date.  It starts to go back almost immediately when Kara showed up in her civilian identity only to see Robin was there in costume and she had to quickly go change.  From there, just about everything that could go wrong, did, and at least one thing that had nothing to do with anything either Dick or Kara planned when a man’s pet monkey was running around loose and causing traffic accidents outside the restaurant.

And, truth be told, most of what went wrong with the date seems to be Dick’s fault.

The general structure of the issue here is a good one:  Kara is telling Superman while Dick recounts to Batman what happened.  Both mentor figures are pretty much in-character, with Batman offering what could amount to tough love advice while Superman expresses some pride that his younger cousin managed to realize something with a level of maturity that many people don’t show right away.

Quite frankly, the issue also makes it pretty clear, even when things aren’t going wrong, that Kara and Dick just aren’t a good match.  Even if Dick hadn’t screwed up as much as he did or Kara was willing to go on a second date, these two just aren’t, as presented, a good couple.  Does that mean they have to be mad any time they spend time with each other in this series?  Eh, not necessarily, but sometimes people just don’t get along.  And that’s OK.

Grade:  B+