Comic Book Blog

Just one guy's thoughts on various comic books.

8.08.2004

Favorites - Didn't Make the Cut - Crossover Events

I figured since I'm writing reviews, in order to better understand my tastes that I would start writing about some of my favorite comics. First, I'll give you a group that "Didn't Make the Cut" of my 20 favorite stories/issues.

This first post will be comprised of crossover stories. Marvel seems to be the king company of crossovers although this has cooled off lately. I have to admit, many of the DC crossovers, such as the Death of Superman, Batman: Knightfall, Batman: No Man's Land and Bruce Wayne: Murderer were quite enjoyable but these four are all-time favorites for me.



The X-Tinction Agenda
Marvel Comics
Uncanny X-Men 270-272 by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee
New Mutants 95-97 by Louise Simonson, Rob Liefeld and Guang Yap
X-Factor 60-62 by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove
A simpler time...

Remember when there were just three main X-Men books? It was X-Factor, the first generation, Uncanny X-Men, the mothership book and New Mutants, the next generation of mutants. Sure, Wolverine had his own book at this point, and Excalibur was a fringe, British slightly comedic book but really the main books were down to three.

There are so many reasons why this was a great story. Cable had just taken over the New Mutants. It reunited a bunch of the X-Men who had been scattered around by the Seige Perilous. Havok was tricked into being a villain. The X-Men and friends were de-powered. Wolverine and Jean Grey have a moment. Wolverine and Archangel have a moment. Jim Lee drawing just about every character in the X-Universe. A villain who started as obscure but ended up as powerful and just evil.

The story's shortcomings are primarily in art - Jon Bogdanove was a disappointing artist and he was charged with some of the most important parts of the story (including the conclusion). But the story wasn't that long and it overall was quite good. It also led to a series of three or four great X-Men stories (their adventures with the Shi'ar and the Muir Island saga), leading to the new X-Men series and also X-Force.



Fatal Attractions
Marvel Comics
X-Factor 92 by Peter David and Joe Quesada
X-Force 25 by Fabian Nicieza and Greg Capullo
Uncanny X-Men 304 by Scott Lobdell and John Romita Jr
X-Men 25 by Fabian Nicieza and Andy Kubert
Wolverine 75 by Larry Hama and Adam Kubert
Excalibur 71 by Scott Lobdell and a ton of artists

Cool covers...

Remember all those gimmick covers? This crossover benefited since each issue had a hologram cover.

The return of Magneto. The best part of this crossover was how each part was a self-contained story either forshadowing or dealing with Magneto's return. There were some stunning developments as well, such as Colossus leaving the X-Men, Wolverine having his adamantium ripped out and Wolverine finding out he had bone claws. The adamantium part settled a long-standing debate of "why doesn't Magneto just take Wolverine to task whenever they fight?" This time, he did. Great creators and storylines that significantly affected the X-Universe made for a great crossover. As I write about this one, I'm not sure why it didn't make it into my top 20.


Favorites
Onslaught
Marvel Comics

Prologue: X-Men #53, X-Men #54, Onslaught: X-Men

Phase 1: Cable #34, Fantastic Four #415, Uncanny X-Men #335, X-Man #18, X-Men #55

Phase 2: Cable #35, Fantastic Four #416, Uncanny X-Men #336, X-Man #19, X-Men #56

Impact 1: Avengers #401, Excalibur #100, Generation X #18, Hulk #444, Wolverine #104, X-Factor #125, X-Force #57

Impact 2: Amazing Spider-Man #415, Avengers #402, Generation X #19, Green Goblin #12, Hulk #445, Iron Man #332, Punisher #11, Spider-Man #72, Wolverine #105, X-Factor #126, X-Force #58

Conclusion: Onslaught: Marvel Universe

Epilogue: Onslaught: Epilogue


How did something that started so well, end so badly?

It started so well. This build up to a mysterious, very powerful villain. Then the Marvel corporate types must have gotten involved. The buildup was superb as Onslaught himself was never seen by the X-Men, but they kept finding his mark. He would terrorize villains like the Juggernaut or send his all-powerful heralds to announce his impending arrival.

Then it turned out that Onslaught was created as a consequence of Professor X's actions against Magneto in Fatal Attractions. The X-Traitor, a long standing story for about two years, was also revealed. It was all good.

Then the bad stuff happened. Part of it was bad timing. Marvel had just decided to lease their Avengers and Fantastic Four characters to Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, then of Image Comics. The characters would be spun out of continuity into their own universe where their stories could be re-told. What does this have to do with Onslaught? Apparently someone at Marvel thought that the Onslaught event would be a great opportunity to launch their new universe. So the ending of Onslaught had all the Heroes Reborn heroes disappearing. Horrible. It made no sense. But it started out quite well. And did it have to span so many issues? Most of the comics had no relation to the main story.



DC One Million
DC Comics
DC One Million 1-4 by Grant Morrison and Val Semeiks

Week One
Action Comics #1,000,000, Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1,000,000, Nightwing #1,000,000, Green Lantern #1,000,000, Power of Shazam #1,000,000, Young Justice #1,000,000

Week Two
Batman #1,000,000, Superman: The Man of Steel #1,000,000, Starman #1,000,000, Impulse #1,000,000, Green Arrow #1,000,000, Legionnaires #1,000,000, Azrael #1,000,000

Week Three
Superman #1,000,000, Superboy #1,000,000, Detective Comics #1,000,000, JLA #1,000,000, Aquaman #1,000,000, Wonder Woman #1,000,000, Chase #1,000,000, Creeper #1,000,000

Week Four
Martian Manhunter #1,000,000, Adventures of Superman #1,000,000, Resurrection Man #1,000,000, Catwoman #1,000,000, Robin #1,000,000, Flash #1,000,000, Supergirl #1,000,000

Week Five
Superman: The Man of Tomorrow #1,000,000, Chronos #1,000,000, Young Heroes in Love #1,000,000, Lobo #1,000,000, Hitman #1,000,000, Legion of Super-Heroes #1,000,000

My head is spinning, but it's so good and I want more...

Wow. Grant Morrison is crazy. DC Comics decided to launch in one month, the one millionth issues of all its series. The concept? The heroes from 83,000 years in the future come into our time and ask the current JLA to help them. There's so much more to this, Vandal Savage attacking the JLA on both time fronts, the League having to build the supercomputer Solaris in the present even though it is trying to attack them in the future. So good. Even issues that were ancillary to the main concept were great.

It was a bit too spread out among the comics but there were some great plot twists that really made this crossover enjoyable. DC is the master of the shared universe and as titles start to become continuity independent, this crossover emphasized why a shared universe can sometimes be a benefit not a hindrance to good storytelling.

Coming soon:
Single Issues, Current Series, Storyarcs and miniseries that "Didn't Make the Cut" and then, my top 20.

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