3 out of 5

“Stokoe saves the day,” or “Stokoe redeems the mag,” or something something Stokoe is the reason to read this, which is incredibly dismissive of everyone else, but, y’know, that’s life on dismissiveofeveryoneelse.com.  I guess, since that’s not where you are and obviously you’re not a very dedicated reader if that concept floated past you, so maybe you should just be reading elsewhere anyway, harumph.

As mentioned in my Secret Love review –  as well as probably some other reviews I’ve done, since I only have like two thoughts and one are boobs – one-shotty anthology things don’t really work well with Marvel / DC characters.  Batman can pull it off, because he’s primarily a symbol that can be tossed into tales that lend themselves to shorts – crime, noir, horror; but for the rest of the Big Two universes, there’s too much to know about the characters and what’s going on to make it matter.  “Battleworld” appears to be a two-in-one series, with each issue featuring two battles taking place in one of the many “alternate” worlds established in the recent crossovers.  Presented as some fun scuffles, this could work, and Stokoe almost pulls it off, but tries to go for an actual story in the last pages and rather hilariously overdoes it.  This could be purposeful, but it… falls flat, especially when paired with Peter David’s story which, I dunno, I guess fulfills my “scuffles” suggestion but the overblown art style by Daniel Valadez maybe makes it seem more serious than it should be, so the book takes on an unfortunate straight-faced tone.

Both tales feature variations on Silver Surfer.  Stokoe’s features amazing art and action, and is, honestly, worth the cover price if you’re into his super detailed stylized method.  (I am.)  The story is actually interesting, too, just, y’know, explodes in lieu of an ending.

In David’s story, Surfer and Maestro punch each other, Valadez draws huge fists, and then Maestro winks at the camera at the end.