I am a big fan of the DC/Dark Horse Crossover books. They have been, or are being, collected in a series of nice trade paperbacks.
These are all either new reads to me, or some are things I read long ago. I read the first story from one of them today, so I thought I'd start a thread.
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Superman Vs. Predator
This one comes from the Justice League Volume 1, but was originally presented in three prestige format issues in 2001. The writer was David Michelinie with art by Alex Maleev and colors by Matt Hollingsworth. I loved this. I had no idea what to expect, but it was fantastic. A group of scientists from STAR Labs is exploring in Central America when they come upon an alien ship that has been there for a long time. It turns out, of course, it was the ship of a Predator. Throw in a scientist with a plan for "cleaning up the human race" and you have an interesting premise already. Then, Superman arrives, gets some kind of space disease from the opened ship, and begins to weaken.
First off, I love how Michelinie writes the characters dialog and actions. I can't say I am all that familiar with anything he has written (no, I haven't read that Iron Man story!), but this was just truly enjoyable. It was very much a reminder of how good the Superman books used to be back in the 90's.
Secondly, man, Alex Maleev really had chops even at this early stage in his career.
I'm not sure if it was Michelinie's call or Maleev's, but I love how Superman--maybe because of his weakened state--is drawn to just look like another character in the story. You don't get the feeling that Superman is much other than a man in this book. I had never noticed in other books, but I do believe that when he is in the panel, he is almost always more prominent than any of the other characters. Here, he is just drawn as equal with everyone else. His colors still pop out, but he is just the same size, and most of the panels don't even feature him as much as contain him. This was really interesting, and it was a great exercise in humanizing him down as his powers dwindle throughout the series.
Superman and Lois are married in this series (as they were in the comics at the time...well, I guess they are still now, technically). They both handle their relationship very professionally here. It's great to see a married couple where they both act like adults.
This was such a pleasant surprise, and I can't remember it even coming out the first time around. Highly recommended!
Superman Vs. Terminator: Death To the Future
This was a four-part regular comic book miniseries written by Alan Grant and drawn by Steve Pugh (of recent Flintstones fame).
One thing I did like about this series was that it read pretty quickly, and it was action-packed. It definitely isn't the best thing Alan Grant has ever written. In fact, I would call the story "serviceable." Sarah and John Conner are trying to live their lives in the "past" time of 2000, moving from town to town and changing identities frequently. While they are Metropolis, a Terminator arrives to kill them, and Superman gets involved.
Keeping in mind the time period, it won't surprise you to learn that Superboy, Lex Luthor, and the angel-with-fire-wings version of Supergirl. Plus, Cyborg Superman teams up with Terminator.
The art is good, but it does show how much Steve Pugh has come since then.
This story didn't blow me away the way Superman Vs. Predator did, but it was an interesting look at that time period for DC Comics.
Batman/Hellboy/Starman
This two-parter came out in early 1999. It was written by James Robinson and drawn by Mike Mignola. It's odd to read a story about Hellboy not written by Mignola, but the art made it seem not all that abnormal. This was a fun little story. What is interesting is that the first issue focuses on Batman and Hellboy, then the mystery is handed off to Starman and Hellboy in the second issue. Batman and Starman only had a couple pages together.
It takes place while Ted Knight is still doing his research, so he plays a key role as well. Of course, being a Hellboy story, they ended up fighting Nazis in the form of skinheads. This was exactly what you would expect, and I really enjoyed it.
I am a bigger fan of Alien than I am of Predator. I did buy the first Predator mini-series, but when the price shot up I traded it for early issues of Bone, which was just becoming popular at the time. The only Terminator comics I own are the Terminator vs. RoboCop ones. I have Batman/Hellboy/Starman (it’s in my “Starman” box), but not the other two you reviewed. Last night I went through my “Monsters” box. These are not all necessarily DC/Dark Horse crossovers, but these are the ones I have.
Superman vs. Aliens
Batman vs. Aliens
Green Lantern vs. Aliens
Batman vs. Predator (two series)
Tarzan vs. Predator
Magnus Robot Fighter vs. Predator
I have a bunch of those as well, mostly in the TPBs that have been put out recently (within the past year or so) by DC and Dark Horse.
Terminator Vs. Robocop is also on my reading list for this summer. Frank Miller and Walt Simonson? That's a no-brainer.
I hadn't even seen the Robocop movies until the crossover comic came out. Then I rented the movies so I could get more out of the comic.
I hadn't seen the first Robocop movie before I went with friends to see Robocop II. Believe it or not, I didn't have any trouble following along. ;-)
Jeff of Earth-J said:
Ghost/Batgirl: The Resurrection Engine
This was much better than I expected. It wasn't great, but it was solid. Written by Mike Kennedy and drawn by Ryan Benjamin, this was super-hero action done well. Ghost, for those who may not be familiar, is a character from Dark Horse's Heroes line. She caught my eye when she first came out because she was drawn by Adam Hughes, and I was grabbing anything and everything he drew, sparse as it was.
But this one wasn't drawn by Hughes, it was drawn by Benjamin in a very Image style, but there were also touches of Damion Scott in this art, which makes sense because at the time, Cassandra Cain's Batgirl book was being drawn by him, and I'm sure it was referenced to get the look down.
So we had the full-mask, near-silent Batgirl and Ghost taking down Two-Face and a one of Ghost's bad guys named Malcolm Greymatter.
One small detail that I really did like is that the story took place in Arcadia, Ghost's stomping ground. Usually, in a crossover, everyone comes to Gotham to see them against that backdrop. It's not like Arcadia is much different, but it was a nice touch.
This one came out in 2001.
Sorry this "review" is so vanilla, but it was really pretty straightforward action, and as I said, pretty good.
We're about to get another one, as Wonder Woman/Conan has just been announced. A six-issue mini by Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti.
Nice! Gail Simone did such a great job with Red Sonja. I look forward to seeing what she can do with these two together. Man, if it's a success, is Wonder Woman/Red Sonja too much to hope for?
Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:
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