Monday, June 29, 2020

World's Finest Comics #9: The Federal edition


Federal Comics' World's Finest Comics #9 was published c.November 1985:


The cover is from DC Comics' World's Finest Comics #308, October 1984:


The contents:

Night and Day!, originally published in World's Finest Comics #308, October 1984 
[First Face:] The Child "Childhood's End", originally published in Batman Annual #9, July 1985 

Night and Day! is a 23-page story presented here as a 20-page story - 3 pages are omitted.

The Four Faces of Batman is a 4-part story in Batman Annual #9 which begins with this title page: 


The next 4 chapters are each 10-page instalments titled First Face, Second Face etc. The reprint in World's Finest Comics #9 contains only the first part, hence the omission of the First Face chapter title:


Compare to the original page:


Divorced from the context of the title page, this chapter is presented as a standalone short story.

Unfortunately it is also presented as a 9-page story. This is the missing page:


This is quite a striking page with an appealing Batman illustration by Jerry Ordway, an artist whose work I enjoy.

I note that Second Face was published by Federal Comics as a standalone chapter in Batman #19, the final issue in the series - indeed, one of the last Federal DC issues - so it is unlikely that Third Face and Fourth Face were reprinted by Federal.

No comments: