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Crossover! Is there any more stimulating word in the English language to a comics fan? Or one that fills them with so much dread and so a heap of bad memories? In honour of DC’s Identity Crisis – (a self-contained mini-series that will spill over into a number of other books such as Teen Titans and Outsiders), the Batman family’s upcoming War Games event (where for three months, no less than eight Bat-related books will be taking share in a numbered crossover (only the magnificent Birds of Prey escapes, because it isn’t under editorial control of the Bat-office), and even Marvel’s non-crossover Avengers Disassemble (which runs from now until October in a number of Marvel’s books – though it is not a crossover, it’s a number of thematically linked stories), I’ve decisive to dedicate the next few week’s column to a great deal of of the ‘great’ crossovers of yester-year. It seems not so long ago that each single year brought at least one huge crossover from each of the huge two companies – and even a good deal of littler ones from Image, when they applied to play more conspicuously in the superhero sandbox (does any person do not forget the train wrecks that were Extreme Prejudice and Extreme Sacrifice?)- and these may be traced back to the daddy of them all, Marvel’s Secret Wars. Contest of Champions by Marvel ComicsIn 1982 Marvel published it is introductory mini-series, Contest of Champions. For the basi time, most of the company’s heroes were together in one place. It wasn’t very good. Not long after, DC had a successful toy line with the Super Friends, numerous bright spark at Marvel thought it might be a good idea to mix the two ideas together… Secret Wars by Marvel Comics1984: Secret Wars! Originally designed to trade a toy line (which wasn’t specially successful), Secret Wars was a self contained twelve issue mini starring a host of heroes and villains plucked from Earth by the cosmic entity the Beyonder and set to battle for survival on a patchwork world that he made. Written by Jim Shooter and illustrated by Al Milgrom, the plot was reasonably straightforward and, to be honest, could have been told in half the amount of issues that it was…an early example of pacing for trades? Contest of Champions by Marvel ComicsThe series contained clunky dialog and exposition (particularly painful are the scenes in the initial issue where the heroes and villains take turns to introduce themselves – “I, Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man, wuz looking at the show outside!”), heavy handed plotting (Colossus falling in love with an alien healer) and a lot of straightout foolish plot developments (like the Hulk lifting an entire mountain off the heroes) but it was above all else fun. The mini kicked off in the same month as the heroes vanished from their regular titles, but while they all returned from the wars the next issue, it took a full year to learn how the respective changes had occurred – and chages there were. The Secret Wars had rather a few significances for a number of heroes – the Thing left the Fantastic Four to stay on the Secret Wars planet in his own series, his place on the team taken by the She-Hulk; a new Spider-Woman, Julia Carpenter, was introduced who would later have a short career in Freedom Force before joining the Avengers West Coast and Force Works for various years; and, of course, Spider-Man acquired a new alien costume that in the long run went on to be one of his greatest oppositions – Venom. But perhaps the most lasting effect of all was the conception of crossovers themselves… Crisis on Infinite Earths by DC Comics1985: Crisis on Infinite Earths! DC’s answer to the Secret Wars series was a year long crossover of it is own. Born of DC’s desire to clean house, Crisis on Infinite Earths surpassed it is rival series in each way. The Monitor accumulated the heroes of multiple earths to fight the collapse of the universe in the series by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, but it wouldn’t be sufficient – a lot of worlds and characters died, while others were united into one brand new DC Universe; the characters that DC had not so long ago acquired from Charlton (such as Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and the Question) became part of the DCU proper, as did the Marvel family (Captain Marvel, Black Adam, etc), altho the good Captain wouldn’t debut in the new continuity until the next year. Crisis on Infinite Earths by DC ComicsDC likewise killed off two of it is lower merchandising (yet still popular) iconic heroes – the Flash and Supergirl – and altho both have been substituted since then, their deaths still resonate today, Barry Allen’s especially. The twelve issue mini was foreshadowed in a number of titles for assorted months, as the mysterious Monitor acted as arms dealer to assorted organisations. Given that this was explained away (rather unconvincingly) as him testing the heroes, we may only sums up that not all the writers and editors at DC were in on the story for the series. Crisis on Infinite Earths by DC ComicsThe series also had an affect on the crossover format, as it span off into a number of crossovers in person titles, a good deal of of which just featured a red sky and had little affect on the storyline as a whole. Subsequent to the Crisis, DC underwent a soft reboot of sorts, retooling characters’ roots such as in Man of Steel, Batman: Year One and Wonder Woman. Without a doubt as ordinary setter, no crossover before or since has had as long lasting or wide ranging effects. Secret Wars II by Marvel Comics1985: Secret Wars II! But Marvel, of course, would not be outdone. Not long after the conclusion of the basi Secret Wars, and while the Crisis was still ongoing at their Distinguished Competition, they launched a sequel to their own mini series; the nine issue Secret Wars II was born. In the series, the Beyonder came to Earth and took humane form (actually a duplicate of Captain America’s body but with an oh-so-eighties jerry curl) to learn regarding humanity. Of course, with an inevitability that bordered on the inane, he proceeded to encounter nearly each reputation in the Marvel Universe, not only in the mini but likewise in over 30 official crossover issues (and one more if you count a cheeky Deadpool issue a lot of years later). Secret Wars II by Marvel ComicsSome of the crossovers chapters were risible; in Daredevil, the Beyonder hires Matt Murdock to take over the world legally and recompense him by restoring his sight – Murdock ends up rejecting both the occupation and the gift of sight; or the Spider-Man two parter where the Beyonder turns an office building into solid gold, and Peter Parker throws away a solid gold notepad. Some crossovers, however, had a little more clout to them – such as the New Mutants issues where the Beyonder killed the fledgling team, only to reanimate them later; it left aroused scars on the youngsters that lasted for rather a lot of time. Ultimately, though, Secret Wars II did what it set out to do: it sold – though not as well as the introductory Secret Wars. The crossovers would continue, but Marvel were already rethinking how to present them… Legends by DC Comics1986: Legends! DC enjoyed the Crisis so much, they commissioned a new mini-series. Like their rival’s Secret Wars II, Legends was to crossover into a number of dissimilar books – over 20 tie ins – as the heroes were plagued by mankind’s distrust of them. Written by John Ostrander and Len Wein and illustrated by John Byrne and Karl Kesel, Legends saw Darkseid controlling events on Earth through G. Gordon Godfrey (actually Glorious Godfrey, one of his lieutenants). It even featured then-president Ronald Reagan as he ordered the heroes not to use their powers. Legends by DC ComicsOf course, much of the anti-hero hatred was down to mind control so once the truth was revealed, everything was back to normal. While it was a bit of a cop-out in the end, Legends did launch Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel into the new DC Universe, so it can’t be altogether dismissed. It also launched a number of new series – Wally West took on Barry Allen’s old title role in Flash, Amanda Waller formed the Suicide Squad, and an off-beat collection of heroes formed into the new – and many times hilariously amusive – Justice League underneath Maxwell Lord. Yes, Legends did have some affect – sufficient to for them to try it again the next year… Mutants Massacre by Marvel Comics1986: The Mutant Massacre! Marvel, meanwhile, had another idea – rather of having a mini series, 1986 saw the advent of the mutant crossover in the form of the Mutant Massacre. Running through Uncanny X-Men, New Mutants and X-Factor (then the only three x-books, if you may believe that!) and crossing over into Power Pack, Thor and Daredevil the comparatively short storyline elaborate the assault on the Morlocks – a community of misshapen mutants living beneath Manhattan – by the Marauders. Mutants Massacre by Marvel ComicsThe Marauders were a team of largely forgettable villains, except for one called Sabretooth. He had bounced around the Marvel Universe for a few years, antecedently showing up only in Iron Fist (and later in Power Man & Iron Fist) and Spectacular Spider-Man. This was his initial aspect in the x-books. Even here, he may have just been a clone, as most of the other villains were at long last revealed to be, working for Mr Sinister. They were also, it was revealed years later, aided by Gambit – but this was a retrospective amendment to the story, which was made years Gambit at the time wasn’t even a gleam in Chris Claremont’s eye. Again, there were consequences; a host of minor supporting characters were killed, Colossus, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler were injured and went to Muir Isle to recuperate, where they would at long last form Excalibur, and X-Factor’s resident millionaire, Angel, took a hit when hi wings were so gravely damaged that they had to be amputated, which lead to his suicide and subsequent revival by Apocalypse as Death, his winged horseman. More importantly, it paved the way for what was to become an annual event – the mutant crossover. Millennium by DC Comics1987: Millennium! DC thought they were onto something, but why disseminate it over six months if you could do it in two? Millennium was an eight issue weekly mini series, again with over 30 crossovers in the two months it ran, where the heroes of Earth were once again forced to face a big threat; the Manhunters (a race of cosmic robots in the first place produced as a police strength by the Guardians) were going to kill eight persons who would ascend to the next level of evolution, and the heroes had to defend them. Millennium by DC ComicsTheir mission was elaborated by the fact that almost each hero’s life had been infiltrated by a Manhunter agent to a good deal of degree – for example, Superman’s agent was Lana Lang, who had been brainwashed for years. It was a mess. The series launched the eight new characters as the New Guardians, but the series was short lived. If they wanted to have any readers left, the next crossover would have to be gorgeous spectacular… Fall of the Mutants by Marvel Comics1987: The Fall of the Mutants! Not one to let a good idea die a natural death, Marvel had another mutant crossover. This one was somewhat different. Rather than tell one big story, The Fall of the Mutants told three discerned ones which shared mutual themes (namely that it was a bad time to be a mutant); in X-Factor the team battled Apocalypse as he launched an attack on New York; in New Mutants, the young heroes dealt with an attack on the island of the Fall of the Mutants by Marvel ComicsAni-men; and in Uncanny X-Men, everyone’s favourite mutants passed from physical life (don’t worry, they got better!) in Dallas as they battled the age old Adversary- oh, and Wolverine managed to throw down with the Hulk on the way there. The respective strands of the story crossed over into Captain America, Daredevil, Hulk, Power Pack and the Fantastic Four. Fall of the Mutants by Marvel ComicsOnce more, there were ramifications – X-Factor went public as mutant superheroes, the New Mutants lost Cypher, one of their members, and the X-Men moved to Australia for a couple of years to act as a more covert strike team. There would be more mutant merriment the next year, but Marvel likewise had plans for a new type of crossover… That’s all for now, but next time I’ll be looking at perhaps the most fun crossover of all – DC’s Invasion! – and I’ll be taking a look at the homes of a lot of of the weakest crossovers ever made – the dreaded Annual events! ‘Til next time! |
