When Companies Clash!

Between the late '90s and the early 2000s, there were two collaborations between Marvel Comics and DC Comics which featured mash-ups of their respective stables of comics stars: the 2003 JLA★Avengers, which isolated the confrontation between the two super-teams, and the 1996 Marvel Comics versus DC that cast a wider net and included a more broad representation of each company's characters. And like the contests themselves, there are probably two schools of thought as to which one proved to be superior.

Each series has a catalyst that brings the two "worlds" together in conflict; each has a decent amount of interaction between the characters of each version of Earth; each comprises four issues, split evenly between each company in terms of publication and the order of the title wording; and, needless to say, each has its share of battles between characters whose meetings were presumably chosen to appeal to readers. There's also a nice sense of continuity in that the creative teams of each series are stable throughout. The Marvel-DC series is written by Peter David and Ron Marz, with pencils by Dan Jurgens and Claudio Castellini and inks handled by Josef Rubinstein and Paul Neary--while the Avengers★JLA books are scripted by Kurt Busiek with art by George Perez.

There are also some notable differences between the two. The earlier series isn't limited to the members of two specific teams (though with the number of members both teams have swelling their ranks, readers of the later series weren't likely to feel short-changed); in addition, the '96 series features meetings between villains as well as heroes, which is certainly an extra draw. There is also a noticeable dissimilarity in the size of the interior panels between each, with neither really finding a happy medium. The Jurgens/Castellini work is oversized to the extreme, which not only gives the impression of less story for your $3.95 $4.00 but also necessitates shortening each battle's duration, given the number of characters the series must deal in. Perez's much smaller panels, on the other hand, appear to pack so much action into each issue that it almost becomes a chore to sift through it all and make sense of everything going on.

One last observation has to do with the timing of the '96 event, which unfortunately catches Marvel Comics at the lowest point in its thirty-year history--its creative talent a fraction of what it once was, its financial position precarious, its staff undergoing sweeping layoffs, the production of its books about to be farmed out to other studios, and the Onslaught event decimating its lineup of major titles. In a way, the DC versus Marvel Comics series offers a snapshot of the point where Marvel effectively jumps off a cliff, leaving its "old guard" in the dust for once and for all. The circumstances cast something of a pall over the issues, though I'd be curious to hear if the DC reader was experiencing a similar reaction.

But let's take a brief look at some of the key scenes from each, starting with the '96 series. Thanks to Jurgens and the young mutant, Jubilee, we have an idea of who meets who in battle, as well as the stakes involved--all scribbled from Jubilee's own unique perspective.

As brief as this series' battles turned out to be, there's not much point to spending time on each of them--so why don't we instead focus on the big guns. For each company, those choices are fairly obvious.

We could chalk this blink-and-you-missed-it fight up to the Hulk being "handicapped" in a way by the fact that the mind of Bruce Banner is in control, depriving us of a raging Hulk not settling for anything less than going the distance against an enemy and thus benefiting from his strength increasing in proportion to his anger. Though in fairness to his opponent, the guy was named "Superman" with good reason.

The other conflict between two powerhouses would be Thor's meeting with Captain Marvel, the common denominator between the two being their association with deities as well as their use of lightning.

The scene above seems a bit contrived (perhaps as a device to bring the battle to a quick end), since there's little logic to the Captain's sense of urgency as far as being immobilized; if he's powerful enough to hoist that ferris wheel and toss it like a discus, he can surely shove it off of him faster than taking the time it takes to change his form, crawl from underneath it, and change form once again. As it is, Thor is given precisely the opening he can use to overcome his foe.

As to where Thor's hammer ends up, it's certainly an interesting turn of events.

Over in JLA★Avengers, with the Hulk absent from the Avengers lineup there's one clash that simply has to take place.

Frankly, as battles go, I was more impressed with the Lee/Kirby Thor-Hercules clash. We know from Superman's battle with Doomsday that he's capable of a memorable, drawn-out slugfest (though you and I can probably think of any number of ways that Superman could have dealt more handily with that bruiser than trying to slug it out with him)--but when the opportunity presents itself in not one but two cross-company events, both David and Busiek pass on a chance to make their battle one for the books, and Superman puts down both of Marvel's heaviest hitters with shocking brevity. (Again, that's likely the result of so many other characters demanding panel time.) As to the results of the respective fights, it's fair to presume that Superman coming out on top was a condition settled on during negotiations--though in all honesty, that doesn't come across as asking too much from DC's perspective.

In terms of overall story, I'd definitely have to weigh more in favor of the 2003 series, which seems more structured and cohesive under a single writer than the David/Marz project. There's also Perez's effort in laying out the entire story in such detail and being mindful of the strengths that characters of both companies bring to the table. The series was truly a nice mesh of talent, and it remains a treat that can be enjoyed well after its original publication.