iFanboy Video Podcast
Show Notes
Most people who read comic books read superhero comic books, and most of those people define themselves as Marvel Comics Fans or DC Comics Fans. The two biggest companies in all of comic books exist in two separate worlds leading to epic debates among fans like:
Who’s stronger, Superman or The Hulk?
Who’d win in a fight, Aquaman or Namor, The Sub Mariner?
Who’s got more money, Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne?
Well, wonder no more, because the heroes of Marvel have met the heroes of DC on many, many occasions and this week iFanboy takes a look at their four favorites crossovers!
In Superman and Spider-Man, two of the biggest names in comic books meet in the two-fisted style of early 1980s Marvel Comics!
In The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans comics most popular heroes take on Darkseid and the real winner might have been Chris Claremont if he was paid by the word.
Things get ridiculous, 90s style, in DC Versus Marvel when the fans were given the power to decide who won the big fights.
At long last, a comic book dream fulfilled as Kurt Busiek and George Perez brought us the project that was over 20 years in the making: JLA/Avengers!
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Are you guys ever gonna do a next 5 graphic novel’s episode? I always enjoyed those.
@Cadgers: Probably not, what’s you get past your Top Ten you’re into books we’ve probably already covered on one of the shows. It’s possible that we’d go back at some point and do a new Top Five, but that’s probably it.
That DC versus Marvel book is what got me back into reading comics one year ago, after a ten year hiatus. I was cleaning out my room one day, spotted it and proceeded to be engulfed by my comics addiction.
Great show guys. I remember reading the Amalgam comics back in the day but I didn’t realize it had been part of a bigger event at the time.
I’m glad i missed the DC vs Marvel crossover though, that art displayed in the show didnt look so great.
nice show.
avengers vs justice league looks good i’ll pick it up tommorrow
I have some DC VS Marvel issues from my youth. The tiny child me ate them up.
And the first time (I think) an independently owned charcter crossed with a corporate owned character was in 1993 with Batman/Grendel, the black and red promo ashcan comic being one of my favorite comics from my childhood.
DC vs Marvel might’ve been one of the worse peices of crap I’ve ever read. You guys were so dead on with the boom, I cant say anything else negative about it. JLA/Avengers though….eh I dont see why the love for it. I mean I read it after this huge annoucement and wasnt so up in arms on how great it could be. I’m sure, again like you guys said, it was one of the greatest things to hear about in history of comics. But when I read it, meh it was better then DC vs Marvel at least.
But that Titans/X-Men team up….god the art looks soooo good! I must have it!
Champ’s given me an idea; If we’re probably not getting anymore Top 5 graphic novel shows, how about a Worst 5 of all time?
It’d be funny! And educational, as we’d all know what to avoid… of course, if you picked books that some peeps in the iFanbase liked then you’d get flamed like no one’s business. Okay, I just spotted the flaw in my idea. Nevermind.
@Eyun:….Yes yes yes!!!
You guys should do that! Right now! lol
DC and Marvel also put out (I believe it was post "vs.") various, prestige formatted crossovers like Silver Surfer/Green Lantern, Captain America/Batman, (an oversized) Superman meets Fantastic Four, and (my personal favorite) Galactus versus Darksied.
There were also some Spider-Man meet Batman books, apparently. My comic shop’s selling those for an arm and a leg, though. Ah, the back issue market. Is there no better example of the economic principal of supply and demand? I think not.
I enjoyed the hell out of Avengers v. JLA. Such a fun book.
The Bendis one people are talking about was a Daredevil/Batman crossover with I believe Ed Brubaker, when he was on Batman/Gotham Central. That could’ve been pretty groovy.
Just a continuity question: at time of JLA/Avengers crossover, wasn’t Hal still Parrallax?
@UncleBob: Yes, he was still Parallax.
A new top five show would be fantastic!!! maybe for the two year aniversary of the video show. Also, I hate to say it but you guys havn’t talked an awful lot about the top two books of all of yours (watchmen and DKR) I presume that this is because you guys feel that their is nothing more to say about them, but I would love to hear some of your thoughts, and possibly the stories of you first reading them.
Also, where can I get the "absolute" JLA Avengers, and where might I hear the bendis thing??
@UncleBob: Or, wait, was he The Spectre at that point? I think maybe he was.
@Gabe: The two year anniverary has come and gone.
@jamesseals
You’re right about some of those individual cross-over books. As much $#!+ as John Byrne gets these days from the fanboy peanut gallery at large, he was responsible for 2 of the books you mentioned: Batman/Captain America (an adventure that took place in the 1940’s, I believe) and Galactus v. Darkseid, where Galactus comes to feed on Apokalips. He done good on dem dere stories!
Great show and a really great topic! Why no love for the first Spderman-Superman book? And yes that Image-Valiant theing was terrible, and having Lobo lose to Wolvering in Marvel vs. DC was unforgiveable! Yes the Avengers JLA was fantastic, all around a a great show, one of the better ones. You all were hitting on all cylinders on this one, but a cross over with The Totallay Rad Show? Ummm,,,no. Alex is a bit of a tool.
Alex is a friend of ours, as is Danny and Jeff.
@k5blazer: We don’t not "have love" for the first Superman and Spider-Man story. As we said on the show, none of us have read it and only ROn had a vague recollection of the cover.
A Heavy Metal video show would be great as well…
@chlop: That would be a most awkward podcast ever.
(as josh) ‘wow….that’s….a lot of boobies….’
fun stuff!
I love it the Superman/Spider-man book you talked about is only $1.13….That might be the cheapest book you guys have ever recommended.
could you elaborate on why another crossover is unlikely? (you guys said something about a certain person at marvel?)
@Josh-Its great that you stand up for a friend, but when I watch him on Diggnation I want to reach through the monitor and strangle him, just not my cup of tea. Not judging him as a person but by only what I see on Rev3. Also no mention of the very first intercompany cross-over? Didn’t Marvel and DC do a collaboration on the Wizard of Oz oversized book before the first Spdey-Superman one?
Don’t bother… it’s a myth – strangling while sexing it up does not work…
Ah yes, Almalgam comics….inadvertadently ruined 90’s comics and my later childhood/preteen years, I suspect. I lost the comics featuring the adventures of Spider-Boy and Dark Claw, or I believe I later traded them to a friend for Nintendo 64 accerosries who wanted to see the creepy villain known as the Hyena(Sabretooth and the Joker mixed), haha. Anyways, I sadly think I lost my Marvel Knights Daredevil and original printings of Kingdom Come with some of those!
I’m so happy I got into comics during the 90s, (right before doomsday showed up) and LOVED it all back then, (still do), loved amalgam. It makes the comics these days that much better
I really thought image comics was bigger, looking at my trade shelf its more image than anything. I’m just curious, can any of the ifanboys tell me what the highest pulled non marvel/dc book has been?
@lukusLuke: I’m not sure what that has to do with DC/Marvel crossovers. It’s probably more appropriately discussed here or here.
RE: The 1st Spider-Man/Superman book.
I recently had the good fortune of purchasing this book in excellent condition at a shop that was a couple towns over. I saw it, that fantastic cover and fell in love. Bought it up in an instant. Set me back some serious cash. But it’s so worth it. One of these days I’d like to get it framed. Truly the crown jewel of my collection. (Even though I’m scared of actually reading it.)
@conor: I was watching the beginning and you stated that marvel and dc are 90% of the market, and it just sparked my interest because i find myself reading a lot of image. So, it wasnt totally off topic! lol
Death Wish for me, looking up all of the characters from the Analgam universe….Seriously,…what were the companies smoking back then? Were any of them really that good?
Amazon (Storm/Wonder Woman), Aqua Mariner (Aquaman/Namor), Beastling (Beast/Beast Boy), Blobuster (Blob/Blockbuster), Bloodcrow (?), Cybercroc (?), Dark Claw (Batman/Wolverine), Dare the Terminator (Daredevil/Deathstroke), Elastigirl (Domino/Wasp/Elasti-Girl), Ferro Man (Colossus/Ferro Lad), Hyena (?), Iceberg (Iceman/Ice), X-Patrol (X-Factor/Doom Patrol), Lady Talia (?), Lobo the Duck (Lobo/Howard the Duck), Magneto (Magneto/Will Magnus), Mercury (Impulse/Quicksilver), Ms. Tique (I’m guessing Mystique/?), Nightcreeper (Nightcrawler/The Creeper), Niles Cable (Cable/Nile Caulder aka The Chief), Omega Beast (Omega Red/KGBeast), Ra’s-A-Pocalypse (Ra’s Al Ghul/Apocolypse), Runaway (Gypsy/Rouge), Scarecrow (?), Siliconman (?), Spider-Boy (Spider-Man/Superboy), Spiral Harley (?), Terra-X (Terra/Terrax the Tamer), Two-Face Goblin (Two-Face/Green Goblin), JLX (JLA/X-Men), Dr. Doomsday (Dr. Doom/Doomsday), X-Stroke the Terminator (Deathstroke/X-Cutioner), Brother Brood (Brother Blood/Brood)
Alright….all of those are terrible combinations….well except for one. Obviously the choice is Lobo the Duck. 🙂 Sorry if I just made all of you depressed.
@LukusLuje: Fair enough!
Here’s a breakdown of marketshare in 2008:
Source
Obviously 90% was hperbole. DC and Marvel own 76^ of the comic book market.
Wow, IDW is bigger than both oni and top shelf.
Here’s one of my favorite cross-overs with Marvel and DC ever: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZOLQ-CjxGI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZOLQ-CjxGI</a> .
If it doesn’t make you a cross-over lover, then you have a heart of stone!
😉
Okay, a little more seriously…
I wasn’t aware the Amalgam comics were part of the DC verses Marvel series, or that they kept the Marvel and DC books from being published that week and/or month. Which is too bad for me to now learn, because this tarnishes the "innocent" view I add on the Amalgam comics.
I liked Amalgam simply as a clever way of acknowledging the various character architypes between the companies, and how you could combine characters and create something new yet also recognizable at the same time. I liked that we were dropped into the middle of a story like you might encounter as a first time reader for an "existing" comic. And I especially liked the made-up letters columns.
Case in point, I liked how Superman and Captain America were combined, because both represent the moral center of their respective universes; even though they have drastically different types of powers. I thought that was a fun mixture.
I can only assume DC’s "Just Imagine Stan Lee’s…" was sort of an attempt to recapture this sort of magic, but the result in this case was just awful.
Lobo the Duck and Ra’s-A-Pocalypse sounds good.
Oh, one last thought on Amalgam…
I liked some of the Amalgam comics in the same way I like a good "Elseworlds" or "What If" comic, where there are familiar characters or situations, but things are just different enough to make for a novel and new story.
@JamesSeals, @russellbuzz – Yes, I like "Galactus versus Darksied" too. I liked how all the characters are well represented and true to themselves from their regular non-crossed-over stories. I also like the mis-calculations both parties make when sizing up each other. I still own this issue (I trade back most everything I buy), and re-read it from time to time.
I too have that horrible 90s crossover. The interesting thing about it was that fans voted on the main events, but there were certain battles that weren’t voted on…Thor vs Captain Marvel, Flash vs Quicksilver…etc. In the end Marvel ended up winning strictly due to popularity. I’m curious to see if 10+ years later fans might vote differently on certain battles I think Storm may lose out to Wonder Woman these days, but anyway that crossover was pretty terrible.
One of my favorite Marvel/DS crossovers was the Batman/Hulk crossover. The Jose Luis Garcia artwork was incredible. It was written by Len Wein I believe.
On a side note, I absolutely loved some of those Amalgam issues. Generation Hex was a nice little story that still holds up, and Spider-Boy Team Up with art by Ladronn was good stuff.
@TheNextChampion
Bloodcrow=Marvel’s Bloodscream+ DC’s Scarecrow
Cybercroc=Marvel’s Cyber + DC’s Killercroc
Hyena=Sabretooth+Joker
Lady Talia=Lady Deathstrike + Talia Al Guhl
Spiral Harle=Spiral + Harley Quinn
Scarecrow=Scarecrow + Scarecrow
Siliconman=Sandman + Plastic Man
…Yikes! Ok…so the 90s were horrible. There’s still some hidden gems within that Amalgam line though,
I dont even know who some of these characters are……Who is Bloodcrow, Cyber, Spiral, Ferro Lad, and Terrax? Bad 90’s characters that quickly died off.
I am asking a serious question, since I never read comics during the extreme 90’s period. Or at least wasnt a huge fanboy during the dark times of comics turning this period…..Seriously, how on earth did all of you guys stay with comics during this period?
How did conor, ron, josh, the rest of the ifanboy; and all the other members of this site stayed with the industry?
I didn’t. I didn’t start reading comics again until 1998. But I didn’t stop because they were bad. I just stopped cuz I was 13 or 14.
Ah well you were one of the lucky ones. As the WWII vets would say.
Good show guys.
They could have at least fist bumped…
HA! thats right I beat Sub Mariner! take that!
With a whale! It was fantastic.
HAha thanks Conor.
I once fought the Black Manta with a legion of ill tempered walruses……no biggy
Heh… reminds me of Dr. Evil…
"What have we got?"
"Sea bass."
"…riiiight…"
"They’re… mutated sea bass…"
"Are they ill-tempered?"
"Very."
"Well, that’s a start."
Just curious, is there an ultimate George Perez book?
haha, he brought a whale to a gun fight!
Good Show. But i would have liked this to be a 3 part show, where you could talk about every DC/Marvel Crossover. And just to clarify:
1.- In the 80’s the last published was X-Men/Teen Titans ….years passed and in the 90’s the crossovers came back with "Batman/Punisher" by Dixon / Kitson and months later, "Punisher/Batman" by Dixon/Romita Jr. (This one was a response of the publication of "Batman/Spawn" and "Spawn/Batman", this one by Frank Miller and Todd McFarlane).
2.- You should have mention "Darkseid/Galactus", "Superman/Hulk" by Stern and Steve Rude
@jjcolin: Whoa Whoa Whoa…..There is a Darkseid/Galactus book?
This wasnt discussed…..why?
You forgot one of the first intercompany crossovers: Batman Vs The Incredible Hulk. They fight and Batman wins! Bruces Wayne and Banner team-up to find why the Joker wants to capture the Hulk.
"Darkseid VS Galactus" by John Byrne, maybe that’s why!
What’s wrong with John Byrne?
Because John Byrne has a group of detractors that hadn’t bothered to read his stuff and they proclaim that his work is "bad" and "rushed". A real shame, because he’s very talented and he has earned a place in comic’s history!
But "Darkseid VS Galactus" is a masterpiece. It’s about the arrival of Galactus to Apokolips and how he tries to consume the planet, which puts him in confrontation with Darkseid. And because it’s set in a time before the First Encounter of Galactus with the Fantastic Four, his herald is the Silver Surfer, whom has to battle Orion.
Nice uh?