World's Finest Comics #176: "The Superman-Batman Split!" (Neal Adams art)

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Among the new heroes introduced in World's Finest were Lando, yet another magician, and Drafty, a humorous soldier, drawn first by Ed Moore and then by Stan Kaye. Henry Boltinoff did just about his only serious comic-book work on Young Doctor Davis. Others who frequented World's Finest in its early years were the Star Spangled Kid, the Green Arrow, the Boy Commandos, the Wyoming Kid, and Tommy Tomorrow.

With the seventy-first issue (July-August 1954) the magazine, which had long since shed its cardboard covers, dropped its price to ten cents and cut its page count. In another innovation, it teamed its headliners, Batman and Superman-- "Your two favorite heroes together in one adventure!" Robin also joined in. The initial artist for these amalgamated yarns was Dick Sprang, who held on until 1963.

World's Finest continued until its 323rd issue (January 1986), fluctuating in price, page count, and lineup. As the magazine grew older, the Superman-Batman combo did not always appear, and considerable reprint material was used. In 1990 DC used the title for a three-issue series teaming Batman and Superman once again. This was written by Dave Gibbons, illustrated by Karl Kesel and Steve Rude. There was also a World's Finest one-shot published in 2001.

Note: this was originally posted on 9/24/09, but a software glitch forces me to repost this.

World's Finest Comics #175: "The Superman-Batman Revenge Squads!" (Neal Adams art)

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The first regularly issued comic book featuring both Superman and Batman, it was inspired by New York World's Fair Comics, which came out once in 1939 and once in 1940. DC introduced this fifteen-cent ninety-six page comic book in the early spring of 1941. The first issue was called World's Best Comics and from the second on the title was World's Finest. What this fat, cardboard-covered anthology offered was new adventures of DC's most popular characters and, in addition to Superman and Batman, there were new stories featuring Zatara, Johnny Thunder, and the Sandman, plus characters created just for the magazine.

Note: this was originally posted on 9/24/09, but a glitch with a widget forces me to post this anew.

Action Comics #425: "The Short-Walk-To-Disaster Contract!" (Neal Adams art)

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I've been meaning to upload some more comic books that were drawn by Neal Adams and this one was a long time in coming. The Grand Comics Database credits Dick Giordano as the sole artist, but we know better, don't we? This back-up story is the first of a two-parter featuring the Human Target, who is hired by his servant Luigi to pose as Luigi's cousin Antonio. He is a circus artist and his act has been sabotaged a couple of times. This was written by Len Wein, but Neal didn't draw the second part so I am going to omit that issue. Enjoy!