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JLA/Avengers #1-4
JLA/Avengers
The most powerful characters in two universes collide as DC's premier super-heroes meet Marvel's. Collected in a gorgeous two-volume oversized slipcased hardcover is perhaps the most eagerly anticipated and memorable crossover of all time, as the Justice League of America unites with The Avengers. Superman, Batman, and the other members of the JLA join forces with Captain America, Iron Man, and the many other Avengers to fight a threat so immense it threatens two entire dimensions. The second hardcover in this deluxe set features art and articles chronicling this historic crossover--which has been over twenty years in the making.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Kurt Busiek
1,930 books594 followersKurt Busiek is an American comic book writer notable for his work on the Marvels limited series, his own title Astro City, and his four-year run on Avengers.
Busiek did not read comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of them. He began to read them regularly around the age of 14, when he picked up a copy of Daredevil #120. This was the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc; Busiek was drawn to the copious history and cross-connections with other series. Throughout high school and college, he and future writer Scott McCloud practiced making comics. During this time, Busiek also had many letters published in comic book letter columns, and originated the theory that the Phoenix was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that therefore Grey had not died—a premise which made its way from freelancer to freelancer, and which was eventually used in the comics.
During the last semester of his senior year, Busiek submitted some sample scripts to editor Dick Giordano at DC Comics. None of them sold, but they did get him invitations to pitch other material to DC editors, which led to his first professional work, a back-up story in Green Lantern #162 (Mar. 1983).
Busiek has worked on a number of different titles in his career, including Arrowsmith, The Avengers, Icon, Iron Man, The Liberty Project, Ninjak, The Power Company, Red Tornado, Shockrockets, Superman: Secret Identity, Thunderbolts, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, JLA, and the award-winning Marvels and the Homage Comics title Kurt Busiek's Astro City.
In 1997, Busiek began a stint as writer of Avengers alongside artist George Pérez. Pérez departed from the series in 2000, but Busiek continued as writer for two more years, collaborating with artists Alan Davis, Kieron Dwyer and others. Busiek's tenure culminated with the "Kang Dynasty" storyline. In 2003, Busiek re-teamed with Perez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series.
In 2003, Busiek began a new Conan series for Dark Horse Comics, which he wrote for four years.
In December 2005 Busiek signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics. During DC's Infinite Crisis event, he teamed with Geoff Johns on a "One Year Later" eight-part story arc (called Up, Up and Away) that encompassed both Superman titles. In addition, he began writing the DC title Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis from issues 40-49. Busiek was the writer of Superman for two years, before followed by James Robinson starting from Superman #677. Busiek wrote a 52-issue weekly DC miniseries called Trinity, starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Each issue (except for issue #1) featured a 12-page main story by Busiek, with art by Mark Bagley, and a ten-page backup story co-written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with art from various artists, including Tom Derenick, Mike Norton and Scott McDaniel.
Busiek's work has won him numerous awards in the comics industry, including the Harvey Award for Best Writer in 1998 and the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 1999. In 1994, with Marvels, he won Best Finite Series/Limited Series Eisner Award and the Best Continuing or Limited Series Harvey Award; as well as the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for Marvels #4) in 1995. In 1996, with Astro City, Busiek won both the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series. He won the Best Single Issue/Single Story Eisner three years in a row from 1996–1998, as well as in 2004. Busiek won the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 1997–1998, as well as the Best Serialized Story award in 1998. In addition, Astro City was awarded the 1996 Best Single Issue or Story Harvey Award, and the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.
Busiek was given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer's Guide Awards for Favorite Writer, with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004. He has also received numerous Squiddy Awards, having been selected as favorite writer four years in a row from 1995 to 1998,
Busiek did not read comics as a youngster, as his parents disapproved of them. He began to read them regularly around the age of 14, when he picked up a copy of Daredevil #120. This was the first part of a continuity-heavy four-part story arc; Busiek was drawn to the copious history and cross-connections with other series. Throughout high school and college, he and future writer Scott McCloud practiced making comics. During this time, Busiek also had many letters published in comic book letter columns, and originated the theory that the Phoenix was a separate being who had impersonated Jean Grey, and that therefore Grey had not died—a premise which made its way from freelancer to freelancer, and which was eventually used in the comics.
During the last semester of his senior year, Busiek submitted some sample scripts to editor Dick Giordano at DC Comics. None of them sold, but they did get him invitations to pitch other material to DC editors, which led to his first professional work, a back-up story in Green Lantern #162 (Mar. 1983).
Busiek has worked on a number of different titles in his career, including Arrowsmith, The Avengers, Icon, Iron Man, The Liberty Project, Ninjak, The Power Company, Red Tornado, Shockrockets, Superman: Secret Identity, Thunderbolts, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, JLA, and the award-winning Marvels and the Homage Comics title Kurt Busiek's Astro City.
In 1997, Busiek began a stint as writer of Avengers alongside artist George Pérez. Pérez departed from the series in 2000, but Busiek continued as writer for two more years, collaborating with artists Alan Davis, Kieron Dwyer and others. Busiek's tenure culminated with the "Kang Dynasty" storyline. In 2003, Busiek re-teamed with Perez to create the JLA/Avengers limited series.
In 2003, Busiek began a new Conan series for Dark Horse Comics, which he wrote for four years.
In December 2005 Busiek signed a two-year exclusive contract with DC Comics. During DC's Infinite Crisis event, he teamed with Geoff Johns on a "One Year Later" eight-part story arc (called Up, Up and Away) that encompassed both Superman titles. In addition, he began writing the DC title Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis from issues 40-49. Busiek was the writer of Superman for two years, before followed by James Robinson starting from Superman #677. Busiek wrote a 52-issue weekly DC miniseries called Trinity, starring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Each issue (except for issue #1) featured a 12-page main story by Busiek, with art by Mark Bagley, and a ten-page backup story co-written by Busiek and Fabian Nicieza, with art from various artists, including Tom Derenick, Mike Norton and Scott McDaniel.
Busiek's work has won him numerous awards in the comics industry, including the Harvey Award for Best Writer in 1998 and the Eisner Award for Best Writer in 1999. In 1994, with Marvels, he won Best Finite Series/Limited Series Eisner Award and the Best Continuing or Limited Series Harvey Award; as well as the Harvey Award for Best Single Issue or Story (for Marvels #4) in 1995. In 1996, with Astro City, Busiek won both the Eisner and Harvey awards for Best New Series. He won the Best Single Issue/Single Story Eisner three years in a row from 1996–1998, as well as in 2004. Busiek won the Best Continuing Series Eisner Award in 1997–1998, as well as the Best Serialized Story award in 1998. In addition, Astro City was awarded the 1996 Best Single Issue or Story Harvey Award, and the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Continuing or Limited Series.
Busiek was given the 1998 and 1999 Comics Buyer's Guide Awards for Favorite Writer, with additional nominations in 1997 and every year from 2000 to 2004. He has also received numerous Squiddy Awards, having been selected as favorite writer four years in a row from 1995 to 1998,
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June 6, 2017
The mightiest heroes of TWO earths, come together!
I got this in its single comic book issues, but I chosen this TPB edition to make a better overall review.
This TPB edition collects “JLA / Avengers” #1-4.
Creative Team:
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Illustrator: George Perez
THE TWO MOST POWERFUL SUPER-HERO TEAMS MEET!
Our good (well, not so good really!) ol’ pal Krona who was the cabalistic elemento detonating the Crisis on Infinite Earths…
…found a new Earth…
…the one of Marvel Universe!
But never fear, Grandmaster is here!
And the twist is that each cosmic being will use the super-team of the opposite universe as their heralds in your obvious super-battle for the fate of both universes.
And of course…
…any excuse was good just for having the Justice League of America and The Avengers in the same event!
EVERYTHING IS IN THE LITTLE DETAILS
While no one can deny that this a cliché super-hero event, still you can appreciate those little details that indeed enrich the experience of the meeting of the best super-teams of each comic book house.
The JLA is disappointed with the Avengers since they let that supervillains (Dr. Doom) remained as political leaders of entire countries, while the Avengers think that the JLA is a bunch of facists that they impose their will to the little people.
The Avengers (and almost any Marvel hero) is used to be hated by the people and being attacked by the press, but they can’t believe that the JLA is loved by their people and even they got medals and got museums in their honor.
While Marvel’s Earth has some speedsters, there is a Speed Force there, in comparison in DC’s Earth there is too much magic in the ambiance.
DC’s Earth is larger than Marvel’s due having too much more of “fictional” cities and countries that in Marvel doesn’t exist (while Marvel does have its fair quantity of “fictional” places, it’s obvious that DC has a lot more).
I got this in its single comic book issues, but I chosen this TPB edition to make a better overall review.
This TPB edition collects “JLA / Avengers” #1-4.
Creative Team:
Writer: Kurt Busiek
Illustrator: George Perez
THE TWO MOST POWERFUL SUPER-HERO TEAMS MEET!
Our good (well, not so good really!) ol’ pal Krona who was the cabalistic elemento detonating the Crisis on Infinite Earths…
…found a new Earth…
…the one of Marvel Universe!
But never fear, Grandmaster is here!
And the twist is that each cosmic being will use the super-team of the opposite universe as their heralds in your obvious super-battle for the fate of both universes.
And of course…
…any excuse was good just for having the Justice League of America and The Avengers in the same event!
EVERYTHING IS IN THE LITTLE DETAILS
While no one can deny that this a cliché super-hero event, still you can appreciate those little details that indeed enrich the experience of the meeting of the best super-teams of each comic book house.
The JLA is disappointed with the Avengers since they let that supervillains (Dr. Doom) remained as political leaders of entire countries, while the Avengers think that the JLA is a bunch of facists that they impose their will to the little people.
The Avengers (and almost any Marvel hero) is used to be hated by the people and being attacked by the press, but they can’t believe that the JLA is loved by their people and even they got medals and got museums in their honor.
While Marvel’s Earth has some speedsters, there is a Speed Force there, in comparison in DC’s Earth there is too much magic in the ambiance.
DC’s Earth is larger than Marvel’s due having too much more of “fictional” cities and countries that in Marvel doesn’t exist (while Marvel does have its fair quantity of “fictional” places, it’s obvious that DC has a lot more).
October 8, 2017
Originally reviewed at Bookwraiths by my son Connor.
JLA/Avengers is an old superhero team-up story by Kurt Busiek and George Perez. My dad says both of these guys use to be big deals, so I decided to read this one and see how good it was. And weird as it is to say this was a good comic story where good guys work through their problems to find a way to defeat the bad guys, and it was actually FUN!
Universes are dying. An unknown entity destroying everything, then moving on. And finally this force has come to the Marvel Universe, where the Grandmaster confronts this seemingly unstoppable entity. But if power alone can’t stop this god, perhaps cunning might.
Flash forward. Strange things are happening on both earths, Marvel Universe and DC Universe. The Avengers and the JLA fighting cosmic entities they have never seen or heard of before. Both super groups struggling to defeat these new threats and find out where these villains are coming from and why.
Naturally, both groups soon find themselves caught up in a cross universe power struggle. JLA members coming into conflict with Avengers, and a cosmic game of chance developing, pitting hero against hero with the fate of both universes in the balance.
Okay, I know that description makes this book sound like fairly meh. But it really isn’t. I mean, there isn’t any deep messages in this one, and it really is just a chance to see old, male Thor try to beat Superman’s butt, and the non-Nazi Captain America square up against Batman, but the comic was actually fun to read, delivering a cool, action-packed story from first page to last with really cool artwork from George Perez.
Would others like this one?
I don’t know. It all depends on what you look for in your comics. If you like fun stories with cool artwork where heroes are heroes and try to defeat villains, then this one is well worth the time reading. I mean where else are you gonna see stories with pictures like below.
Well, I hope you liked this, and if you'd like to read more of my favorite graphic novels come on over to Bookwraiths where I post all my reviews.
JLA/Avengers is an old superhero team-up story by Kurt Busiek and George Perez. My dad says both of these guys use to be big deals, so I decided to read this one and see how good it was. And weird as it is to say this was a good comic story where good guys work through their problems to find a way to defeat the bad guys, and it was actually FUN!
Universes are dying. An unknown entity destroying everything, then moving on. And finally this force has come to the Marvel Universe, where the Grandmaster confronts this seemingly unstoppable entity. But if power alone can’t stop this god, perhaps cunning might.
Flash forward. Strange things are happening on both earths, Marvel Universe and DC Universe. The Avengers and the JLA fighting cosmic entities they have never seen or heard of before. Both super groups struggling to defeat these new threats and find out where these villains are coming from and why.
Naturally, both groups soon find themselves caught up in a cross universe power struggle. JLA members coming into conflict with Avengers, and a cosmic game of chance developing, pitting hero against hero with the fate of both universes in the balance.
Okay, I know that description makes this book sound like fairly meh. But it really isn’t. I mean, there isn’t any deep messages in this one, and it really is just a chance to see old, male Thor try to beat Superman’s butt, and the non-Nazi Captain America square up against Batman, but the comic was actually fun to read, delivering a cool, action-packed story from first page to last with really cool artwork from George Perez.
Would others like this one?
I don’t know. It all depends on what you look for in your comics. If you like fun stories with cool artwork where heroes are heroes and try to defeat villains, then this one is well worth the time reading. I mean where else are you gonna see stories with pictures like below.
Well, I hope you liked this, and if you'd like to read more of my favorite graphic novels come on over to Bookwraiths where I post all my reviews.
January 27, 2020
It's really rare for me to give a comic a 5 star and even rarer for it to get placed on my favorites shelf. This mini series knocked the ball out of the park! Just the amazing Geoge Perez art that made each page a wonder to behold would have gotten the 5 star rating but then there is the writing. Fantastic plot that somehow the writer managed to include EVERY hero that has EVER been an Avenger or JSA member. They just cover the pages during the final fight. This is one of the best. if you a re a comic fan Read it NOW! My highest recommendation
February 14, 2024
When Universes Collide!
The DC and Marvel Heroes go head to head when their two realities combine, putting both their universes in danger. Kurt Busiek writes and George Pérez illustrates this fun crossover tale in which all your favorites have to work together to save the cosmos!
Evil super scientist Krona (from the DC universe) is desperate to understand how it all began- what came before the Big Bang? In his millennia of searching, he has destroyed planets and civilizations without a second thought but comes up against his equal when he meets the Grandmaster (from the Marvel universe). The two of them devise a plan to pit the two teams of superheroes against one another, in a game within a game.
The two teams are initially unaware of one another and are confused when they are tasked to retrieve twelve magical items, found in both universes. Once they move into each other’s universes, they meet, and the competition is on. Initially rivals, their retrieval of the icons is kept track of by Krona and Grandmaster in a competition of which team can find them first. Not surprisingly, the teams eventually forge an allegiance, but not before Galactus gets in on the action and several betrayals and twists and turns occur. This is a hard story to describe, you have to experience it yourself to truly appreciate it.
As a practical person who often struggles with a “suspension of disbelief”, I loved how Busiek explained the two different worlds and their contradictions to one another. The DC heroes are revered in their world, while the Avengers (and definitely the mutants) are met with hostility in theirs. Because of this differing opinion of the masses, they each accuse the other team of being out of touch with what their citizens need. How their powers work in each world is also explained in a plausible way. Plus, the way they touched on the possible future that they had a chance to witness, was handled better in a few pages than Civil War II did in a whole book.
Although released in 2004, this story has a Golden Age/retro feel to it, as Pérez expertly recreates the heroes. He absolutely captures their essence, and without giving away too many spoilers, he also has a chance to show the heroes in different costume eras. That was a hoot, as some of the heroes have had extreme makeovers over the years, or have had different people representing them. The layout of the narrative had an easy flow, with impressive title pages and two-page spreads.
This was a fun book to read, and I was extremely impressed with the Busiek/Pérez team up and how they wonderfully melded together two rich histories into one outstanding story.
Asides:
I HATE PLASTIC MAN! Not just dislike- I hate him! As a child, he creeped me out, and I found his slapstick humor distasteful. Every time I saw him in a panel in this story (which was a lot) I cringed.
Why is Hawkeye such a ladies' man? I found him ugly with his purple costume and ridiculous boots.
I enjoyed the rivalry between similarly powered heroes: Hawkeye/Green Arrow, Flash/Quicksilver, Superman/Thor, Batman/Captain America.
Aquaman is a buff, bearded blonde here, as he is in most recent incarnations, so I am anxious to see how the dark-haired DC movie actor Jason Momoa handles the role. JM is mighty fine, so I am looking forward to seeing his interpretation of the role.
Avengers Assemble! has a much better ring to it than Justice League Lambaste! Man, that was funny when Superman tried to come up with his own catchphrase.
This review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2017/06/2...
The DC and Marvel Heroes go head to head when their two realities combine, putting both their universes in danger. Kurt Busiek writes and George Pérez illustrates this fun crossover tale in which all your favorites have to work together to save the cosmos!
Evil super scientist Krona (from the DC universe) is desperate to understand how it all began- what came before the Big Bang? In his millennia of searching, he has destroyed planets and civilizations without a second thought but comes up against his equal when he meets the Grandmaster (from the Marvel universe). The two of them devise a plan to pit the two teams of superheroes against one another, in a game within a game.
The two teams are initially unaware of one another and are confused when they are tasked to retrieve twelve magical items, found in both universes. Once they move into each other’s universes, they meet, and the competition is on. Initially rivals, their retrieval of the icons is kept track of by Krona and Grandmaster in a competition of which team can find them first. Not surprisingly, the teams eventually forge an allegiance, but not before Galactus gets in on the action and several betrayals and twists and turns occur. This is a hard story to describe, you have to experience it yourself to truly appreciate it.
As a practical person who often struggles with a “suspension of disbelief”, I loved how Busiek explained the two different worlds and their contradictions to one another. The DC heroes are revered in their world, while the Avengers (and definitely the mutants) are met with hostility in theirs. Because of this differing opinion of the masses, they each accuse the other team of being out of touch with what their citizens need. How their powers work in each world is also explained in a plausible way. Plus, the way they touched on the possible future that they had a chance to witness, was handled better in a few pages than Civil War II did in a whole book.
Although released in 2004, this story has a Golden Age/retro feel to it, as Pérez expertly recreates the heroes. He absolutely captures their essence, and without giving away too many spoilers, he also has a chance to show the heroes in different costume eras. That was a hoot, as some of the heroes have had extreme makeovers over the years, or have had different people representing them. The layout of the narrative had an easy flow, with impressive title pages and two-page spreads.
This was a fun book to read, and I was extremely impressed with the Busiek/Pérez team up and how they wonderfully melded together two rich histories into one outstanding story.
Asides:
I HATE PLASTIC MAN! Not just dislike- I hate him! As a child, he creeped me out, and I found his slapstick humor distasteful. Every time I saw him in a panel in this story (which was a lot) I cringed.
Why is Hawkeye such a ladies' man? I found him ugly with his purple costume and ridiculous boots.
I enjoyed the rivalry between similarly powered heroes: Hawkeye/Green Arrow, Flash/Quicksilver, Superman/Thor, Batman/Captain America.
Aquaman is a buff, bearded blonde here, as he is in most recent incarnations, so I am anxious to see how the dark-haired DC movie actor Jason Momoa handles the role. JM is mighty fine, so I am looking forward to seeing his interpretation of the role.
Avengers Assemble! has a much better ring to it than Justice League Lambaste! Man, that was funny when Superman tried to come up with his own catchphrase.
This review can also be found on my blog: https://graphicnovelty2.com/2017/06/2...
February 21, 2014
I would like to write a brief epitaph in honour of the opportunity for Marvel and DC comics to work together: It was a beautiful relationship while it lasted but it will likely never happen again.
JLA/Avengers is the ultimate comic book fan's dream lineup for a work of fiction. The basic idea is another trippy world's colliding mash up akin to the whole Crisis on Infinite Earths saga that went on at DC years ago. Only this time Kurt Busiek of Astro City Vol. 1: Life in the Big City and Marvels fame is at the helm. And with such a talent at the reigns this becomes a work that is just plain fun.
Let's be honest. Very few people go into a graphic novel looking for a Batman: The Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen type of experience. The philosophical, intellectual and psychological works of fiction are not what people always want from graphic novels. And then you don't always need to make a work of fiction that contains such depth. The truly great works will contain such things but sometimes there exist other works like this one which are just pure creative and chaotic fun. And sometimes that is all I want in a fictional work.
So if you are a comic lover and want something that's pure energy and fun give this a shot. It is completely worth it for all the moments in which Hawkeye and Green Arrow go head to head or when Flash and Quicksilver duke it out. The very competitive natures of each hero set and each company is painted out in glorious artwork and makes for a treasure of a comic.
November 6, 2016
I finally sat down last night and read my copy of JLA-Avengers, which I've been saving for just the right moment, because I knew it was going to be good.
I didn't realize just *how* good. If you are anything of a Marvel or DC fan, you really need to get ahold of this and devour it.
Perez is always solid, but his details and characters are really amazing here. There were people *I* didn't know, and I consider myself to be close to expert level when it comes to Marvel and just a shade under that for DC. The Cap-Batman scene is particularly amazing.
For the story itself, which apparently was written solely by Busiek (there's no co-writer notation or even co-plotter), Kurt really pulled out all the stops. I have to admit, I haven't been a big fan of his writing lately. His Avengers run ended on a stupid Kang epoch that fell flat, Power Company didn't work (possibly because it needed to be outside a canon, and fitting it in DC's caused trouble), and his recent JLA story couldn't end soon enough for me. That was not the case here. Given free reign to go anywhere and everywhere, Busiek puts in those little flourishes that made his Thor: Godstorm, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, and others so very, very good.
My favorite line: "I knew it! They're a second-rate Squadron Supreme!" Insert BWA-HA-HA here. ;)
The basic plot is that, as per usual, no one remembers any other crossovers, not even DC-Marvel. Krona wants to know things, the Game Master doesn't want to tell him, and Metron is being his usual enigmatic self. Watch as worlds begin to collide, icons must be found, and the JLA/Avengers beat each other silly to save their earth.
Or not.
As we learn, it's more complicated than that. There are games within games with all reality as the game board. One of the players breaks the rules, and the next thing we know, we're in a type of Crisis. Sacrifices must be made by both teams, as a perfect world shatters. With chronal chaos all around, can both universes be saved?
I'm not giving that part away, but I'm sure you know the answer.
What makes this work so well are the little touches. A pre-Crisis Batman can't fathom the Giffen-DeMatteis JLI. Hawkeye and Ollie keep tangling over the time slips. Each Chapter gets titles like, "The Brave and the Bold" or "Contest of Champions." Iron Man wears at least three or four sets of armour while Pietro tries to find the Speed Force. Wonder Woman goes ape on Hercules for what mythology says he did to her mother. Kyle upgrades from his power battery to a Cosmic Cube. The Thing checks out Batman's cave.
Oh, and did I mention Batman-Batroc?
The attention to detail over the changes each team has had in the past 40 years, especially in the final scene, are amazing. The characters react (and overreact) just about as you'd expect them to and speak some of their best lines in years, both serious and humorously. You can tell that this was crafted with a quality you don't see in comics all that often anymore. I haven't had this many "wow" moments since maybe my first experience with The Authority. I could go on and on about how good this is, but there's just no way to capture it.
Like I said, you just need to go out and read this one.
I didn't realize just *how* good. If you are anything of a Marvel or DC fan, you really need to get ahold of this and devour it.
Perez is always solid, but his details and characters are really amazing here. There were people *I* didn't know, and I consider myself to be close to expert level when it comes to Marvel and just a shade under that for DC. The Cap-Batman scene is particularly amazing.
For the story itself, which apparently was written solely by Busiek (there's no co-writer notation or even co-plotter), Kurt really pulled out all the stops. I have to admit, I haven't been a big fan of his writing lately. His Avengers run ended on a stupid Kang epoch that fell flat, Power Company didn't work (possibly because it needed to be outside a canon, and fitting it in DC's caused trouble), and his recent JLA story couldn't end soon enough for me. That was not the case here. Given free reign to go anywhere and everywhere, Busiek puts in those little flourishes that made his Thor: Godstorm, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, and others so very, very good.
My favorite line: "I knew it! They're a second-rate Squadron Supreme!" Insert BWA-HA-HA here. ;)
The basic plot is that, as per usual, no one remembers any other crossovers, not even DC-Marvel. Krona wants to know things, the Game Master doesn't want to tell him, and Metron is being his usual enigmatic self. Watch as worlds begin to collide, icons must be found, and the JLA/Avengers beat each other silly to save their earth.
Or not.
As we learn, it's more complicated than that. There are games within games with all reality as the game board. One of the players breaks the rules, and the next thing we know, we're in a type of Crisis. Sacrifices must be made by both teams, as a perfect world shatters. With chronal chaos all around, can both universes be saved?
I'm not giving that part away, but I'm sure you know the answer.
What makes this work so well are the little touches. A pre-Crisis Batman can't fathom the Giffen-DeMatteis JLI. Hawkeye and Ollie keep tangling over the time slips. Each Chapter gets titles like, "The Brave and the Bold" or "Contest of Champions." Iron Man wears at least three or four sets of armour while Pietro tries to find the Speed Force. Wonder Woman goes ape on Hercules for what mythology says he did to her mother. Kyle upgrades from his power battery to a Cosmic Cube. The Thing checks out Batman's cave.
Oh, and did I mention Batman-Batroc?
The attention to detail over the changes each team has had in the past 40 years, especially in the final scene, are amazing. The characters react (and overreact) just about as you'd expect them to and speak some of their best lines in years, both serious and humorously. You can tell that this was crafted with a quality you don't see in comics all that often anymore. I haven't had this many "wow" moments since maybe my first experience with The Authority. I could go on and on about how good this is, but there's just no way to capture it.
Like I said, you just need to go out and read this one.
February 2, 2012
Fun read, great art lots of (please forgive me for this) "slam bang action" (I know but, you know it's traditional). I've mentioned (so many times that if you've read my other "graphic novel" reviews you're probably sick of hearing about it) that I read an collected Silver Era Comics. My books of choice, my favorite collections were Captain America and The Avengers.
Yes I was a Marvel fan, and inhabitant of the Marvel Universe, I was even a member of the M.M.M.S. (and if you're a comic book[okay, graphic novel] fan you should know what that is). I moved away from DC when I around 11 (and plastic man was a big reason why I suppose. I mean come on he's juvenile even for an 11 year old reader...but he's here). I found Marvel. Spiderman was my first discovery, then the Fantastic Four. I believe I had X Men #1 (I sold my collection to a dealer in 1983 or '84)...I could cry. BUT I came across The Avengers and Tales of Suspense (that was Captain America and Iron Man, they split the book). I never looked back. While I collected other titles, it was Cap and the Avengers that I sought out and snapped up!
Oh yeah...the Justice League is here to for you DC fans...
:)
Here we get the greatest super hero teams from two universes and of course they manage to save two universes! No it's not a spoiler, if the universe didn't survive there'd be no book.
sheesh.
The book has (as mentioned) some great art, panel upon panel of multiple heroes and villains in battle. You'll see characters (depending on your age and era) that either you haven't seen in a long time or have never seen. For example the Klaw made an appearance and he dates back to the '60s. Remember Kang the Conquer? Then of course we see Galactus. For a guy you don't want near your planet because he might eat it, he shows up a lot! The watcher is overlooking the whole mess. Villains from so many eras of both the DC and the Marvel universe are here, not to mention all our heroes and many variations on them. There are looks from the past present and possibly the future. The long haired Superman is here for a while and a few versions on...well, everybody.
Of course all this fun side stuff..including the rivalry between Green Arrow and Hawkeye is just that, on the side. The main show is the battle to keep the universes...oh, yeah. That would be a spoiler, sorry. Well, the multilayered, multitiered, story of how this threat came about, who's behind it, and how it gets handled
So, cool story, cool art all your favorite characters. Pretty good.
Yes I was a Marvel fan, and inhabitant of the Marvel Universe, I was even a member of the M.M.M.S. (and if you're a comic book[okay, graphic novel] fan you should know what that is). I moved away from DC when I around 11 (and plastic man was a big reason why I suppose. I mean come on he's juvenile even for an 11 year old reader...but he's here). I found Marvel. Spiderman was my first discovery, then the Fantastic Four. I believe I had X Men #1 (I sold my collection to a dealer in 1983 or '84)...I could cry. BUT I came across The Avengers and Tales of Suspense (that was Captain America and Iron Man, they split the book). I never looked back. While I collected other titles, it was Cap and the Avengers that I sought out and snapped up!
Oh yeah...the Justice League is here to for you DC fans...
:)
Here we get the greatest super hero teams from two universes and of course they manage to save two universes! No it's not a spoiler, if the universe didn't survive there'd be no book.
sheesh.
The book has (as mentioned) some great art, panel upon panel of multiple heroes and villains in battle. You'll see characters (depending on your age and era) that either you haven't seen in a long time or have never seen. For example the Klaw made an appearance and he dates back to the '60s. Remember Kang the Conquer? Then of course we see Galactus. For a guy you don't want near your planet because he might eat it, he shows up a lot! The watcher is overlooking the whole mess. Villains from so many eras of both the DC and the Marvel universe are here, not to mention all our heroes and many variations on them. There are looks from the past present and possibly the future. The long haired Superman is here for a while and a few versions on...well, everybody.
Of course all this fun side stuff..including the rivalry between Green Arrow and Hawkeye is just that, on the side. The main show is the battle to keep the universes...oh, yeah. That would be a spoiler, sorry. Well, the multilayered, multitiered, story of how this threat came about, who's behind it, and how it gets handled
So, cool story, cool art all your favorite characters. Pretty good.
August 29, 2020
This isn't a great piece of sequential-art-literature, but it was a whole lot of fun. The story itself isn't anything unique (quest to assemble a dozen magical artifacts, lots of fighting, reality-shifts due to near-divine intervention, other such McGuffins that we've seen over and over again), but it's quite slickly written, with many little bits and pieces and throwaways tossed in to reward the fans for being fans. Marvel-DC is the ultimate comics team-up, the one that all casual as well as hardcore fans wants to see, and we'll likely never see another one in the current corporate-owned and -driven world. There were many little bits that I loved, much more so than the overall arc. Black Canary flirts with Hawkeye while Oliver glowers, Batman takes time from the quest to thrash the Punisher, Batman and Captain America share a moment when they find they've each lost a protégé, "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! and Justice League, uh... lambaste!", Wonder Man and Wonder Woman arm wrestle, Green Lantern tries to hit on Moondragon who says "Keep your hands--and your incredibly disgusting thoughts--away from me, Gardner! Understood?" and on and on and on. What would Hellcat and Tigra say to each other? How about Jarvis and Alfred? The speculations spawned by the book are endless. Virtually every superhero in both publishers canon makes at least a cameo, not just team members. Also, they're portrayed in different aspects of their famous looks as they appeared over the years: Superman with the long hair, Thor clean-shaven, Beast as human, and best of all Janet the Wasp in a different costume on almost every page. I suspect that Busiek and Perez were under a tremendous amount of editorial pressure throughout the production to not favor one company's characters over the other. Aquaman couldn't be a better swimmer than Namor, Black Widow couldn't be more attractive than Black Canary, Quicksilver couldn't be faster than Flash, Zatanna couldn't be more magical than the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye couldn't be a better shot than Green Arrow, etc., etc. And everything had to be re-set at the end, just like an original Stark Trek novel. The art was the best thing about the series, very subtly detailed, adding to and helping to tell the story just as well as the words. The cover of the third issue is a dream. One of the most fun things about the book is looking at the people in the backgrounds and trying to identify them and their origin. It's a terrific book for comics fans.
August 5, 2015
Alright. Full disclosure: this has the potential to go full curmudgeon. Warnings abound.
I fell off comics a couple years ago. At the height of my reading (mid college) I was reading about 10-12 issues a week. It killed my wallet and when I needed to trim back I realized how many books I was reading out of mild interest or obligation. First falling into comics is an experience of discovery and excitement. Few things crackle like the discovery of this deep mythology and people playing in it nonstop and going back and learning about all the other cool things that happened in the past. Everything is good. It's all crazy. And it's refreshing to dip into this world once a month and get the continuing adventures of them.
After riding that train that for seven years, excited for many upcoming things and delighted by several of them, I cut back the number of books to 3-5 per week. Save money. Only get the stuff that was SUPER GOOD LIKE OMG. And then I fell off completely, got critical distance, and now I look at these stories and I find it's.... difficult. Sure there's a handful of stories that I have come to in the time since falling off comics, but I find it very hard for me to get on board with most of them.
The issues, more than anything, is how vapid I find comics on the whole. This is the end result of having creations that are fifty years old and trying to come up with new things to do with them and it's always so rote and... meaningless. I was actually at dinner with a friend recently and he was explaining in enthusiastic detail all of the things happening in Marvel's current Convergence storyline and all I could think was "this is all just made up." And yeah, stories are made up. But there's such a complete artifice with superhero comics that I just can't handle it. Anyone can do anything and anything can happen because none of it actually matters. Because omg they broke the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Stones crumbled to dust. But really, that only happened because one writer said "hey what if I destroyed the Infinity Stones? That would make some big fans sit up and go 'OH SHIT, BRO' so I'm gonna break the Infinity Stones." And then some day in the future some writer will go "I'm gonna remake the Infinity Stones. It will make some big fans sit up and go 'OH SHIT, BRO' so I'm gonna remake the Infinity Stones." Which he can do because it's all fake and made up.
I guess I'd just be happier if they never did anything else with the Infinity Stones because that shit's been done before and how much water is actually in that well if you keep poaching from it?
So there's this great continuity that exists in comics and this long legacy of all these THINGS happening. But everything is a law of diminishing returns and when you have creators who are unmotivated to create anything new then you won't have anything but old stuff that's been gone over and over and over again. Nevermind that what made the Infinity Stones exciting is that they were, at some point, new. It's like Doctor Who: I couldn't possibly care less about old continuity coming back because what makes Doctor Who so initially exciting is seeing all the old things for the first time. The first time you see a Dalek. The first time you see many Daleks. The first time you see The Cybermen, The Master. A regeneration. Doing something again only elevates the past and robs the present by subsuming to the original.
Next question: how does this relate to a book called JLA/Avengers?
I mean, look. It's written by Kurt Busiek. I've read several Kurt Busiek books in the past. I have liked Kurt Busiek in the past. And it's got art by George Perez. So basically it's determined to be as throwbacky as possible. It's got Perez drawing as many bloody characters as he possibly can and drawing them in every bloody costume they've ever had. That's really all this book is: a George Perez delivery service. And I've liked that in the past. I mean, it's the sticking point of The Infinity Gauntlet and Crisis on Infinite Earths and Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds.
The issue here is that this book shoots for "better than Marvel Vs DC". And that's a low bar. That barely clears that bar is really... Unfortunate. Because that book isn't very good either. At least this one was coherent and (sorta) made sense and had George Perez art.
And look, this is a nightmare brief. Do a story with 14 major characters. That's hard enough without Busiek throwing in another 200 characters over the course of the 200 pages. Come up with a threat worthy of the JLA and The Avengers teaming up. That's hard enough considering that both teams save the world on an annual (at least) basis. Cater to the fan's desires. No really, give them everything you could possibly want. Hawkeye and Green Arrow being competitive? Check. Quicksilver and The Flash racing to see who's faster? Check. Captain America and Superman trying to out dick each other? Check. Giant cosmic and tons and tons and tons and tons (no really tons) of battles? Quintuple check. Lots of references to how DC and Marvel are different, giving text to things people already know and discuss all the time but because it's in this text it is made actual and real? Check.
Including more and more things means all the things that make stories good (character moments, emotional content) go out the window in the face of things like, you know, lots of punching, or name checking that hero because heroes are best when name checked.
In the end, all it makes for is a whole lotta noise and a story that doesn't matter past the excitement from seeing drawings of sharing panels and frames and doing action stuff and working together. There's no strong characterization outside of the totemic or broadest strokes based on events in characters' past (how many times does Aquaman have to talk about his hand?) and arbitrarily bringing back characters who have died because lol this is comics and death is irrelevant.
Maybe that's harsh. Maybe that's too much. And yeah, I'm clearly not the target audience for this book any more, but that really disappoints me. It disappoints me that I've grown up and this doesn't do it for me any more. And part of me hates that I can't just be a kid again and relish in the omg of Superman wielding Thor's hammer, but the other part of me demands more. It's not that I didn't want a JLA/Avengers book or went in wanting to hate it. I didn't. Clearly. This is the book I chose to read to get me geared up to see Age of Ultron tonight. My problem is that when it comes to superhero comics it's hard for me to see it as much more than an arbitrary niche market that can tend to thrive on nostalgia and the basest of pleasures to tickle your lizard brain and then pat you on the head and make you feel accomplished for seeing something special, when really all it did was slap something together based on something that reminds you of how happy you used to be when you started reading comics.
It tickles the lizard nostalgia brain so good sometimes, that you often don't even realize how greatly the returns have diminished and that there's so many other better books and comics out there. SO many. And so much better.
I fell off comics a couple years ago. At the height of my reading (mid college) I was reading about 10-12 issues a week. It killed my wallet and when I needed to trim back I realized how many books I was reading out of mild interest or obligation. First falling into comics is an experience of discovery and excitement. Few things crackle like the discovery of this deep mythology and people playing in it nonstop and going back and learning about all the other cool things that happened in the past. Everything is good. It's all crazy. And it's refreshing to dip into this world once a month and get the continuing adventures of them.
After riding that train that for seven years, excited for many upcoming things and delighted by several of them, I cut back the number of books to 3-5 per week. Save money. Only get the stuff that was SUPER GOOD LIKE OMG. And then I fell off completely, got critical distance, and now I look at these stories and I find it's.... difficult. Sure there's a handful of stories that I have come to in the time since falling off comics, but I find it very hard for me to get on board with most of them.
The issues, more than anything, is how vapid I find comics on the whole. This is the end result of having creations that are fifty years old and trying to come up with new things to do with them and it's always so rote and... meaningless. I was actually at dinner with a friend recently and he was explaining in enthusiastic detail all of the things happening in Marvel's current Convergence storyline and all I could think was "this is all just made up." And yeah, stories are made up. But there's such a complete artifice with superhero comics that I just can't handle it. Anyone can do anything and anything can happen because none of it actually matters. Because omg they broke the Infinity Gauntlet and the Infinity Stones crumbled to dust. But really, that only happened because one writer said "hey what if I destroyed the Infinity Stones? That would make some big fans sit up and go 'OH SHIT, BRO' so I'm gonna break the Infinity Stones." And then some day in the future some writer will go "I'm gonna remake the Infinity Stones. It will make some big fans sit up and go 'OH SHIT, BRO' so I'm gonna remake the Infinity Stones." Which he can do because it's all fake and made up.
I guess I'd just be happier if they never did anything else with the Infinity Stones because that shit's been done before and how much water is actually in that well if you keep poaching from it?
So there's this great continuity that exists in comics and this long legacy of all these THINGS happening. But everything is a law of diminishing returns and when you have creators who are unmotivated to create anything new then you won't have anything but old stuff that's been gone over and over and over again. Nevermind that what made the Infinity Stones exciting is that they were, at some point, new. It's like Doctor Who: I couldn't possibly care less about old continuity coming back because what makes Doctor Who so initially exciting is seeing all the old things for the first time. The first time you see a Dalek. The first time you see many Daleks. The first time you see The Cybermen, The Master. A regeneration. Doing something again only elevates the past and robs the present by subsuming to the original.
Next question: how does this relate to a book called JLA/Avengers?
I mean, look. It's written by Kurt Busiek. I've read several Kurt Busiek books in the past. I have liked Kurt Busiek in the past. And it's got art by George Perez. So basically it's determined to be as throwbacky as possible. It's got Perez drawing as many bloody characters as he possibly can and drawing them in every bloody costume they've ever had. That's really all this book is: a George Perez delivery service. And I've liked that in the past. I mean, it's the sticking point of The Infinity Gauntlet and Crisis on Infinite Earths and Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds.
The issue here is that this book shoots for "better than Marvel Vs DC". And that's a low bar. That barely clears that bar is really... Unfortunate. Because that book isn't very good either. At least this one was coherent and (sorta) made sense and had George Perez art.
And look, this is a nightmare brief. Do a story with 14 major characters. That's hard enough without Busiek throwing in another 200 characters over the course of the 200 pages. Come up with a threat worthy of the JLA and The Avengers teaming up. That's hard enough considering that both teams save the world on an annual (at least) basis. Cater to the fan's desires. No really, give them everything you could possibly want. Hawkeye and Green Arrow being competitive? Check. Quicksilver and The Flash racing to see who's faster? Check. Captain America and Superman trying to out dick each other? Check. Giant cosmic and tons and tons and tons and tons (no really tons) of battles? Quintuple check. Lots of references to how DC and Marvel are different, giving text to things people already know and discuss all the time but because it's in this text it is made actual and real? Check.
Including more and more things means all the things that make stories good (character moments, emotional content) go out the window in the face of things like, you know, lots of punching, or name checking that hero because heroes are best when name checked.
In the end, all it makes for is a whole lotta noise and a story that doesn't matter past the excitement from seeing drawings of sharing panels and frames and doing action stuff and working together. There's no strong characterization outside of the totemic or broadest strokes based on events in characters' past (how many times does Aquaman have to talk about his hand?) and arbitrarily bringing back characters who have died because lol this is comics and death is irrelevant.
Maybe that's harsh. Maybe that's too much. And yeah, I'm clearly not the target audience for this book any more, but that really disappoints me. It disappoints me that I've grown up and this doesn't do it for me any more. And part of me hates that I can't just be a kid again and relish in the omg of Superman wielding Thor's hammer, but the other part of me demands more. It's not that I didn't want a JLA/Avengers book or went in wanting to hate it. I didn't. Clearly. This is the book I chose to read to get me geared up to see Age of Ultron tonight. My problem is that when it comes to superhero comics it's hard for me to see it as much more than an arbitrary niche market that can tend to thrive on nostalgia and the basest of pleasures to tickle your lizard brain and then pat you on the head and make you feel accomplished for seeing something special, when really all it did was slap something together based on something that reminds you of how happy you used to be when you started reading comics.
It tickles the lizard nostalgia brain so good sometimes, that you often don't even realize how greatly the returns have diminished and that there's so many other better books and comics out there. SO many. And so much better.
January 17, 2018
Given that this is likely to be the last DC / Marvel crossover ever I wanted to rate it higher. Ultimately I couldn't though... the story just wasn't there. Plenty of fanboy eye candy in the artwork though!
December 8, 2013
George Pérez ROCKS!!!
March 17, 2022
Más que un cómic, más que una historieta, es una declaración de principios.
En el fondo, da igual quien hipotéticamente gane una batalla entre Thor y Shazam o una pelea de aguante entre Superman y Hulk.
Entre los diálogos de este "run", originalmente de 4 grapas, se encuentran las respuestas a muchas de esas interrogantes y se resuelven de forma simple y de forma más entretenida que las sagas Marvel vs DC o DC vs Marvel.
No es necesaria la confrontación, ni las.comparaciones odiosas. Son mundos, universos, multiversos e ideas distintas y punto.No podemos hacer más que aceptarlo.
Y todo se reduce al espíritu de la creación de los superhéroes.Entretener buscando ideales y reflejos de lo que podríamos llegar a ser. Nobleza, lealtad, amistad, honor, todo en mundos que queramos o no, son de fantasía.
Una joya.
Eso explica el porqué conseguir una copia de la edición compilatoria (en español) se transforme en algo parecido a la búsqueda del santo grial del hype, al menos en Chile.
Se lleva las 5 estrellas porque es un "debes leer" y releer, cuando quieras, o cuando sientas que se agotan tus reservas de fantasía superheroica, según yo, claro.
En el fondo, da igual quien hipotéticamente gane una batalla entre Thor y Shazam o una pelea de aguante entre Superman y Hulk.
Entre los diálogos de este "run", originalmente de 4 grapas, se encuentran las respuestas a muchas de esas interrogantes y se resuelven de forma simple y de forma más entretenida que las sagas Marvel vs DC o DC vs Marvel.
No es necesaria la confrontación, ni las.comparaciones odiosas. Son mundos, universos, multiversos e ideas distintas y punto.No podemos hacer más que aceptarlo.
Y todo se reduce al espíritu de la creación de los superhéroes.Entretener buscando ideales y reflejos de lo que podríamos llegar a ser. Nobleza, lealtad, amistad, honor, todo en mundos que queramos o no, son de fantasía.
Una joya.
Eso explica el porqué conseguir una copia de la edición compilatoria (en español) se transforme en algo parecido a la búsqueda del santo grial del hype, al menos en Chile.
Se lleva las 5 estrellas porque es un "debes leer" y releer, cuando quieras, o cuando sientas que se agotan tus reservas de fantasía superheroica, según yo, claro.
March 20, 2022
I have finally been able to read the JLA/Avengers crossover, such a trip through the respective superhero universes. A fight of egos and testosterone too, as the meetings of the managers of both companies, Marvel and DC, must have been.
Amazing drawings - the magic of George Pérez, apparently the point of union between the two giant rivals - and a more than correct script by the great Kurt Busiek, at least to satisfy both franchises and their managers. I read that today that such an agreement would be impossible. Well, almost better than everyone is in his house and that we have this legendary comic for posterity.
Amazing drawings - the magic of George Pérez, apparently the point of union between the two giant rivals - and a more than correct script by the great Kurt Busiek, at least to satisfy both franchises and their managers. I read that today that such an agreement would be impossible. Well, almost better than everyone is in his house and that we have this legendary comic for posterity.
January 22, 2009
I bought this book solely on the graphic eye candy of one panel. The panel was Superman holding Captain America's shield in one hand, and Thor's Hammer in another. I was not disappointed. Busiek makes me wish we went to high school together.
February 13, 2011
Everybody loves a good team-up. No matter who your favorite hero is, whether in the realm of sports, music, science, writing, art - you get a secret thrill from the idea of what they could achieve if they worked together. Sometimes it's brilliant, like when Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett teamed up to do Good Omens. Sometimes it's inspiring, like the pop music wonder that was "We Are the World." Sometimes it's overwhelming, like the 1992 Olympic basketball Dream Team. Sometimes it's Damn Yankees, and the less said about that, the better.
Regardless, we all love to play that game of "What if," pairing together not only the greatest talents we know, but sometimes the greatest talents in history. What if Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton could have studied the universe together? What if we could get Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy together to work on the problems facing the nation? What if Kurt Kobain and Jimi Hendrix were able to cut an album together? The team-ups are endless, and most of the time they're impossible.
Fortunately, that's where fiction steps in. The Justice League was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky over at DC Comics back in 1960. The idea was to take the greatest heroes the company had in their library and team them up to fight battles that no one hero could face alone - Starro the Conquerer being the first among them, and thereafter many more. Aliens, mad scientists, evil kings, vengeful gods, all those who attempted to conquer, destroy, or devour the Earth were stopped by the League. Though the membership roster has changed many times over the years, as has the style of the books, the League has been a fixture in the DC Comics universe for more than forty years.
As Stan Lee tells the story, the publisher of DC Comics, Jack Liebowitz, bragged over a round of golf to the owner of Marvel, Martin Goodman, about how well his new Justice League title was selling. After the game, Goodman called Lee and told him to create a hero team to compete. Stan's imagination provided him with the Fantastic Four, and a comic book arms race had begun. Lee produced hero after hero for Marvel, conveniently housing most of them in New York City. From there, it made sense to have them get together to fight even greater menaces. With the pencils of comic book legend Jack Kirby, Lee created The Avengers, the mightiest hero team of the Marvel universe. They too have undergone a lot of changes in the last four decades, but they remain the elite team of heroes to which every costumed adventurer aspires.
Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Martian Manhunter....
Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk [1], the Wasp, Hawkeye....
These are names that every comic book fan should know, and deep down inside we all wonder: what would it be like if they could get together? What's more, what kind of foe would require the combined might of two of the greatest hero teams in comic book history? It could only be something on a monumental scale, something that endangers the existences of both universes. Something like... Krona.
If you're a long-time reader, you might remember that name. Krona was the reason for the Crisis on Infinite Earths - his obsession with seeing the beginning of the universe led to the fissioning of that universe into a nigh-infinite number of parallel ones. It was only after a titanic series of battles that the singular universe was put right, and Krona was transformed into pure energy and banished for his crimes. Or so we thought.
Obsessive to the core, Krona figured out how to escape his universe and started again on his quest to understand the beginning of all things, even if it meant destroying every single universe that defied him. Eventually he came to meet the Grandmaster, an immortal on the Marvel side whose limitless existence drove him to play cosmic games of chance with whatever other great powers he encountered. He knew someone who could possibly answer Krona's questions - the planet-devourer Galactus - and challenged him to a contest: the greatest heroes of each universe would compete to gather items of power. If the DC team won, Krona would leave and search elsewhere. If Marvel's team won, it would bring ultimate destruction to both cosmoses.
And so the teams met, and like all good superhero team-ups, it started with a fight. Something about the two worlds put the visitors on edge, and both Superman and Captain America were willing to pound their opposite numbers into the dirt if need be. Fortunately, as in all good hero team-ups, their differences were put aside in favor of battling Krona and saving both of their universes from utter annihilation.
It's a vast story, both in time and space, and manages to bring together pretty much everyone who has ever been part of the two teams, both in terms of the heroes that made them up and the villains they fought. Yet it feels fairly intimate - these aren't two whole universes that are battling for survival, but two teams, who manage to mesh together surprisingly well. A lot of the credit for this, of course, has to go to the writer, Kurt Busiek, who had the unenviable task of penning a story that made the best - and fairest - use of both teams. After all, never underestimate the partisan fans, the ones who would be utterly incensed by Superman beating Thor, or the idea that Captain America could possibly be Batman's equal in hand-to-hand combat. I'm sure there were people on both sides of the publishing divide who were keeping very careful account of which team came off "better" in this fight, but that's not the way this book was meant to be read. Busiek's mission was to create a threat that could only be contained by both teams together, which means that neither team by itself was enough to win, which means that you should shut up already about whether or not Superman should have been able to use Thor's hammer, dammit.
Even for all the care that went into writing this story, it never would have worked without an artist capable of handling that many characters and making sure they all looked their best. When you have a universe-spanning epic with a cast of far-too-many, there's only one person you can call: George Pérez. Not only can he handle a chaotic battle scene, making every hero look... well... heroic, hes just as good at the casualness of a Christmas party, or the masks-off teamwork that is involved in trying to build a reality-piercing spaceship. Whether facing off against great cosmic powers or chatting next to the coffee urn, Pérez knows how to make these people look damn good. There's just no one else like him. With outstanding colors by Tom Smith, I could just read this book for the artwork alone.
What I also found interesting was a look at how the two worlds are fundamentally different in not only their stories but their very makeup. The Flash can't run in the Marvel Universe because the Speed Force doesn't exist, while the Scarlet Witch's powers are multiplied to dangerous levels in the DC Universe thanks to the strength of the Lords of Chaos. The differences in the geography and the sizes of the Earths, the type of energy they receive from their suns, the fundamental forces that hold their universes together are a huge obstacle to getting the teams to work together, and as far as I know it is the first attempt to "scientifically" delineate how they are different.
There is also a bit of sociological analysis, too. Each team first notices how differently heroes are treated in their opposite worlds. The heroes of the Marvel Universe are tolerated, but not entirely trusted. The non-powered citizenry tend to be more afraid of superheroes, especially the mutants, and so the ability of groups like the Avengers to effect positive change on their world is limited. To Superman, this looks like Marvel's heroes aren't bothering to make their world better, but only remaining satisfied to hold the status quo.
On the DC side, heroes are beloved. Superman is a planet-wide hero, Wonder Woman is an ambassador of peace, and the people of Central City have built an entire museum to honor the Flash. These people revere their heroes as both celebrities and saviors, something that Captain America views as a step towards fascism - costumed gods with their pet people ready to do what they say.
Neither viewpoint is entirely right, but they do reflect a fundamental difference in the way each company approaches its storytelling. To put that editorial decision in front of the characters was an interesting choice, and allowing them to come to their own judgments was fun - if a little unnerving - to read.
All in all, JLA/Avengers is a truly great team-up story, one that should make the fans on both sides happy for a while.
------------------------------------------------------
"Neural chaff. Hypnotic lights. Pre-programmed skills. Try fighting the Wehrmacht, mister - it teaches you focus!"
Captain America to Prometheus, JLA/Avengers
[1] Hulk gets almost no screen time in the story, which is very disappointing. I'm sure there are reasons for this....
Regardless, we all love to play that game of "What if," pairing together not only the greatest talents we know, but sometimes the greatest talents in history. What if Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton could have studied the universe together? What if we could get Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy together to work on the problems facing the nation? What if Kurt Kobain and Jimi Hendrix were able to cut an album together? The team-ups are endless, and most of the time they're impossible.
Fortunately, that's where fiction steps in. The Justice League was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky over at DC Comics back in 1960. The idea was to take the greatest heroes the company had in their library and team them up to fight battles that no one hero could face alone - Starro the Conquerer being the first among them, and thereafter many more. Aliens, mad scientists, evil kings, vengeful gods, all those who attempted to conquer, destroy, or devour the Earth were stopped by the League. Though the membership roster has changed many times over the years, as has the style of the books, the League has been a fixture in the DC Comics universe for more than forty years.
As Stan Lee tells the story, the publisher of DC Comics, Jack Liebowitz, bragged over a round of golf to the owner of Marvel, Martin Goodman, about how well his new Justice League title was selling. After the game, Goodman called Lee and told him to create a hero team to compete. Stan's imagination provided him with the Fantastic Four, and a comic book arms race had begun. Lee produced hero after hero for Marvel, conveniently housing most of them in New York City. From there, it made sense to have them get together to fight even greater menaces. With the pencils of comic book legend Jack Kirby, Lee created The Avengers, the mightiest hero team of the Marvel universe. They too have undergone a lot of changes in the last four decades, but they remain the elite team of heroes to which every costumed adventurer aspires.
Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Martian Manhunter....
Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk [1], the Wasp, Hawkeye....
These are names that every comic book fan should know, and deep down inside we all wonder: what would it be like if they could get together? What's more, what kind of foe would require the combined might of two of the greatest hero teams in comic book history? It could only be something on a monumental scale, something that endangers the existences of both universes. Something like... Krona.
If you're a long-time reader, you might remember that name. Krona was the reason for the Crisis on Infinite Earths - his obsession with seeing the beginning of the universe led to the fissioning of that universe into a nigh-infinite number of parallel ones. It was only after a titanic series of battles that the singular universe was put right, and Krona was transformed into pure energy and banished for his crimes. Or so we thought.
Obsessive to the core, Krona figured out how to escape his universe and started again on his quest to understand the beginning of all things, even if it meant destroying every single universe that defied him. Eventually he came to meet the Grandmaster, an immortal on the Marvel side whose limitless existence drove him to play cosmic games of chance with whatever other great powers he encountered. He knew someone who could possibly answer Krona's questions - the planet-devourer Galactus - and challenged him to a contest: the greatest heroes of each universe would compete to gather items of power. If the DC team won, Krona would leave and search elsewhere. If Marvel's team won, it would bring ultimate destruction to both cosmoses.
And so the teams met, and like all good superhero team-ups, it started with a fight. Something about the two worlds put the visitors on edge, and both Superman and Captain America were willing to pound their opposite numbers into the dirt if need be. Fortunately, as in all good hero team-ups, their differences were put aside in favor of battling Krona and saving both of their universes from utter annihilation.
It's a vast story, both in time and space, and manages to bring together pretty much everyone who has ever been part of the two teams, both in terms of the heroes that made them up and the villains they fought. Yet it feels fairly intimate - these aren't two whole universes that are battling for survival, but two teams, who manage to mesh together surprisingly well. A lot of the credit for this, of course, has to go to the writer, Kurt Busiek, who had the unenviable task of penning a story that made the best - and fairest - use of both teams. After all, never underestimate the partisan fans, the ones who would be utterly incensed by Superman beating Thor, or the idea that Captain America could possibly be Batman's equal in hand-to-hand combat. I'm sure there were people on both sides of the publishing divide who were keeping very careful account of which team came off "better" in this fight, but that's not the way this book was meant to be read. Busiek's mission was to create a threat that could only be contained by both teams together, which means that neither team by itself was enough to win, which means that you should shut up already about whether or not Superman should have been able to use Thor's hammer, dammit.
Even for all the care that went into writing this story, it never would have worked without an artist capable of handling that many characters and making sure they all looked their best. When you have a universe-spanning epic with a cast of far-too-many, there's only one person you can call: George Pérez. Not only can he handle a chaotic battle scene, making every hero look... well... heroic, hes just as good at the casualness of a Christmas party, or the masks-off teamwork that is involved in trying to build a reality-piercing spaceship. Whether facing off against great cosmic powers or chatting next to the coffee urn, Pérez knows how to make these people look damn good. There's just no one else like him. With outstanding colors by Tom Smith, I could just read this book for the artwork alone.
What I also found interesting was a look at how the two worlds are fundamentally different in not only their stories but their very makeup. The Flash can't run in the Marvel Universe because the Speed Force doesn't exist, while the Scarlet Witch's powers are multiplied to dangerous levels in the DC Universe thanks to the strength of the Lords of Chaos. The differences in the geography and the sizes of the Earths, the type of energy they receive from their suns, the fundamental forces that hold their universes together are a huge obstacle to getting the teams to work together, and as far as I know it is the first attempt to "scientifically" delineate how they are different.
There is also a bit of sociological analysis, too. Each team first notices how differently heroes are treated in their opposite worlds. The heroes of the Marvel Universe are tolerated, but not entirely trusted. The non-powered citizenry tend to be more afraid of superheroes, especially the mutants, and so the ability of groups like the Avengers to effect positive change on their world is limited. To Superman, this looks like Marvel's heroes aren't bothering to make their world better, but only remaining satisfied to hold the status quo.
On the DC side, heroes are beloved. Superman is a planet-wide hero, Wonder Woman is an ambassador of peace, and the people of Central City have built an entire museum to honor the Flash. These people revere their heroes as both celebrities and saviors, something that Captain America views as a step towards fascism - costumed gods with their pet people ready to do what they say.
Neither viewpoint is entirely right, but they do reflect a fundamental difference in the way each company approaches its storytelling. To put that editorial decision in front of the characters was an interesting choice, and allowing them to come to their own judgments was fun - if a little unnerving - to read.
All in all, JLA/Avengers is a truly great team-up story, one that should make the fans on both sides happy for a while.
------------------------------------------------------
"Neural chaff. Hypnotic lights. Pre-programmed skills. Try fighting the Wehrmacht, mister - it teaches you focus!"
Captain America to Prometheus, JLA/Avengers
[1] Hulk gets almost no screen time in the story, which is very disappointing. I'm sure there are reasons for this....
July 19, 2016
This is a collection of probably a once in a lifetime event. The Marvel universe meets the DC universe. What else could any comic book enthusiast ask for?
In this one we have Krona who seeks knowledge about the births of universes and in the process ends up destroying them. He comes to our little universe and ends up crossing the DC universe with Marvel's universe.
The story itself probably wasn't the strongest but one can get past that without any problems. I believe part of the problem that there was so much going on that sections of the story were put on the fast track. One could argue that the story with Krona isn't the main story anyways as the main story is the interaction between DC and Marvel. And that aspect was terrific. There are some amazing panels and these panels give the reader plenty to smile about. Who doesn't want to see Thor battle Superman or Batman square off against Captain America? There are so many moments that I could provide a list of great moments or comical moments. What really stood out was the artwork. I would give the artwork ten stars as it was truly amazing. One could study the panels for a length of time and not be bored (I gazed at the third issue cover for a good twenty minutes).
This was an amazing read and I am so glad I read this. As a fan of both universes I enjoyed the interaction between our heroes and it was so enjoyable to see the vast number of characters in this collection. Anyone who has read comics should read this as this is the crossover event that lives up to its billing.
In this one we have Krona who seeks knowledge about the births of universes and in the process ends up destroying them. He comes to our little universe and ends up crossing the DC universe with Marvel's universe.
The story itself probably wasn't the strongest but one can get past that without any problems. I believe part of the problem that there was so much going on that sections of the story were put on the fast track. One could argue that the story with Krona isn't the main story anyways as the main story is the interaction between DC and Marvel. And that aspect was terrific. There are some amazing panels and these panels give the reader plenty to smile about. Who doesn't want to see Thor battle Superman or Batman square off against Captain America? There are so many moments that I could provide a list of great moments or comical moments. What really stood out was the artwork. I would give the artwork ten stars as it was truly amazing. One could study the panels for a length of time and not be bored (I gazed at the third issue cover for a good twenty minutes).
This was an amazing read and I am so glad I read this. As a fan of both universes I enjoyed the interaction between our heroes and it was so enjoyable to see the vast number of characters in this collection. Anyone who has read comics should read this as this is the crossover event that lives up to its billing.
May 20, 2010
It's hard to fathom the difficult task of writing a JLA/Avengers tale. What massive, otherwordly force could a writer come up with that would prove to dispell both DC and Marvel's greatest heroes? But, if said writer is willing to tackle the endeavor, he/she can't expect anything but high expectations. That's why JLA/Avengers is ultimately such a disappointment. Envisioned in the hands of a writer like Geoff Johns, this property could have been one of the greatest stories ever told. Instead, what we get is a half-hearted, Golden Age tale from Kurt Busiek, who struggles to find nearly every character's unique voice, an essential when dealing with a cast of characters such as this. I like my classic stories just as much as the next guy, but when I sit down to read a tale by Stan Lee or Gardner Fox I know what I'm going to get. Those stories are 50+ years old. Busiek is a modern writer, functioning in today's comic book society, forming a story in 2003. His dated dialogue and inept story breakdown are inexcusable. Where were the editors when the scripts were coming in? Blame can't be placed on George Perez though. He actually makes the story readable depicting, as only he can, hundreds of heroes in the throw of battle. Perez never ceases to amaze me with his ability to draw precise characterization into his subjects without sacrificing the space on the page or the story. Here, he does the best he can with what he has to work with.
October 28, 2016
Tenia buen recuerdo de este cómic pero no recordaba que fuera tan espectacular y divertido, ademas de un gran homenaje a todos los personajes clásicos de ambas editoriales, que son tratados con mucho cariño tanto por Busiek como por George Perez. Que por cierto que bien dibuja este hombre y como le gusta meter a mas y mas personajes en las viñetas, y aun así te enteras de todo lo que esta pasando.
Por cierto el argumento bien: una amenaza que puede destruir ambos universos obliga a que los heroes mas poderosos de la Tierra se unan para combatirlo. Un clasico tambien.
Por cierto el argumento bien: una amenaza que puede destruir ambos universos obliga a que los heroes mas poderosos de la Tierra se unan para combatirlo. Un clasico tambien.
May 22, 2015
Yes, it's a little dated, yes, there are a lot of text boxes and yes, the plot is a little over-wrought, but in order to bring the heroes of two worlds together in one gloriously drawn and full of epic moments storyline, I'm willing to overlook all of that. This still holds up as a great story, and Marvel and DC couldn't have chosen a better creative team to pull this off.
July 31, 2022
I finally got around to reading the story of our favorite superhero titans clashing and forming together to give us this epic tale. HUGE shout out to %#@* ^*#!^ online.com for having this available cause as most people probably know, this story is very hard to find without having to pay ridiculous amounts of money and with the recent events of George Perez’s passing, I’m not giving a single penny to resellers and scalpers who took advantage of this reprint and decided to flip it for money. With that being said I am very happy I was at least able to read and enjoy the story.
In this epic clash of events we see the Avengers and JLA start to experience their worlds collide, starting when they have one another’s foes going to invade the opposite worlds. They each do some investigating and that is when they each enter each others worlds. They have their normal misunderstandings and are even pitted against each other in a sorta game that is played by The Grandmaster and our main antagonist, Krona. There are 12 powerful items to be collected, 6 from the Avengers world and 6 from the JLA’s world. After our heroes figure out that they are being messed with and Krona grows mad with power and control we get the much anticipated team up of our heroes as they attempt to reverse their worlds from colliding and destroying everything.
Kurt Busiek is our writer in this and I feel like there’s no one better suited for the job. Busiek’s knowledge and tenure in the industry shines in this read as everything feels fair and respected. He balances the characters really well and even sets up some great chemistry with crossing characters. The overall plot you could argue is kinda cliche for a crossover story, but the delivery in which Busiek gives is amazing! It’s still enthralling to the point where you’re hooked from the first issue. The ending also felt perfectly paced and satisfactory, with issue 4 being an all out BANGER! It felt epic to the definition, with some real touching moments between characters. I will say some of the dialogue was mozzarella and out of place but it wasn’t anything overwhelming and it’s probably because Busiek knows what he’s doing.
But of course the greatest part of this read and what most people love it for, is the OUTSTANDING work from our recently lost legend, George Perez. Just like I said Busiek was the best pick for the storytelling and no one else could do it, you could’ve argued with me and found another great writer to do it. BUT NO ONE CAN TELL ME THAT ANOTHER ARTIST COULD DO WHAT GEORGE DID WITH THIS STORY. The amount of characters that Perez has drawn is almost endless and his ability to bring a bunch of characters together while making it look greatly detailed and grand, is something outmatched by NONE. He’s given us this before only now he’s clashing both companies' heroes together and nailed it perfectly! It's classic George and we’re so blessed that he was the man on the job. This is a dream project to witness, something that we all did growing up. Mixing our toys together to have an ultimate battle, drawing our own pictures, having the dreams of seeing it on a screen. George brought that all to life for us and he gave it 1000%. So to that I say thank you Geroge, you’ll live forever through your work and in our hearts, may you REST IN POWER.
Overall, it’s a fun read that has a writer that executed as best as it could’ve been and an artist that gave more than we could ever ask for. P.S. Yes I am aware this crossover happened earlier in the 90s but that was how NOT to do this grand crossover right, Maybe I’ll try and find it and give it a read again. (probably not)
In this epic clash of events we see the Avengers and JLA start to experience their worlds collide, starting when they have one another’s foes going to invade the opposite worlds. They each do some investigating and that is when they each enter each others worlds. They have their normal misunderstandings and are even pitted against each other in a sorta game that is played by The Grandmaster and our main antagonist, Krona. There are 12 powerful items to be collected, 6 from the Avengers world and 6 from the JLA’s world. After our heroes figure out that they are being messed with and Krona grows mad with power and control we get the much anticipated team up of our heroes as they attempt to reverse their worlds from colliding and destroying everything.
Kurt Busiek is our writer in this and I feel like there’s no one better suited for the job. Busiek’s knowledge and tenure in the industry shines in this read as everything feels fair and respected. He balances the characters really well and even sets up some great chemistry with crossing characters. The overall plot you could argue is kinda cliche for a crossover story, but the delivery in which Busiek gives is amazing! It’s still enthralling to the point where you’re hooked from the first issue. The ending also felt perfectly paced and satisfactory, with issue 4 being an all out BANGER! It felt epic to the definition, with some real touching moments between characters. I will say some of the dialogue was mozzarella and out of place but it wasn’t anything overwhelming and it’s probably because Busiek knows what he’s doing.
But of course the greatest part of this read and what most people love it for, is the OUTSTANDING work from our recently lost legend, George Perez. Just like I said Busiek was the best pick for the storytelling and no one else could do it, you could’ve argued with me and found another great writer to do it. BUT NO ONE CAN TELL ME THAT ANOTHER ARTIST COULD DO WHAT GEORGE DID WITH THIS STORY. The amount of characters that Perez has drawn is almost endless and his ability to bring a bunch of characters together while making it look greatly detailed and grand, is something outmatched by NONE. He’s given us this before only now he’s clashing both companies' heroes together and nailed it perfectly! It's classic George and we’re so blessed that he was the man on the job. This is a dream project to witness, something that we all did growing up. Mixing our toys together to have an ultimate battle, drawing our own pictures, having the dreams of seeing it on a screen. George brought that all to life for us and he gave it 1000%. So to that I say thank you Geroge, you’ll live forever through your work and in our hearts, may you REST IN POWER.
Overall, it’s a fun read that has a writer that executed as best as it could’ve been and an artist that gave more than we could ever ask for. P.S. Yes I am aware this crossover happened earlier in the 90s but that was how NOT to do this grand crossover right, Maybe I’ll try and find it and give it a read again. (probably not)
May 25, 2022
I was lucky to get a copy of this at MSRP from my local comic shop. An absolute epic of a comic.
Written by the great Kurt Busiek and drawn by the legendary George Perez, this book imagines a scenario of the JLA and Avengers meeting up.
The story is pretty good, especially halfway through. I think it falters a bit trying to stick its landing, and sometimes the pages are so crowded, it’s hard to see what’s actually happening.
But it’s a fun read, with some really fun material at the end, too, including copies of the original JLA/Avengers pages from the 1980s.
RIP George Perez. You were one of the best.
Written by the great Kurt Busiek and drawn by the legendary George Perez, this book imagines a scenario of the JLA and Avengers meeting up.
The story is pretty good, especially halfway through. I think it falters a bit trying to stick its landing, and sometimes the pages are so crowded, it’s hard to see what’s actually happening.
But it’s a fun read, with some really fun material at the end, too, including copies of the original JLA/Avengers pages from the 1980s.
RIP George Perez. You were one of the best.
February 14, 2018
Imagine how hard was for this comic to be made. Kurt Busiek is a hero! He had to make all sides look good, make sure the scales are balanced, he probably had two editorial teams and corporate executives breathing down his neck, and he still delivered one of the best pieces of fan-fiction I have seen. I am always impressed by his super-hero knowledge too.
George Perez' art was a treat to the eyes too. I can't even imagine the hours this comic must have taken.
George Perez' art was a treat to the eyes too. I can't even imagine the hours this comic must have taken.
June 20, 2021
What a great story and great art. Loved seeing all the heroes and even the D list villains. Perez is a master of cramming as many characters onto a page as possible and clearly this is his crowning achievement.
January 30, 2024
“Are you crying over the Justice League versus Avengers comic?”
“Hank and Janet’s scene got to me.”
“Hank and Janet’s scene got to me.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 12, 2021
This is a fun compilation to read; what I probably should have done was read the Marvel vs. DC TPB first so I could compare this to that (as part of what spurred me to reread this was a friend was asking me about it followed by a reviewer commenting on how the bar this story was trying to surpass was Marvel vs. DC, which was not that much of a bar to beat). In any case, I realize it's "just a comic book miniseries" and really has bearing on reality, but that's what makes it so enjoyable. It's lighthearted fun; it combines two teams of the greatest heroes of two "universes" in facing a threat that only they could defeat (although an argument could be made that the X-Men could also have been used for Marvel's side of the story; I just prefer the Avengers, myself).
The best part of the story has to be the artwork, to be honest. Perez knocks it out of not just the ballpark but out of the universe and into the next dimension, in my opinion. I love the artwork. I could probably just thumb through the book and look at the pics without bothering to read the words. Perez does a great job with making each character look different from each other, of creating a distinctive look for each character while keeping it familiar as well. It gets really crazy at the end when he starts mixing in multiple heroes and villains in various "windows"/pages; the amount of action he can cram into little frames is amazing to me.
The amount of characters crammed into the final issue is probably that issue's weakest point, on the one hand, because of how much "sensory overload" it creates. Plus, having so many additional characters takes away from the "primary characters" that the story starts out with. As much as I loved all of the artwork and characters in that final section (and how the artist was able to use so many different costume designs of the characters throughout their careers, especially the Winsome Wasp who had a crazy number of different costumes she wore), I did find myself wondering what it would have been like if the story had kept the number of characters tightly focused and more "on point" with who appeared (even if it meant just including the reserves and inactive members of each team who appeared in the 2nd and 3rd issues).
Regardless, I also loved the various perspectives Perez was able to create in some of his pictures, especially those involving the Grandmaster. Some of those pics of the Grandmaster and his . . . "game room" (or whatever it would be called) were pretty amazing. If you looked at some of the pics one way, the "screen" looked vertical, but shifting to the other side of the pic and it might look like the angle was more horizontal. It was a pretty cool effect. I also loved the coloring, especially when the teams were walking along that interdimensional path behind the Phantom Stranger. Those were some amazing color renditions that helped create the sense of extra-dimensional otherworldliness. I loved it!
I also enjoyed how the author compared and contrasted the two universes
I could go on and on about the "individual moments" that I loved in this series, but I am sure I am running out of room and time. So, just to name a few:
There is character development interspersed throughout the story (most of which probably takes place with Captain America and Superman over the course of the story). It's there; some of it is "more hidden" for some of the characters than others. I think that the "most" development involving the majority of the characters probably occurs in the moments leading up to the final push to defeat Krona. At the same time, Thor, Wonder Woman, and the Batman remain pretty true to themselves, to their core characters, regardless of their interactions with the other characters, so clearly some characters had "better" or "more" development than others. Which is fine; you need those "stable characters" who remain true to themselves no matter what to help show how other characters develop, change, and grow over the course of the story.
On the one hand, it would have been interesting if the story had been told from a What if? or Elseworlds perspective. That way, the authors could have done some "really dramatic things" with the characters because such events would not have affected the "major continuity" of either "universe" in any way. At the same time, it might have been considered a "cheap ploy" if it had been written in such a way (like both teams sacrificing their lives to save their respective realities and how it would have inspired both worlds to something "higher" or whatever) (or it might have been cheapened if both teams "woke up" in a new universe on a "new earth" that they both inhabit).
In any case, it was a fun series to revisit. I am glad that I did. I do realize that the "biggest weakness" of the story is that any kind of "character development" cannot be "major" in nature or contradict what is occurring in the various comic series (kinda like how Marvel's "big events" have turned out to be "non-events" for a while). I have read that the series is considered "canon" by both companies (to some extent; probably more DC than Marvel because DC has done "more" with the events that transpired than Marvel has), so there is that. I could see myself revisiting it again because of the artwork alone. Perez did some amazing stuff with the artwork. Even if I were to rate it somewhere between 3.75 and 4.25 for the story, the artwork alone elevates it to 5 stars for me. Overall, I would say the story was well done and still holds up fairly well over with the passage of time.
The best part of the story has to be the artwork, to be honest. Perez knocks it out of not just the ballpark but out of the universe and into the next dimension, in my opinion. I love the artwork. I could probably just thumb through the book and look at the pics without bothering to read the words. Perez does a great job with making each character look different from each other, of creating a distinctive look for each character while keeping it familiar as well. It gets really crazy at the end when he starts mixing in multiple heroes and villains in various "windows"/pages; the amount of action he can cram into little frames is amazing to me.
The amount of characters crammed into the final issue is probably that issue's weakest point, on the one hand, because of how much "sensory overload" it creates. Plus, having so many additional characters takes away from the "primary characters" that the story starts out with. As much as I loved all of the artwork and characters in that final section (and how the artist was able to use so many different costume designs of the characters throughout their careers, especially the Winsome Wasp who had a crazy number of different costumes she wore), I did find myself wondering what it would have been like if the story had kept the number of characters tightly focused and more "on point" with who appeared (even if it meant just including the reserves and inactive members of each team who appeared in the 2nd and 3rd issues).
Regardless, I also loved the various perspectives Perez was able to create in some of his pictures, especially those involving the Grandmaster. Some of those pics of the Grandmaster and his . . . "game room" (or whatever it would be called) were pretty amazing. If you looked at some of the pics one way, the "screen" looked vertical, but shifting to the other side of the pic and it might look like the angle was more horizontal. It was a pretty cool effect. I also loved the coloring, especially when the teams were walking along that interdimensional path behind the Phantom Stranger. Those were some amazing color renditions that helped create the sense of extra-dimensional otherworldliness. I loved it!
I also enjoyed how the author compared and contrasted the two universes
I could go on and on about the "individual moments" that I loved in this series, but I am sure I am running out of room and time. So, just to name a few:
There is character development interspersed throughout the story (most of which probably takes place with Captain America and Superman over the course of the story). It's there; some of it is "more hidden" for some of the characters than others. I think that the "most" development involving the majority of the characters probably occurs in the moments leading up to the final push to defeat Krona. At the same time, Thor, Wonder Woman, and the Batman remain pretty true to themselves, to their core characters, regardless of their interactions with the other characters, so clearly some characters had "better" or "more" development than others. Which is fine; you need those "stable characters" who remain true to themselves no matter what to help show how other characters develop, change, and grow over the course of the story.
On the one hand, it would have been interesting if the story had been told from a What if? or Elseworlds perspective. That way, the authors could have done some "really dramatic things" with the characters because such events would not have affected the "major continuity" of either "universe" in any way. At the same time, it might have been considered a "cheap ploy" if it had been written in such a way (like both teams sacrificing their lives to save their respective realities and how it would have inspired both worlds to something "higher" or whatever) (or it might have been cheapened if both teams "woke up" in a new universe on a "new earth" that they both inhabit).
In any case, it was a fun series to revisit. I am glad that I did. I do realize that the "biggest weakness" of the story is that any kind of "character development" cannot be "major" in nature or contradict what is occurring in the various comic series (kinda like how Marvel's "big events" have turned out to be "non-events" for a while). I have read that the series is considered "canon" by both companies (to some extent; probably more DC than Marvel because DC has done "more" with the events that transpired than Marvel has), so there is that. I could see myself revisiting it again because of the artwork alone. Perez did some amazing stuff with the artwork. Even if I were to rate it somewhere between 3.75 and 4.25 for the story, the artwork alone elevates it to 5 stars for me. Overall, I would say the story was well done and still holds up fairly well over with the passage of time.
April 30, 2022
JLA ★ Avengers por siempre.
March 17, 2022
Nueva edición limitada de Hero Initiative para homenajear en vida al gran George Pérez. Incluye lo mismo que las ediciónnes viejas más un texto nuevo a cargo de Busiek.
May 7, 2020
Maybe comic book crossovers are not the best idea, but they are inevitable, if for no other reason than the fans demand them. And going back to the ‘60s, DC and Marvel comic partisans have speculated over who’s universe of super heroes are the best, or the most powerful, and who would prevail in a head to head match up? For a long time it seemed as if this debate would be have to be fought over stacks of comics in basements and bedrooms, or in front of the racks at comic shops. But over time, the management at the House of Ideas and the Distinguished Competition warmed up to an obvious marketing opportunity, one that couldn’t forever be ignored, mainly for the financial gain, and the chance to pick up new customers from among ranks of their rival. Ultimately there was a meeting of the minds, the necessary paper work done, and the mutual talent assembled. Thus in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, we had Superman meet Spider-Man, and the X-Men encounter The Teen Titans, among others. But the one throw down everyone wanted to see was the two marquee groups from each universe, The Justice League, and The Avengers, both filled with the true heavy hitters, come face to face, and settle the debate once and for all, or at least for a few hours.
Unfortunately, fans would have to wait a long time to see that come to pass. A planned JLA/AVENGER crossover was set in motion in 1979, with publication slated for May 1983. It involved such talents as writers George Conway and Roy Thomas, along with artist George Perez, but editorial disputes with infamous Marvel Editor in Chief, Jim Shooter, caused the project to be scrapped. It would be two decades before the venture would be resurrected, this time to be written by Kurt Busiek, and still drawn by Perez, who by contract, had kept his name attached to it all along. The long delayed series finally hit the comic book racks in a prestige format in September of 2003, in a four book series.
How good was the final result? As always, it’s in the eye of the reader. I have the original four books in my collection, the whole series having been published as a trade paperback in 2008. Having read and re-read them several times, it is clear that these books were meant to give the fans as much of what they wanted as possible, and to be a standalone story, separate from whatever DC and Marvel continuity in effect at the time (and one long since scrapped many times over since the crossover’s original publication). The overall plot is simple: a big cosmic threat is established at the beginning, one powerful enough to breach the barriers between universes; this threat sets in motion events that pit one group of super heroes against another in a series of violent confrontations, where their strengths and weaknesses are on full display, but no one emerging with an upper hand; there is a mid series plot twist, and both worlds seem to merge, where the heroes of DC and Marvel fight side by side against foes and villains from each of their respective worlds, and believe that this is how it has always been; but this is an untenable reality, and in the final act, the truth is revealed, the threat is confronted, and the heroes unite for a final epic battle to restore both universes to their proper order. This is a plot that works, and more than that, hits the character enough beats to satisfy any DC and Marvel fan. That said, the sheer number of heroes involved does make it feel at times like this project really did bite off more than it could chew. The pages are dense, filled with so many panels that they nearly burst. Action scenes cascade one upon one upon the other; close ups of faces are crammed beside each other page after page. It reminds me of Jack Kirby at his best, but it might be jarring to younger, 21st Century comic readers. I don’t think Busiek and Perez bit off too much, but I do think you have to chew it more than a few times extra to get it all down.
Still, for me, and I think for any DC and Marvel reader, it’s the choices made, and the individual moments that stand out. Maybe I would not have picked Krona, a DC villain intent upon finding the secrets of the origin of the universe at all cost, as my cosmic threat; or teamed him with Marvel’s The Grandmaster in a game where the JLA and The Avengers must hunt down twelve items of power like the Cosmic Cube, the Ultimate Nullifier, the Green Lantern’s Battery, and the Spear of Destiny. They serve the purpose of making the plot turn, and putting everyone in jeopardy, but I think relegating fan favorites like Darkseid and Galactus to supporting roles is a disappointment. What is not a disappointment is the genuine philosophical conflict that comes when Superman sees the Marvel universe, where tyrants like Doctor Doom rule, where millions have died in Genosha, and murderous vigilantes like The Punisher gun down criminals at will, and decides that the Marvel heroes are failures who have not protected their world. At the same time, Captain America sees the statues to Superman, and other DC heroes, along with the adulation they receive from the public, and come to the conclusion they are fascists who have conquered and intimidated their world. It’s a genuine take that resonates, and makes the moment when they put aside their differences all the powerful. So too the first encounter between Batman and Captain America, that begins with them being combatants and ends with them teaming up, that and the poignant moment in the Bat Cave where Cap sees that Batman has lost a partner as well (this was before return of Bucky as the Winter Soldier, or the resurrection of Jason Todd as the Red Hood). Among other moments that stood out for me, and enhanced the story: The Flash saving a young mutant from a mob, and being mistaken for one of Magneto’s evil brotherhood; Ben Grimm’s cameo in the Bat Cave; Wonder Woman punching out Hercules; Thor nailing Superman with Mjolnir, only to have Big Blue get up and catch the next blow before taking out the Norse God, saying he is “the toughest foe I’ve ever…”; later, Superman wielding Mjolnir and Cap’s shield; The Flash and Hawkeye saving the day; the inevitable sniping between Clint Barton and Oliver Queen, and the first meeting between the teams on the rooftops of DC’s earth, it’s just a perfect image, and drawn beautifully. Of course a lot of favorites are left out, or given only token appearances. Spider-Man does get an unintentionally funny scene where he saves some overly webbed up kids (with terrified eyes) from a burning building, but that’s it for him. There’s no battle between Superman and the Hulk (who’s hardly in the books), nor a faceoff between the opposing Princes of Atlantis. Except for the Beast, there’s little of the X-Men; same for Nightwing and the rest of the Teen Titans. I would like to have seen more interplay between Quicksilver and Barry Allen, and at least a meeting of Plastic Man and Mr. Fantastic. And the final battle with Krona is something anyone could see coming after the first few pages and that might be the truest criticism of JLA/AVENGERS: it took very few risks. One could also say that its parts were greater than its whole, but then again, sometimes it’s the journey and not the destination. And sometimes, picking nits is the best part of being a fan.
This series felt like a throwback in 2003, like the best comic of the ‘80s coming decades late, but that was okay too. To me, it was a welcome anomaly amidst the crisis and rebirths that began to reset the continuity of both companies’ super hero universes, starting in the late ‘90s and continuing today. It’s been enough to test to patience of every long time comic reader like myself. Sadly, JLA/AVENGERS has been the last DC/Marvel crossover to date, and some of us think it’s more than time for another one, if only to excite comic book fans who have had to put up with a lot in the intervening years. But if anybody at DC and Marvel are listening, I would suggest they take a step back from big all encompassing cosmic epics like JLA/AVENGERS, if for no other reason than they’ve done it already, and it’s just too many characters. Instead, I’d like to see some smaller scale crossovers, like Spider-Man and Nightwing, Jon Lane Kent and Nova, Wonder Woman and She Hulk, Teen Titans and Young Justice, Doctor Doom and Lex Luthor, or maybe a sequel to the former’s encounter with the X-Men, another shelved project from the ‘80s. In the pages of DOOMSDAY CLOCK #12, a future encounter between, Thor, the Hulk, and Superman is hinted at as occurring in the near future. That’s what I’m talking about. Make it happen, DC and Marvel.
Will we ever see a crossover between the DCMU and the MCU? I wouldn’t hold my breath for a live action version, though I’m sure it has crossed the minds of more than a few executives at Warner Bros. and Disney, but right now, that seems like a bridge too far. And I think a live action version would likely be a disappointment, but an animated film, along the lines of SPIDERMAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE? That is something that might do true justice (no pun intended) to all these great characters and their enormous legacy. Probably won’t happen either.
Unfortunately, fans would have to wait a long time to see that come to pass. A planned JLA/AVENGER crossover was set in motion in 1979, with publication slated for May 1983. It involved such talents as writers George Conway and Roy Thomas, along with artist George Perez, but editorial disputes with infamous Marvel Editor in Chief, Jim Shooter, caused the project to be scrapped. It would be two decades before the venture would be resurrected, this time to be written by Kurt Busiek, and still drawn by Perez, who by contract, had kept his name attached to it all along. The long delayed series finally hit the comic book racks in a prestige format in September of 2003, in a four book series.
How good was the final result? As always, it’s in the eye of the reader. I have the original four books in my collection, the whole series having been published as a trade paperback in 2008. Having read and re-read them several times, it is clear that these books were meant to give the fans as much of what they wanted as possible, and to be a standalone story, separate from whatever DC and Marvel continuity in effect at the time (and one long since scrapped many times over since the crossover’s original publication). The overall plot is simple: a big cosmic threat is established at the beginning, one powerful enough to breach the barriers between universes; this threat sets in motion events that pit one group of super heroes against another in a series of violent confrontations, where their strengths and weaknesses are on full display, but no one emerging with an upper hand; there is a mid series plot twist, and both worlds seem to merge, where the heroes of DC and Marvel fight side by side against foes and villains from each of their respective worlds, and believe that this is how it has always been; but this is an untenable reality, and in the final act, the truth is revealed, the threat is confronted, and the heroes unite for a final epic battle to restore both universes to their proper order. This is a plot that works, and more than that, hits the character enough beats to satisfy any DC and Marvel fan. That said, the sheer number of heroes involved does make it feel at times like this project really did bite off more than it could chew. The pages are dense, filled with so many panels that they nearly burst. Action scenes cascade one upon one upon the other; close ups of faces are crammed beside each other page after page. It reminds me of Jack Kirby at his best, but it might be jarring to younger, 21st Century comic readers. I don’t think Busiek and Perez bit off too much, but I do think you have to chew it more than a few times extra to get it all down.
Still, for me, and I think for any DC and Marvel reader, it’s the choices made, and the individual moments that stand out. Maybe I would not have picked Krona, a DC villain intent upon finding the secrets of the origin of the universe at all cost, as my cosmic threat; or teamed him with Marvel’s The Grandmaster in a game where the JLA and The Avengers must hunt down twelve items of power like the Cosmic Cube, the Ultimate Nullifier, the Green Lantern’s Battery, and the Spear of Destiny. They serve the purpose of making the plot turn, and putting everyone in jeopardy, but I think relegating fan favorites like Darkseid and Galactus to supporting roles is a disappointment. What is not a disappointment is the genuine philosophical conflict that comes when Superman sees the Marvel universe, where tyrants like Doctor Doom rule, where millions have died in Genosha, and murderous vigilantes like The Punisher gun down criminals at will, and decides that the Marvel heroes are failures who have not protected their world. At the same time, Captain America sees the statues to Superman, and other DC heroes, along with the adulation they receive from the public, and come to the conclusion they are fascists who have conquered and intimidated their world. It’s a genuine take that resonates, and makes the moment when they put aside their differences all the powerful. So too the first encounter between Batman and Captain America, that begins with them being combatants and ends with them teaming up, that and the poignant moment in the Bat Cave where Cap sees that Batman has lost a partner as well (this was before return of Bucky as the Winter Soldier, or the resurrection of Jason Todd as the Red Hood). Among other moments that stood out for me, and enhanced the story: The Flash saving a young mutant from a mob, and being mistaken for one of Magneto’s evil brotherhood; Ben Grimm’s cameo in the Bat Cave; Wonder Woman punching out Hercules; Thor nailing Superman with Mjolnir, only to have Big Blue get up and catch the next blow before taking out the Norse God, saying he is “the toughest foe I’ve ever…”; later, Superman wielding Mjolnir and Cap’s shield; The Flash and Hawkeye saving the day; the inevitable sniping between Clint Barton and Oliver Queen, and the first meeting between the teams on the rooftops of DC’s earth, it’s just a perfect image, and drawn beautifully. Of course a lot of favorites are left out, or given only token appearances. Spider-Man does get an unintentionally funny scene where he saves some overly webbed up kids (with terrified eyes) from a burning building, but that’s it for him. There’s no battle between Superman and the Hulk (who’s hardly in the books), nor a faceoff between the opposing Princes of Atlantis. Except for the Beast, there’s little of the X-Men; same for Nightwing and the rest of the Teen Titans. I would like to have seen more interplay between Quicksilver and Barry Allen, and at least a meeting of Plastic Man and Mr. Fantastic. And the final battle with Krona is something anyone could see coming after the first few pages and that might be the truest criticism of JLA/AVENGERS: it took very few risks. One could also say that its parts were greater than its whole, but then again, sometimes it’s the journey and not the destination. And sometimes, picking nits is the best part of being a fan.
This series felt like a throwback in 2003, like the best comic of the ‘80s coming decades late, but that was okay too. To me, it was a welcome anomaly amidst the crisis and rebirths that began to reset the continuity of both companies’ super hero universes, starting in the late ‘90s and continuing today. It’s been enough to test to patience of every long time comic reader like myself. Sadly, JLA/AVENGERS has been the last DC/Marvel crossover to date, and some of us think it’s more than time for another one, if only to excite comic book fans who have had to put up with a lot in the intervening years. But if anybody at DC and Marvel are listening, I would suggest they take a step back from big all encompassing cosmic epics like JLA/AVENGERS, if for no other reason than they’ve done it already, and it’s just too many characters. Instead, I’d like to see some smaller scale crossovers, like Spider-Man and Nightwing, Jon Lane Kent and Nova, Wonder Woman and She Hulk, Teen Titans and Young Justice, Doctor Doom and Lex Luthor, or maybe a sequel to the former’s encounter with the X-Men, another shelved project from the ‘80s. In the pages of DOOMSDAY CLOCK #12, a future encounter between, Thor, the Hulk, and Superman is hinted at as occurring in the near future. That’s what I’m talking about. Make it happen, DC and Marvel.
Will we ever see a crossover between the DCMU and the MCU? I wouldn’t hold my breath for a live action version, though I’m sure it has crossed the minds of more than a few executives at Warner Bros. and Disney, but right now, that seems like a bridge too far. And I think a live action version would likely be a disappointment, but an animated film, along the lines of SPIDERMAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE? That is something that might do true justice (no pun intended) to all these great characters and their enormous legacy. Probably won’t happen either.
August 17, 2023
Belongs in the conversation with Watchmen, DKR, Squadron Supreme, Kingdom Come, Marvels and Mister Miracle, but is too out-of-print for that to currently happen.
August 21, 2016
Cuando me propuse leer este crossover, realmente no esperaba encontrarme con una historia tan buena, sino más bien con un equivalente a lo que en las películas sería una producción "taquillera" o el más moderno término, al menos por estos lares, "pochoclera", no tanto contenido, pero acción y diversión a raudales. Lo cierto es que esto último lo tiene y de sobra, pero a la vez, es un cómic realmente original con una trama auténtica y muy bien hilvanada por detrás. No es solo poner al Capitán América a pelear con Batman, o a Superman a intercambiar piñas con Thor, la fusión de los universos de Marvel y DC está muy bien armada, Kurt Busiek la verdad se luce en esta historia.
Al mismo tiempo el arte es espectacular, con splashes y escenas de peleas a raudales que permiten a George Perez lucirse al máximo, y darle una vida espectacular a cada viñeta. La única razón por la cual pensé no ponerle el máximo puntaje fue que cierto personaje de mi agrado personal tiene una intervención totalmente anecdótica, pero luego lo pensé y aunque me habría gustado el doble si hubiera intervenido más, no puedo dejar de ponerle la calificación perfecta a esta sensacional historia.
Ojalá tuviéramos con mayor frecuencia este tipo de trabajos conjuntos de las dos grandes del mundo del Comic.
Al mismo tiempo el arte es espectacular, con splashes y escenas de peleas a raudales que permiten a George Perez lucirse al máximo, y darle una vida espectacular a cada viñeta. La única razón por la cual pensé no ponerle el máximo puntaje fue que cierto personaje de mi agrado personal tiene una intervención totalmente anecdótica, pero luego lo pensé y aunque me habría gustado el doble si hubiera intervenido más, no puedo dejar de ponerle la calificación perfecta a esta sensacional historia.
Ojalá tuviéramos con mayor frecuencia este tipo de trabajos conjuntos de las dos grandes del mundo del Comic.
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