In the latest edition of Comics to Read Before You Die, Jessie Robertson looks at DC vs. Marvel Comics…
DC v. Marvel Comics #1,#4/ Marvel Comics v. DC #2,#3 (April-May 1996)
Written by : Ron Marz, Peter David
Art by: Dan Jurgens, Josef Rubinstein, Claudio Castellini, Paul Neary, Jose Garcia-Lopez, Kevin Nowland
Lettered by: Bill Oakley, Chris Elio Poulos
Colored by: Gregory Wright, Matt Hollingsworth
Seperated by: Digital Chameleon, Matt Hollingsworth
Assistant Edited by: Chris Duffy, Joe Andreani
Edited by: Mike Carlin, Mark Gruenwald, Dan Thorsland
This was one of those events that happened as I was a youngster reading comics, and my cousins and I were jazzed for it. There were mail-in cards where you could vote on the big 5 matchups pitting Marvel and DC’s heaviest hitters against each other: Superman vs the Hulk, Wolverine v. Lobo, it was, for us, the most exciting concept ever. So, we voted, and followed the storyline as it unfolded and was generally pretty happy. But, this is not a comic book that stayed with me; I owned the individual issues but never revisited them….until now. Sometimes, there are just comics everyone should read, for historical purposes, for the debut of a legendary character, stories that pushed the envelope in one direction or another, and sometimes just because they are so strange and “bad” they have to be read. After cracking the spines on those dusty issues, for my palette, this book goes into that last pile.
First, to pull this off, they needed a plot to tie these two worlds together. What we get is hanging by loose thread; two normal people (one being a bum, the other a teenager) possess a hidden strength to keep these two separate worlds from each other, and now the world has been thrown into turmoil, as the worlds are crossing. This will lead to an explosion the likes of which had never been seen before until nothing remains. So, two cosmically and spiritual powered beings from both universes, have deemed that a series of champions from each universe must do battle and the one winning the most of these contests will remain; the other, to be sacrificed to keep these powers at bay. It’s probably the best you can do to have it make any kind of semblance of sense, but it comes off the page really hokey and way too much time is dedicated to fleshing these two harbingers out and explaining the time fluctuations and universe portals when all we want to see is these awesome characters duking it out with each other.
That leads to another disappointing aspect of this book. None of these climatic fights last more than 5 pages. You have, literally, the greatest set of characters ever created in this medium, or many others (some would argue) yet the battles seem so uninspired and are over far too quickly to really get to enjoy them. Hell, Wolverine and Lobo’s takes place behind a bar where you can’t even see it! Before our battles even take place, we open on Spider-Man swinging around New York City but not recognizing anything. Then he runs into a terrifying clown sitting on a rooftop and is completely baffled. Joker mentions he’s run into Spider-Man before (see Spider-Man and Batman, Sept 1995), but Spidey doesn’t recognize him. What? That’s because this is Ben Reilly (or Spider-Clone). So, we don’t even get Peter Parker involved in this? Lame. There’s some other strange interactions that just hurt all the villains of these worlds. Superman knocks out Juggernaut with one punch. Bullseye misses Batman and can’t believe it; then comments how he’s so much harder to hit than Daredevil. Burn on Murdock. Both worlds Scarecrows are taken out in a single small panel. It’s embarrassing for the villain lineups to be dispatched so easily. The only two villains who seem to get any kind of rub are Darkseid and Thanos, who keep threatening each other but never even touch. I did like the scene where a casual shopper runs into a shop that has become a Warner Bros. store, with Looney Tunes and Pinky & the Brain merch in the display window and he asks what happened to the X-Men stuff?
We get to the battles then which take place on “some Earth?” Where is that and what the hell does that mean? We get some “preliminary” bouts, you know, like the earlier matches on a boxing show before Mike Tyson would cream whoever they put in front of him back in the day. Our first one is Thor against Captain Marvel. Take one look at Thor’s outfit and you know you’re in the 90’s.
The battle isn’t long, and **[SPOILER]** Thor wins but loses his hammer in the process. It’s discovered and picked up by someone worthy; Wonder Woman, in a cool scene.
From there, a quick series of fights takes place; Flash defeats Quicksilver (who’s the only other speed guy he could face but hardly a match), Elektra defeats Catwoman, and Silver Surfer dispatches Green Lantern (Kyle) so quickly it seemed almost a shame to waste the ink on the page. Namor and Aquaman have a fun exchange where they pontificate why Atlantean rulers are so bitter and moody: “It must be the job.” Then, we get Robin facing Jubilee. This is a joke. Even worse, Jubilee is the voice and narrator of issue 3. Yikes. The last voice of any of these I would want to hear and it’s all overwrought dribble. The artwork of issues 1 & 2 however is sharp and actually builds you up in excitement to see these characters duke it out. There are some other strange moments too: Snapper Carr and Rick Jones setting up booths across from each other like carnival barkers arguing who will win; a betting board at the Daily Planet. At this point in the book, you almost want to close it.
When you get to the main five bouts, the ones we the comic book loyalists got to vote on, the wind is out of the sails. Our big matchups are Wolverine vs. Lobo, Storm v. Wonder Woman, Spider-Man v. Superboy, Superman v. Hulk and Batman v. Captain America. I won’t ruin all these but needless to say, none of them hold up to what your imagination could come up with. This is where the universes merge and we get the Amalgam universe; a world full of heroes and villains who merged together to create a new character, such as Batman and Wolverine merging to create Dark Claw and Superman and Captain America merging to create Super-Soldier.
We hated this idea when it happened, and since these characters have not been seen since, I’m guessing sales told them the same thing. The end of the story has the heroes from both universes coming together (as it always is when two fan favorites battle) to bring about the end of everything as they know it, which has some great moments. Thanos, staring into the end, crying, saying it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen was classic. Also , Robin and Jubilee somehow fell in love during all of this and share a passionate kiss as existence blows up behind them.
I hate to use this column to tear down a story, but this is pure 90’s schlock at its highest, with a promise that fails to deliver to any fan who’s dreamed of these titans matching up against each other. I still think it’s worth a read, just to be privy to what could possibly be a once in a lifetime event now that these companies are competing not just in print books, but cinema and TV media.
Who would have won?
Jessie Robertson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ONsp_bmDYXc
