World’s Finest #164

World’s Finest #164 (1967)
by Leo Dorfman & Curt Swan

The cover gives us a nice mystery: who is Genia, “Mistress of Malice”?

Only for the teaser page to IMMEDIATELY reveal she’s a creation of Brainiac!
I love the Silver Age but I’ll never understand DC’s tendency to give away plot points in the very first page.

We begin with Batman almost crashing the Bat-Plane.

Let’s hope it’s not just the lack of sleep again.

You’d expect Superman to just fly to get the plane, but instead he uses a tractor beam. (????)

I’ve always found it weird how Superman was typically concerned with criminals infiltrating the Fortress of Solitude, since even if people knew its location it’s still in the middle of the Arctic.
So while I’m very glad he’s dismissing the event as unlikely… shouldn’t this be his regular attitude?

But there’s something more troubling: Batman just tried to steal Kandor!!!

Guess Batman will have to find money elsewhere now.

But it turns out it’s not Batman at all: it’s just Brainiac in disguise!
Not exactly a great moment for the character, since I would’ve expected Brainiac would find better ways to infiltrate the Fortress.

He does, however, have one AWESOME weapon to use against Superman: a device that intensifies his powers enough to EXPLODE SUPERMAN!!!

It doesn’t work because Superman, but A for effort!!!

Brainiac distracts Superman by just throwing Kandor away (!!!), and this is where super-speed makes the scene rather hard to swallow.
I mean Superman should be able to EASILY catch the bottle and catch Brainiac, right?
It’s not hard to find an explanation… Brainiac did just interfere with his powers, so it’s entirely possible he’s having trouble regaining full control… but a caption or a thought bubble on the subject would’ve been appreciated.

Brainiac escapes (the fake Bat-Plane hides a spaceship), hiding out in his secret lair which is inside a boat, of all places.

Not sure why Brainiac thinks this is particularly hard to find for Superman… there’s no mention of it being protected by lead, and Superman has been consistently shown to be able to scan the entire planet. Perhaps he’s counting on Superman not looking for him on Earth? It is kind of weird that Brainiac keeps his base there, so it would make some sense.

This is when Brainiac decides to create a new robot to help him.
Which might’ve been a surprise if not for the teaser page.

Brainiac, if you want to look human, you might want to do something about that green skin.

The artwork is just fantastic. Not only the robot skeleton, but just look at how Swan draws Brainiac applying the synthetic skin! Just perfect.

You’d expect Brainiac to give her the appearance of someone close to Superman, but instead he decides to use the face of the current President of Fakistan.

And that’s the origin of Genia! Not a bad supervillain name, all things considered.
(also, solid pun calling her his brainchild)

And she’s actually a powerhouse, to the point of worrying Brainiac!

Genia is AWESOME. I was a little worried when Brainiac dropped a mention of her using her “built-in female allure” (his words!) to gain entrance to the United Nations… but he actually meant through hypnotism!!!

Now inside the UN Headquarters, Genia is able to put the President of Fakistan to sleep.
Literally, since this is still under the Comics Code.

All of this was to steal a very advanced science gadget. Must be advanced indeed if BRAINIAC resorts to stealing it instead of, you know, inventing it himself.

Genia’s disguise is so perfect that even Batman can’t spot the difference with the real President.

So what does the Telecaptor™ do, exactly? Eradicate smog from Earth!!!

I could make a joke about the idea that Superman has been planning to do something about pollution, but… as we saw in Superman #66 he had plans to tackle dependence from fossil fuels in 1950 (!!!!), so it’s not THAT far-fetched.

Still, the Telecaptor™ looks too good to be true…

…because it is. Brainiac doesn’t actually NEED the device, but if he did have that sort of technology, you just know he’d keep it to himself anyway.

Although Genia is only SLIGHTLY exaggerating, because the scientists of Fakistan really did create device that can eliminate water pollution!!!

So we have the ruler of a fictional country getting universal praise for gifting the world a scientific marvel.
Sounds like the ruler of some OTHER fictional country needs to shape up.

Batman always has his prioities straight.

He’s so awestruck that Robin has to be the one to save the President from a would-be assassin.

So here’s a thought. The President asked Batman to deliver the Telecaptor™ prototype to Superman and have him build new copies… makes sense, maybe they’re too expensive to produce.
My question is: why doesn’t she call for Superman and deliver them directly to him!?

At this point you might be wondering: what exactly IS Brainiac’s plan anyway?
Just to shrink Earth’s cities and steal them.
Which he could do on his own, with his spaceship, in his first appearance.
I guess years of having his tech blown up by Superman has put a SERIOUS dent in Brainiac’s resources!

Don’t you just hate it when the robots you create start worshiping you?

I suppose there IS a point to going through this complicated plot: Brainiac wanted his revenge for stealing back Kandor to really suck for Superman.
The same would’ve been accomplished if he did it on his own, but that’s supervillains for you.

Then Batman and Superman crash into Brainiac’s headquarters: turns out they were on top of things all along.

But how DID Superman even know Genia was impersonating the President?
THANKS TO ROBIN.

Brainiac still manages to escape thanks to a device that briefly makes him intangible (!!!), but at least Superman captures Genia.

Sooo… story over, right? Not quite: we still have some time to debate robot philosophy!

Kind of disappointed to see Batman is a bit robophobic (at least he’ll get over it once he teams up with the Metal Men), but it’s great to see how Genia is programmed to be rotten to the core.

That’s where the cover scene is coming from. And normally it’s the worst part of the story, but this time, it’s handled MUCH better than on the cover!

Batman just wanted to exile Genia to the Phantom Zone (with a device that looks nothing like the usual projector), but Superman found a much better solution.

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Historical significance: 0/10
Despite the perfect sequel hook at the end, this is the last Genia appearance. Which is really a shame because she would’ve been a great villain for Superman! She could’ve been both an intellectual and a physical threat.

Silver Age-ness: 7/10
Many of the typical tropes of the time, but with a fresh look.

Does it stand the test of time? 9/10
Since I tend to review the whackiest stories because they tend to give me the best material, you might think that I don’t like the Silver Age. Quite the opposite: issues like this one showcase there’s plenty of great stories among the nonsense!
This is very easily adaptable for a modern retelling. Really the only thing you’d have to change is add a bit more explanations… Superman’s superpower shenanigans, some background on the fictional country… but it’s very minor stuff all things considered.

Did Robin actually do anything? HE SAVED THE DAY

Did Superman really need Batman? Not really