Thursday, September 8, 2022

The Mightiest Mortal! The Caped Crusader!

 

I believe it may have been John Byrne who once remarked that the difference between DC Comics and Marvel Comics was that DC had the better characters, but Marvel had the better stories, going on to add that Marvel's approach to a story was better suited to do more with DC characters. The fact that writers and artists have at times left one company and gone to work for the other (as well as indulging in do-si-dos in that respect) may muddy those waters a bit--but it occurred to me that you can put that assessment to the test when the companies agree to feature their characters in joint stories, either as foes or dealing with a shared threat or crisis. One such gem could be found as early as 1981, as two characters as dissimilar as they come face each other for the first time.


This story takes place in the final issue of the DC Special Series* books, written by Len Wein (who had long since moved on from his stint on Incredible Hulk) and with art by José Luis Garcia-López and Dick Giordano. Having worked my way backward with these kinds of inter-company team-up issues, it was interesting to see that in earlier years the DC and Marvel characters were of the same world and had simply never crossed paths with each other. In this case, Bruce Banner has come to Gotham City and found employment (under forged credentials) doing odd jobs in a Wayne Research lab where we find a team of scientists working on the Gamma Gun, a device which Banner feels could be the key to his salvation for obvious reasons. Enter the Joker, who arrives to steal it for none other than the Shaper of Worlds, whom the pasty-faced criminal has struck an agreement with; but an altercation with the Joker's men triggers a transformation that has them dealing instead with a very angry man-monster.



*A catch-all series of mostly one-shots begun in 1977, published irregularly throughout a given year. I don't recall seeing the series title formally appearing on any cover (e.g., Marvel's Greatest Comics, Marvel Super-Heroes, et al.)--as far as I know, it only appeared in the indicia of its issues. Equally hard to pin down was its pricing, which ranged from 75¢ to $2.50.

In the confusion, the Joker and his crew try to escape with the Gamma Gun, only to run into another roadblock barring their way. (I doubt that introductions as to the new player will be necessary at this point.)


As Batman fears, the wily Joker manages to turn the Hulk against him--which, in turn, effectively and literally hands the Joker the Gamma Gun, leaving Batman's hands full with stopping the Hulk's attack. Nevertheless, the Joker declines for the moment to flee with his prize in order to enjoy what's to come.


As we've seen during the Hulk's initial battle with Wolverine, brawn doesn't always have a clear advantage over a smaller, less powerful foe--yet in this confrontation between Batman and the Hulk, Garcia-López depicts the two in roughly equal stature. As Batman quickly learns, however, he cannot match the Hulk in strength--but clearly he knows who and what he's dealing with, and, unlike the Hulk, can think faster on his feet.



But how does the Shaper fit into this story? And how did he end up striking up a deal with the Joker? From what we learn, the Shaper's problems began when he was caught in the heat and radiation of a rogue star going nova, which had the effect of causing the loss of his ability to absorb the dreams of others--resulting in progressive, eventual madness which could eventually also consume the entire universe. Seeking a cure led him to Earth, where he sought a mind unique in the universe whose dreams went beyond the norm--i.e., the Joker, who agreed to help him in part to prevent the Shaper's madness from running its course and turning everyone mad. ("Everyone in the universe will be as crazy as I am... and we can't have that, now can we? In the valley of the sane, it's the insane man who's King!") But there was also another agreement made between the two, which we'll learn of shortly.

And so when the Joker returns, the Gamma Gun is used in the hope that its power could alleviate the Shaper's unstable condition. But the attempt fails.


In the interim, once the Hulk reverted to Banner, Bruce Wayne offers him a job to replace the stolen Gamma Gun prototype, which Banner accepts. And while the project is underway, Batman searches for information on the Joker's whereabouts; but the Joker beats him to the punch (so to speak), when Banner again reverts to the Hulk and escapes, and the Joker ends up meeting with and securing Batman's help in tracking him down (in accordance with the Shaper's decision to tap the power of the Hulk directly for his cure).

Once located, however, we see that the Hulk isn't exactly in a receptive mood to deal with Batman again. And unfortunately, Round Two doesn't swing in Batman's favor this time around.




Later, Batman is as good as his word, taking a softer approach in their next meeting and appearing to the Hulk in disguise as a more trustworthy older gentleman who convinces the Hulk to see the Shaper; and after a struggle that sees both Batman and the Hulk fighting against a group of their respective enemies due to the Shaper's madness, the Hulk's power is successfully transferred, resulting in the reappearance of Banner.

But just as it seemed that the danger had passed with the restoration of the Shaper's sanity, the moment arrives when we learn just what the Joker bargained for in exchange for his assistance to this powerful alien--and a more deadly battle begins, this time against a foe whose own insanity was never in question.


The resulting madscape (there's no other word I can think of for it) of the Joker's creation which Batman and the Hulk find themselves trapped in makes for an impressive display of Garcia-López's talent, five full pages which make for one of the most bizarre battles ever. But in the end, the true victim turns out to be the Joker, when even his mind becomes taxed to its limit.


Setting their copy down when all is said and done, the reader may have likely felt they received their money's worth for sixty-four pages of story which did its job. (And in 1981, with comics selling at about 1/5 of that price, they invested a good chunk of their change here.) As a non-DC reader, I'm unaware what the status was of Batman's partner, Robin; still, he doesn't receive billing, and the story doesn't appear to take him into account, nor, frankly, does it really require his presence. (That's probably a tactful way of saying he wasn't missed.) As for the Hulk, he went on to trade blows with DC's heaviest hitter, on several occasions.

And speaking of the Man of Steel vs. the rampaging Hulk:

BONUS!
Animator Michael Habjan has them meeting for one hell of a knock-down drag-out. (in 4 parts)


16 comments:

  1. Kinda disappointed the animator in that video went for a Superman modelled on Christopher Reeve but not a Ferrigno Hulk.

    That was after I got over the shock of seeing the Batman in a Peerless Power of Comics post of course...

    As a reader I've never quite understood the whole Marvel v DC thing myself - a good comic is a good comic whoever publishes it, right? - especially since, as you say Comicsfan, quite a few of the same people worked at both companies.
    I mean, if you didn't read anything from DC you'd have missed Jack Kirby's greatest work! Who would want to do that?

    Still, if you're going to make distinctions like Byrne did, it would make more sense to say (trigger warning for Marvel zuvembies: controversial opinion ahead) DC tended to use better artists.
    Come on - you wouldn't get a Garcia-Lopez/Giordano credit at Marvel.

    -sean

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  2. Just to be clear, I was thinking there of the period up to this comic ie before '81 (obviously after that DC generally used better writers too, at least up to the early 90s)

    -sean

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  3. Batman on the PPoC?? This is heresy!!

    It'll be Conan and Planet Of The Apes next!

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  4. On balance over decades of reading these funny books, I guess I identify as a "Marvel Zombie" rather than a "DC Drone". But it's a squeaker of vote count, and I'm trying to keep my mind in the Silver-Early Bronze Ages. It's really hard not to bias the stance with the river of manure that's been DC's output in recent years.

    Back in the 60's-70's-early 80's, there was a strict dividing line between Marvel and DC. Very much like championship sports teams with a hot rivalry. John Byrne's observation might have had merit back then, but not once the compensation-remuneration systems for creative talent left the "dark ages". After that, the Talent crisscrossed that dividing line so often that the differences were scuffed out of existence.

    These company crossovers couldn't possibly live up to the hype and expectation. At least, not my expectations. The Superman-Spider-Man debut blew my mind...until I read it. That team-up and this Batman-Hulk adventure were pretty average offerings. When I grew older, I came to understand that such crossovers were treated cautiously: nothing really dramatic or lasting could happen. No character could outshine the other. Pretty much the attitude of in-house team-ups between their own heroes, but kicked up an order of magnitude.

    Superman vs the Hulk? For me, that was summed in the sequence from Marvel Treasury#28. "The monster who can smash mountains slams the man who can move planets. Superman does not budge". Other encounters between the two have been entertaining, but this first meeting was the definitive answer.

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  5. Garcia-Lopez is an underrated master artist and Giordano on inks always enhanced the art. Avengers/JLA by Busiek and Perez is one of the success stories of Marvel/DC crossovers.

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  6. Of the DC-Marvel crossovers, I'd definitely put the Avengers-JLA epic at the top. The Roger Stern-Steve Rude take on Hulk vs Superman is a close second place. A solid third would go to John Byrne's Batman and Captain America (marred only by the ultra-cliché reaction from the Joker that was pivotal to the plot).

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  7. Conan and Planet of the Apes, Colin? Hmmm... *raises eyebrow, strokes chin thoughtfully*

    Truthfully, though, the best I can do on both is bits and pieces, most likely; in fact, you'll be seeing a bit more of Conan around the second week of October (though our barbarian won't be having a good day, I'm afraid).

    sean, I was actually fine with the animator's choice for the proportions of the Hulk--but, if I'm being honest (and when am I not? :D ), I wouldn't have minded a figure less looming, no more than 7'. Overall, I can't complain. As for your DC/Marvel thoughts, I sometimes wonder why I chose Marvel's line of comics over DC's--perhaps Stan Lee was onto something in the whole "heroes with problems" approach, stories that took a sharp turn from the sock-'em/save-the-day DC tales of the time.

    Murray, a solid point about the status quo being maintained in team-up books and inter-company crossovers. Yet in some cases there were efforts to make character differences stand out for the reader--such as in the Avengers/JLA series that charliedogg mentions, where heated words are exchanged on just which Earth has been better served by its heroes (the exchange between Thor and Superman, for instance). That turned out to be more riveting reading to me than any such exchanges taking place in Marvel's guest-star appearances where the heroes didn't see eye to eye (e.g., many of Bill Mantlo's stories in MTU, Ben Grimm belittling Luke Cage for selling his services, et al., all of which blew over fairly quickly).

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  8. CF, I know you're not very interested in the goings-on at modern Marvel but here are two interesting facts about Conan and Planet Of The Apes:

    1) After five years back at Marvel the Conan licence is moving to Titan Comics in 2023 (and Conan comes out of copyright in the United States in 2028 by the way).

    2) Also in 2023 Planet Of The Apes is returning to Marvel for the first time since the '70s which means the apes will be back at Marvel in time for November 16th 2024 which is the 50th anniversary of me buying my first Marvel comic (Marvel UK's Planet Of The Apes #5).

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  9. Colin, you've unwittingly given me an idea for a special Planet Of The Apes post that will be coming up right here--that's right, a PLANET OF THE APES post which will, believe it or not, fit right in with what you're used to seeing in the PPC. More than that I can't say... but I can tell you that it may not turn out to be what you might be expecting. Just what do I mean by that? You'll see. ;)

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  10. Oooh, let it be a post about the senses-shattering Apeslayer!

    Anyway Comicsfan, gravitating to Marvel in the 70s makes sense if you were mainly into super-heroes, as a lot DC's strongest stuff early in the decade was in 'other genres'.

    What gave Marvel the edge there, by '74/'75 - well, it did for me - was the continued storyline, 'Panther's Revenge', Englehart's Dr Strange, Starlin's Warlock, that kind of thing, which seemed much more involving back then than the more self contained episodic approach of the Distinguished Competition.

    Although these days, in the era of the multi-title crossover, I'm more positive about the virtues of the 'done-in-one'...

    -sean

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  11. I was definitely a Marvel Zombie back in the '70's, but in the '80's I got a bit disenchanted. Meanwhile, D.C. got better, even though it took Crisis to get my attention.
    I enjoyed this crossover, I agree that it was a pretty good read! The second Superman/Spider-Man team-up was maybe even a bit better than this, with a battle between Supes and the Hulk and great John Buscema pencils.
    A much slicker job than their first team-up, I think.
    But who could have said no to that one's cover? I ain't made of stone!
    I kinda had to buy a copy on general principle.

    M.P.

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  12. All these cross-over series are always subject to the whims and desires of the writers. In this case, very poor rendering of Hulk and his power.
    Complete waste of time.

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  13. M.P., thanks for bringing up that second Superman/Spider-Man issue, I'll be curious to check it out. :D

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  14. Hey, C.P. If you haven't read Marvel Treasury #28, here's a way to do so online:

    https://readcomicsbook.com/comic/marvel-treasury-edition/issue-28

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  15. Thanks, Murray--I occasionally stop in there as well as its sister site when I have trouble finding what I'm looking for. Aren't they the coolest? :D (I wish they also included letters pages, but I guess we can't ask for the moon, eh?)

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    ReplyDelete