Showing posts with label fake crossovers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fake crossovers. Show all posts

Thursday, July 09, 2020


So I made fun of this storyline and made a few guesses about Wonder Woman's then-new costume back in 2010 without reading any of their actual comics. Better late than never, as we've got one checking both boxes today! From 2011, Superman #708, "Grounded, part 6" Plot by J. Michael Straczynski, script by Chris Roberson, pencils by Eddy Barrows, inks by J. P. Mayer with Julio Ferreira.

This was a crossover with Wonder Woman, around WW #600, which was Straczynski's other big-time project at DC at the time...both of which he was kind of asked to bail on. By WW #605 Phil Hester was co-writing, because DC had asked Straczynski to focus on Superman: Earth One. The GCD notes read like he didn't have as much input on Superman, and the plots may have been a little bare-bones, and there was an issue pulled in there somewhere? Was that the one where Clark has a beer with his dad and somebody, possibly imaginary, complained? No...Superman #712 was pulled, possibly because of a Muslim superhero featured, and replaced with a long-shelved and ridiculously sad Kurt Busiek Krypto story set after Superboy had died. And what did it matter anyway, since the New 52 was looming: the "Grounded" storyline would continue to the last issue, #714. I don't recall DC doing anything big or special for the end of this continuity; possibly because they may have wanted to leave it open in case they had to run crying back to it.

Back to the issue at hand: Superman is greeted by four young super-people in variant S-costumes, who bring him to the Fortress of Solidarity. Supes knew of the Superman Squad from Kal Kent, the Superman from the One Million event's 853rd century; and this fortress is explained as not a place for them to be alone, but a place for them to come together. They even glance at a past (fake-)event, the "Crisis in Infinite Eras," but that's not why they're visiting Superman: after the destruction of New Krypton, Supes had lost seemingly all faith in "truth, justice, and the American way." His walkabout was an attempt to rekindle his belief; and the Squad believes either he will, and there will be Supermen for ever, or he won't and the legacy will end there. (Or create an alternate timeline without them, but either way.)

They drop Superman off in Lincoln, Nebraska; because they knew he would go on to inspire someone there. Supes isn't sure his legacy is best for humanity, but his reverie is interrupted by a bus going over a bridge. That's easily handled, but does catch the attention of an unfamiliar looking woman--to him, anyway: it's Wonder Woman! Except her continuity was straight-wrecked at that point: either Diana had never been Wonder Woman before at all, or no one remembered she had. They don't know each other, but as the flood waters rise and a tornado approaches, Superman trusts her to help save people from the flood while he takes the tornado. She apparently hadn't been a "superhero" as much as a warrior at that point, but does well, until one of the victims throws her down for wrecking her plan: a mysterious woman had intended to give Superman the old impossible choice, save the few or the many, but WW stepped on that. Still, she doesn't get to finish the fight, since she still had people to rescue, but Diana does later thank Superman for maybe showing her something.

Hmm. I think I pulled this issue out of the same quarter box as most of Infinite Crisis, and doesn't Batman have a line in there to the effect of "the last time you inspired anyone, you were dead"? Sometimes DC seems to have a really hard time sorting out Superman as an inspiration, and him not realizing his own influence seems almost willfully naïve. You show Supes generations of heroes directly inspired by him, and I could see a humble, farmboy "ah shucks" to it. Instead, he looks at them like "...really?" I know for a fact I say "that wasn't very encouraging" quite a bit; but I think it fits here.
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Friday, August 11, 2017

Wait, how do you magnetize aluminum? Stupid useless Google...


We've long since established that if I find a whole limited series in the quarter (or dollar!) bins I'm pretty much obligated to buy it. (Sometimes even not so whole ones, judging by how many I'm missing a single issue of!) But occasionally I'm willing to grab a single; particularly one as promising as today's book! From 1993, Stanley and His Monster #1, "How to Build a Tree Fort" Written and penciled by Phil Foglio, inks by Chuck Fiala. (With Michael Golden inks on the cover, and ink assists from Jim Aparo and Dennis Janke!)

Rambunctious boy (near) genius Stanley and his pet Spot return this issue; 'Spot' actually being a demon exiled from hell for the crime of being too nice. ('Contaminated by goodness' was how Lucifer might have put it.) And they are smack dab in the middle of DC and what would become Vertigo continuity, as angels Duma and Remiel are now in charge of Hell, after Lucifer quit in Sandman #22! The dismayed angels are agog to realize another demon is missing ("Etrigan is bad enough...") when a hellspawn tells them during roll call, without mentioning Spot's goodness.

That bit of serious foreshadowing aside, the rest of the issue is sheer fun, as Stanley finds in the attic "the Heterodyne Boys Big Book of Fun" (which I took as a riff on Huey, Dewey, and Louie's Junior Woodchucks' Guidebook and Reservoir of Inexhaustible Knowledge) containing everything from how to magnetize aluminum to zeppelin plans to how build a tree fort. Hijinks ensue, along with a couple of pretty good dream sequences, before a certain killjoy shuts 'em down...

I'm going to choose to ignore their appearances in Kevin Smith's Green Arrow, so the only other Stanley & His Monster comic I have was their brief origin in Secret Origins #48. I didn't find it on Comixology either, so it's either going to fall into my lap sometime, or I'm never gonna find it...

EDIT: Still haven't found it, but I guess Invasion of the Space Dinosaurs vs. the Armageddon War of the Gods Crises is a pretty good crossover that didn't happen!
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Monday, March 05, 2012

I thought Amalgam had way more of these...


Spider-Boy gets to his third reboot of the the Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099 in Spider-Boy Team-Up #1, "Too Many Heroes--Too Little Time!" Written by "R. K. Sternsel" (Karl Kesel and Roger Stern) with art by Jose Ladronn and inks by Juan Vlasco.

I think he might have a bit more Superboy than Spider-Man in the mix, but Spider-Boy was one of the more entertaining Amalgam books, and would get an issue in both runs. I'm hard pressed to say if any other books reference the "Secret Crisis of the Infinity Hour," although DC and Marvel did a pretty good job not overlapping characters in that event. There are at least a couple more fake crossovers scattered throughout Amalgam, though; I reckon we'll see another one later.
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Monday, February 27, 2012

In the future, all the crossovers will have exponents or Roman numerals in them.


Sunfire mistakes an older Nate (X-Man) Grey for Cable, in X-Men #98, "First and Last, part 2" Story and art by Alan Davis, script by Terry Kavanagh, inks by Mark Farmer. You never find out what exactly happened during the "Purge of Midnights" or the "Twelve of Power Millenial Disaster," but as Nate mentions, Cable looks like hell now. Like an old version of his head on a metal tinker-toy body. Not a great look.

This story was set in 2099, but a different one than the others, since it's an imaginary mutant-centric world created by Apocalypse to try and trick the Twelve into using their powers to recharge him. Or something. I don't know. Cyclops is presumed dead, possessed by Apocalypse; but Jean stops Cable from killing them, giving Apocalypse and the Living Monolith time to escape.
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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Today's Cross-No-Ver: Small X-Pectations!


During "The End" week, we saw the last stand of the Micronauts. They got better...well, not all of them. The Micronauts were licensed from Mego, and when that expired, characters like Acroyear and Baron Karza reverted to them. Commander Rann, Marionnette, and Bug were created by Marvel, so they didn't lose the rights to them. Some years later, they returned as "the Microns," in today's actual book: Captain Marvel #6, "It's a Small Universe After All" Written by Peter David, pencils by ChrisCross, inks by Anibal Rodriguez.

Genis, the current Captain Marvel, is searching for Drax in the Negative Zone. Only, as Bug points out to him, it's not the Negative Zone, it's the Microverse. Apparently, the one and only now: previously, there had been several like the Micronaut's molecule-shaped Homeworld, Jarella's world (from the Hulk) or the world of the Psycho-Man. But, after a crisis with Thanos and "the Baron" and their attempt to destroy all the micro-worlds; the Microns and the X-Men defeated them, but "all the micro-realms merged into one."

I don't know if the "Small X-pectations one-shot" joke was from David, or editor Tom Brevoort, but I would've read it. Here, the fake crossover is a good way to establish how things were versus how they will be going forward, and that the Microns were tough before. That and it's a quick jab at comics and marketing.
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Monday, February 13, 2012

Here's hoping I can come up with a better title than "Cross-No-ver."

I've been writing posts and saving them for later--partially in case of emergency, or I get hung up with something, or spring finally comes and I feel like going outside again--or, as is the case with today's issue, I'm trying to create a series of more than two posts.

Anyway, crossover fatigue is today considered passe: general consensus seems to now be, either buy the big crossover events, or don't, but stop complaining about them either way. But here, we'll be looking at some crossovers that I truly believe will stand the test of time. They might not be the biggest or the best known, but these will both stay untarnished in your memories and be immune to future retcons.

Because they never actually happened. Which at the very least, means they saved you a good pile of cash if nothing else. Like today's crossover: Secret Wars III!

Yeah, that never happened. Except "Secret Wars III" is an obvious title; it was used in What The--?! #1 for a Ditko story, and again in Fantastic Four #319, where the Beyonder is turned into a Cosmic Cube or something. This one's better: Deadpool Team-Up #1, or Deadpool/Widdle Wade as I always saw it. Written by James Felder, pencils by Pete Woods, inks by Walden Wong. The cover has the old "Secret Wars II continues in this issue!" corner tag, but mentions III inside.

Set back when he was trying to work for the Kingpin, Pool tries to kill the Beyonder, as the Beyonder tries to pass himself off as the new messiah, Elvis. That already sounds better than most of Secret Wars II; but this is just a four-page opener, set in the past so a Yakuza flunkie can get a sample of Pool's blood for cloning...

Just another joke in a book full of them, but pretty good. Next week: a little crossover about a small matter...

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