A Pop Culture Feature
Answering the question…who is the most powerful superhero? Superman versus The Hulk? Captain America versus The Batman? Finally, the answers can be revealed! Available now for the first time and collected in two separate milestone omnibuses.
In the early days of comic book publishing and popularity, there were only two powerhouse publishers on the scene. Each had created a pantheon of distinct characters who all operated to protect peace and serve justice. DC Comics had practically made the formula, introducing Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. The characters stood out from the graphic pulp magazines of the era. They provided the template for a series of more colorful costumed companions who fought to defend America’s freedoms amid the world war.
The competitor, which would eventually become Marvel Comics, had their star-spangled adventurers waging a battle on the front led by Captain America. Still, it wasn’t until the character was revitalized and (literally) brought out of the ice that popular culture suddenly took notice. When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby helmed the stories inside the pages of books like The Avengers, which assembled the “world’s greatest heroes,” including The Mighty Thor and introduced heroes that resonated with its readership, like the teenage web-slinger Spider-Man, and The Hulk, the comic book blossomed!
By the 1960s, at the top of the food chain were DC and Marvel. The two rivals would vie for the attention and affection of their readerships for decades, always attempting to outdo one another at every turn of the page. Growing interest among fans as new heroes and titles emerged, like Marvel’s The Uncanny X-Men and DC’s The New Teen Titans, raised the bar and increased the fanbase. In the 1970s, the imprints decided it may have come time to give their audiences exactly what they wanted and settle the debate of the ages in motion: whose heroes were stronger?
And In This Corner…
In 1976, the publishing giants finally delivered! Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man, written by Gerry Conway, was billed as the “Battle of the Century” and brought the imprints’ two biggest stars together for the first time. The story established that the heroes inhabited the same world when their captured and incarcerated nemeses, Lex Luthor and Doctor Octopus, escape prison and decide to rally their efforts to destroy the heroes! The special release was a blockbuster success, leading to the inevitable sequel, and immediately inspired other collaborations.
DC and Marvel present: Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk, published in 1982, brought these two titans together in a tale of epic proportions, but it was The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans team-up, released later the same year that raised the level! The cast represented the two best-selling books at the time. Under the skillful storytelling of X-Men scribe Chris Claremont and Walt Simonson’s fantastic art, the book has remained one of the most extraordinary tales ever published, made even more special because of the collaboration between Marvel and DC.
Even though a sequel was pitched that would have been overseen by Titans co-creators Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, the project was shelved significantly as plans intensified for the ultimate team-up featuring The Mighty Avengers and the JLA. It would be more than a decade before Marvel and DC returned to the crossover story arc, but in 1996, the plan was to level up the publishing event to an unprecedented level. The creative directive became a sizeable challenge that would initiate an amalgamation of new heroes, with the fate of each Marvel and DC universe hanging in the balance.
Collected For the First Time…
The epic battle could only be described as a crisis-level contest of champions. DC versus Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus brings together each round of the individual DC versus Marvel series and, within its impressive more than 1000 pages, captures the first issues of several of the Age of Amalgam comics that introduced Dark Claw, The Amazon, X-Patrol, The Super Soldier and more. The Amalgam Age gave many of the most considerable talents in comics at the time the opportunity to push creative boundaries, with big names like John Byrne diving in.
For Ron Marz, it was indeed a dream assignment and one that he hardly could have imagined would come to fruition. When the project was launched, it was intended to help boost the direct market sales to specialty shops, creatively giving the DC and Marvel staff the opportunity of a lifetime. Along with the main storyline, which held the fate of the two separate publishing universes in the balance, the narrative gave way to unique character combinations, amalgamations of Wolverine and Batman — the Dark Claw, and Wonder Woman and Storm emerged as The Amazon.
Although it all ended, and each universe was restored by the end of the climatic confrontation, it is still considered a magnificent feat between DC and Marvel. The omnibus also collects notes and insight from many of the talented creators who had the opportunity to bring the stories to life. The omnibus is also considered a companion piece to the equally impressively curated DC versus Marvel Omnibus, which collects all the classic, original, and similarly epic crossovers that tested the waters from the Age of Amalgam.
The most relevant omission from the omnibus editions is the decision to exclude the much-beloved and stunning work by Kurt Busiek and George Pérez on the long-awaited JLA/Avengers team-up. The four-issue series was released as a prestige set of books and featured some of the best comic work, certainly since the collaboration of The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans. The publishing giants have no doubt been considering the timing to once again join forces, but until that time comes, these timeless classics can be once again revisited.
DC VERSUS MARVEL The Amalgam Age Omnibus | is available now for purchase and is priced at $150.00.
DC VERSUS MARVEL The Team-Ups Omnibus | is available now for purchase and is priced at $150.00.
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