Superman and Batman: World's Funnest

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Cover art for Superman and Batman: World's Funnest, by Brian Bolland.
Cover art for Superman and Batman: World's Funnest, by Brian Bolland.

Superman and Batman: World's Funnest was a single issue prestige format comic book written by Evan Dorkin and illustrated by numerous artists (including Mike Allred, Brian Bolland, Frank Cho, Dave Gibbons, Jaime Hernandez, Stuart Immonen, Phil Jimenez, Doug Mahnke, Frank Miller, Alex Ross, Ty Templeton, Scott Shaw!, Sheldon Moldoff and Bruce Timm).

It is an Elseworlds tale and as such is not considered part of the main DC canon/continuity. Despite the title, Batman and Superman play only a small role in the story which stars instead Mr. Mxyzptlk and Bat-Mite as the main protagonists. The book pokes fun at many comic book conventions and DC heroes from the golden through to modern ages. Its setting is a multiverse similar to the pre-crisis DCU but also includes references to other Elseworlds tales (Kingdom Come and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns), the modern DCU, The DCAU and even pays a visit to Crisis on Infinite Earths.

[edit] Story

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The story starts in typical Silver age World's Finest style with Superman, Batman and Robin handing over the supervillain team of The Joker and Lex Luthor to the authorities. Bat-Mite and Mxy' appear simultaneously, the first to see his hero, Batman, in action and the latter to torment Superman. As the two imps clash Superman, Batman, Robin, The Joker and Luthor are killed, as are all the other heroes who come to their aid (including Batwoman, Batgirl and Supergirl, the JLA, Legion of Super-Pets, Legion of Super-Heroes and the Spectre). Their fight eventually consumes the Earth, the universe and the Phantom Zone.

As all of that reality has been destroyed, Bat-Mite flees to Earth-Two pursued by Mxy. Earth-Two is in turn destroyed. The rest of the book follows the formula of each new world they encounter being destroyed in the battle between the two imps, Bat-Mite fleeing and Mxy' pursuing to another universe/world which is then destroyed. In the process they generally mock the characters/comics they encounter, often breaking the 4th wall and lampooning how seriously people "inside" comics take themselves given the often unbelieveble or silly circumstances they encounter.

The worlds/characters they visit include:

Ultimately, having destroyed all the Kingdom Come universe Mxyzptlk simply throws a "magic bomb" at Bat-Mite who deflects it back with the helmet of KC's Flash (the only thing that survived). Both are completely exhausted and begin to laugh, deciding the whole thing has been a lot of fun they reset reality to the way it was, vowing to meet again "next Tuesday."

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