World’s Finest #150

World’s Finest #150 (1965)
by Ed Hamilton & Curt Swan

It’s well known that several Silver Age covers were created before the stories were actually written: the trick was to have an outlandish premise that would capture the reader’s attention, and then let the writer come up with the rest.
I can’t be 100% sure this is one of those stories, but it feels like it.

We begin with Bruce Wayne consoling a friend who has just lost a ton of money to Gamblers’ Isle, which is… exactly what it sounds like.

Batman then calls Superman because… uhm. Why DOES he call him? He’s not asking for his help (in fact Superman won’t be involved until much later), so… what, did he want to chat about it with a friend?

Robin is going to sit this one out because he’s underage, which is a neat idea to keep the focus on the World’s Finest™.

Also, a bit of a tangent: Superman sure takes a lot of “important space missions” in the series where he’s not the only main character, doesn’t it?
He does it all the time on Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Supergirl.
Not that it doesn’t happen on Action Comics and Superman, except obviously since he’s the protagonist there we get to SEE those missions.
It makes sense in-universe, but it gets tiresome when it’s used as an excuse to not have him around to solve every problem.
Admittedly, it’s not the case of THIS story. I don’t know where I’m going with this tangent.

Anyway, Batman goes to Gamblers’ Island and naturally his presence attracts quite the attention.
The fact that gambling is legal here is repeated over and over; perhaps DC was afraid of the Comics Code objecting?

Batman immediately comes across someone who wants to kill himself because he lost his money (notice THAT doesn’t upset the Comics Code).
That’s got to be one of the slowest suicide attempts ever.

Batman suspects something is up because the gamblers seem to be losing a lot, even more so than in a regular casino. So decides to investigate, which makes perfect sense.

Specifically he investigates by staying inside the ball of a giant roulette, which makes no sense whatsoever.

I’m not the world’s greatest detective and I don’t know much about gambling, but I completely fail to see how useful this is.
Inspecting the ball to see if there’s some gadget inside, yeah, sure.
Staying inside as it rolls around!? WTF!?

Ah yes, the law of averages. Also known as the best way to lose money at a casino.

After getting back the money lost by the suicidal gambler, Batman then proceeds to play other games to win back his friend’s money…

…with math!

Well, Batman IS a qualified math teacher.
(Yes, this is actually officially licensed by DC)

With so many giant props, I reflexively double checked if Bill Finger was writing this.

With Batman winning at every game, he gets offered to play a game more to his liking… poker.

But then we’re back to giant games of chance again.

At this point you’re probably wondering: is there going to be any Superman in this Superman and Batman team-up book?

Not only Superman is back, but we are shown what his space mission was (!!!!) and it’s even important to the story. (!!!!)

Okay, up to this point this was a straight Batman story. Now, to find a reason to involve Superman, it goes bonkers.

This is actually a reference to a 1964 story, Superman #171, surprisingly NOT written by Hamilton but by Leo Dorfman.

I think Batman is either getting addicted to gambling or to math.

This story is the introduction of the gambling planet Ventura, which shows up here and there in the DC Universe (in modern times as well).

We’ve actually come across Ventura in the Legion retrospective: it was mentioned all the way back of Adventure Comics #343.
Which was a rather terrible story, but great continuity!
This World’s Finest issue, however, is the first time we actually visit Ventura proper.

The ENTIRE reason why Batman is in the story is to act as bait for Superman.

The heroes are brought to Ventura, where we are reminded that its inhabitants are incredibly powerful.

Also a big round of applause for Ventura: they managed to come up with a system of government that is worse than anything we’ve ever attempted on Earth. That’s QUITE an accomplishment.

Batman doesn’t want Superman to sacrifice his life for him because… well he’s Batman… and he’s suspicious about the fact that Ventura’s atmosphere is supposedly toxic for humans.
Superman backs the alien’s claim, but it will be understandably dropped by future stories: after all what’s the use of a casino where the customers die?

Ventura is WEIRD, and not just because of the whole gambling addiction. It also has a truly bizarre level of sexual dimorphism.
It applies only to the orange-skinned ones, who describe themselves as being from “the hereditary ruling class”, but still, weird how different they are.

John Byrne satirized this trope perfectly in his She-Hulk run.

You might be wondering: how DOES a society entirely centered on gambling work?

Superman also has to save the planet from a prisoner sabotaging a fusion power station. Remember when this was about Batman inspecting a casino?

With Hamilton writing such a weird world, I kind of miss the John Forte zaniness. Nothing against Curt Swan of course, but these absurd environments are where Forte thrived.

And if you think I’m stretching the Legion connection… try NOT to think about Adventure Comics #312.

My theory about only the ruling class being orange is proven wrong where other Venturans are shown like this (unless the kidnappers were lying about being the last surviving ones).

Superman figures out Lurala was using psychology to discourage him, when actually the real plan hinged on the fact that Superman could never resist a pair of Ls.

Do you still remember the cover at this point? I hope not, because it’s just a dream sequence!
BOOOO!!!

It is kind of neat that Superman wins even in his dreams, but come on, this is a cheat.

The REAL game is called Solar System Roulette, meaning it looks nothing like roulette.

But remember the asteroid at the beginning of the story? It’s SO magnetic that it’s attracted to the Sun!!!

And that’s the end, with Superman winning back Earth and saving Batman, while Ventura goes on to have the worst system of government.

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Historical significance: 4/10
Ventura is a recurrent place, but I wouldn’t exactly call it important.

Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Where else do you run through so much stuff with little pause? Not to mention, with planetary destruction being considered this trivial? Bonus for having the cover scene being just a dream!

Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
This is one of the most schizophrenic World’s Finest issues so far; it starts as a Batman story, then it changes into a Superman story, and the two don’t have all that much in common.
If the Batman story was allowed to continue, or if the Superman one was a standalone, or if the two were more cohesive, things might’ve been better. As it is, it’s quite disjointed.
Plus there’s the cheat of the dream sequence, Batman being inconsequential for half the story, and the ending coming out of left field despite the attempt to set it up.
On a positive note Ventura is a GREAT concept and there’s some fun stuff being done with the setting, but unfortunately it’s not given enough space to be developed here.

Did Robin actually do anything? Nothing at all
He’s basically grounded.

Did Superman really need Batman? Definitely not
As soon as we reach Ventura, Batman is completely overshadowed in every conceivable way.