Heroes vs. Heroes (Marvel/DC part 3)

So, hero crossovers, we did the classics, the midpoint of the 1990's, now, we get all the way up to the modern-modern stuff.

Let's get right to it....


Marvel vs DC/DC vs Marvel

Yeah, so, this is where some severe hyper-dimensional cosmo-babble shit comes into play...

...I'll try to boil it down...it gets a bit thick in the actual book.

Okay, so, it's like this, in a higher dimensional plane, the Marvel and DC universes are represented by these giant red and blue crystalline God brothers, and after eons, they become aware of each other, and make physical contact, which causes their universes to overlap, and for the heroes from the respective worlds to flux into each other's universes, and run into each other.

The brothers decide, that the greatest heroes should fight each other to decide which universe survives, and which is erased.

The readers got to choose who won each match.

Among the fights, Green Lantern tussles with Silver Surfer...again, and Superman tussles with Hulk...again.

Anyway, at one point, the Cosmic Brothers momentarily fuse, temporarily creating the Amalgam universe, where Marvel and DC characters are merged into all new hybrid characters.

This resulted in a series of spinoff books about those characters, but...I'm not gonna do those here, because...that's not a crossover, that's a whole new bag.

Anyway, the universes are split again, and everything goes relatively back to normal, except this whole ordeal creates a new character, Access, joint-owned by DC/Marvel who's superpower is to be a living gateway between the universes, therefore, all Marvel/DC crossovers where the heroes simply exist in a joint universe are actually temporal fluctuations created by him.
I assume this retroactively applies to the classic match-ups too.

Well, I say, in the bigger picture, it's a difference that doesn't make a difference, and Spidey just booked  a plane ticket to Metropolis, so, neener.

Is this book good?
Ehhh....*wavey hand*
Not a favorite, but not bad, it's light fun, go ahead, and give it a whirl.


Silver Surfer/Superman: POP!

Superman and Silver surfer versus Mxyzptlk, and Impossible Man.
A wacky hi-jinks episode, fun stuff.


Batman & Captain America

An Elseworld by John Byrne where 40's Cap, and 40's Bats meet up in WWII.
Pretty cool.

Keep in mind, it captures a bit of the cornball of those old WWII era books.
I mean, seriously, a patriotic Joker??

Eh, still cool.
Maybe even because of stuff like that.

Even though, as I said last time (Galactus/Darkseid), John Byrne is a bit of a dick.
But, rockstar front-men often are...
*Shrug*


Daredevil and Batman: Eye For An Eye

Well, like I said about "Punisher/Az-Bat", this is one of those "they're the same guy", teamups.

I liked it though, the art style reminded me of Tim Sale's stuff on "Long Halloween".

And, it showcased Batman being  a detective instead of just being a brawler which is always welcome.

Bats being grouchy about receiving help is something we've already seen in Spidey/Batman, but, whatever.
Daredevil being more trained, and confident than Spidey makes the interplay plenty different enough.

Eh, none too impressed with the villains though...
Two-Face, and Mister Hyde?
Ehh...they're formidable enough, but odd/obscure choice on the latter one...
Mr. Hyde in Marvel is pretty much a knockoff of Grey Hulk.

Anyway, they leave it wide open for the sequel by having Bats say to DD, "don't let me see you in Gotham", to which DD thought-balloons "that sounds like a dare".

Huh huh, Dare-devil, get it?


Batman & Spiderman: New Age Dawning

Ahhh, more liiike it, better fuckin' villains this tiiime.

Kingpin, and Ra's Al Ghul.

And, Batman is on Spidey's turf, so the art style imitates John Romita Sr.

Another good one to be a movie.
Anything with Ra's has a 007 flavor to it.

Y'know, I'm actually fairly impressed by these modern crossovers, they got good people to do these ones.
Once I got out of Spawn territory, I was continually pleasantly surprised.
Don't worry, I've got some sucky ones coming soon to rant about, that'll be fun.

So, yeah, that's 2 Superman/Spidey's, and 2 Batman/Spidey's its a draw now.


Superman/Fantastic Four: The Infinite Destruction 

Superman & FF vs The Cyborg Superman, and Galactus.
But, mostly, Galactus.

All 5 of these characters regularly fend off cosmic level catastrophes, so, they turn out to go together like peanut butter & jelly in a teamup.
Why did they take so long to do this?

Anyway, at one point, Galactus turns Superman into a Herald, thus deepening the shit the FF, indeed the galaxy, is stuck in.

But, Reed Richards is Marvel's Batman, so, they find a way to whup Galactus by sabotaging his ship.

Meanwhile, because Franklin Richards is Marvel's Wesley Crusher, he happens to perchance to leave a Superman action figure where Herald-Superman can see it, and this awakens his inner-spirit and turns him back.

Much like the effect of "you can be great again, you're just in a slump!", from Ricky in "Superman III".

Disney, Warners, you wanna revitalize both the Superman, and Fantastic Four franchises?
Here's your script.
You teamed up on Roger Rabbit, do it again, get crackin.


Batman/Daredevil: King Of New York

Batman & DD vs Kingpin, and Scarecrow.

Y'know, I think this whole book exists just so they could use fear gas on Daredevil.

He spooks at first, then laughs it off.
Truly, he is the man without fear.

Fun little read, but "New Age Dawning", was a better Kingpin story, and better period.

So...that's all the nifty little one-shots...now, back to the cosmic epics with...


Avengers/JLA

Cosmic ones bookend this entry.

Wow...this one...is...MEATY.

Remember I complained about the decompression factor?
Pheeeew, not here.

46 pages an issue, 4 issues, and those issues are PACKED.
Time slows down, you feel like you've read "Lord Of The Rings", when it's over.
Ho-ly shit!

It. Is. An. Epic.
I've thrown that word around before, but this dwarfs 'em all.

Actually, this match-up was supposed to happen way back in the 80's, right after X-Men/Teen Titans.

It was a long time coming, with a lot of behind the scenes bullshit getting in the way, but they really make it fucking count.

They even sorta reference the 80's story that didn't get to happen in an alternate timeline scene.

Okay, plot....

An alien mad scientist, Krona, builds up to Thanos levels of power, but specializes in time control, and seeks the ultimate answer to what came/comes before the big bang, and destroys several universes in doing so.

Now, his eyes are set on the Marvel/DC universes, but The GrandMaster gets in the way, and bargains with him to save the universe of the heroes that can complete a quest for the most Marvel/DC power items.
So, it's another game of death in the style of "Marvel-DC/DC-Marvel".

Much questing, much character interplay, much tussling, then, the universe gets scrambled at one point, and all the heroes start fluctuating into their various past and present incarnations, and/or their generational replacements, and what ensues is cameos of every fucking character ever!

Wow, the artists must have had bloody hands after this.

Again, ho-ly shit.

A must fucking read.
WOW.

Oh, right, and as for the behind the scenes bullshit that delayed this masterpiece, Jim Shooter tells his side of it in these links...

Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 3.
Part 4.
Part 5.


Phew, eyestrain reading all of that.
But, a good time, overall.

Thus ends the Marvel/DC crossovers.

Up next, miscellaneous company crossovers.