The Man of Steel & the Wall Crawler

[Genis Vell]

My favourite superhero has been, is and always will be Spider-Man.
Way back in 1995 in Italy were reprinted the old Marvel/DC team ups on a miniseries called LE BATTAGLIE DEL SECOLO ("THE BATTLES OF THE CENTURY"). The first two issues reprinted SUPERMAN VS. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and SUPERMAN AND SPIDER-MAN.
It can seems odd now, but ten years ago I didn't like Superman... I bought these two comics because they were a big event, but I didn't really care about Kal-El.
Now the situation is well different, and anytime I read again those two stories it's very amusing to see my two favourite superheroes together (sorry Clark, Spidey remains # 1!)!
A few days ago i have bought the American reprints of these classics (they're part of the "Marvel facsimile" series. I wanted to see these stories in the original edition...
Reading them again I decided to post here my two cents about the first two Marvel/DC team ups!

SUPERMAN VS. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is one of the greatest superhero tales all time. Action, the most dangerous supervillains of both heroes, supporting cast, a great story and great artworks. The splash pages are something of undescriveable... Readin' SUPERMAN VS. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN is like to see really superheroes out of the window (thank you, Andru)! I have read this story a billion of times and it's always great.

SUPERMAN AND SPIDER-MAN, instead, even if it's a good comic, too, has disappointed me a bit. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems that Spidey is the real main character, while Supes is only his super powered pal. An intercompany team up is well done when both heroes have the same rilevance. And then, look at the villains: Doctor Doom and the Parasite. One is Marvel's greatest villain, the other is... The Parasite. A purple creep. This story seems "too Marvel" and this isn't positive. The artworks are great, but the colours aren't so good. Sometimes Superman's costume seems gray...

And what do you think about these hystorical comics? Which is your favourite?

[Captain Kal]

Re: SUPERMAN AND SPIDER-MAN

I disagree on it being more Spidey-centred.

IIRC, while the world looked more Marvelized, Superman seemed to be the more dominating character, IMHO.  His stopping that train specifically spoke more of his precision with his power than the extent of it.  He stood up to the Hulk and was unmoved (without trying to fight back the guy at all).  Doom was clearly running out of fear from Superman to Latvian soil.  JJJ was forced to publish an issue of the Daily Bugle praising Superman as a 'True Hero' in defiance of their usual stand in trashing any and all costumed vigilantes.

I'd say Superman had at least his due in that book.

[Bill 9000]

Superman vs The Amazing Spider-Man will always be the greatest super-hero story of all time ... at least, to me. I still remember when the book first came out when I was a kid. I was as anxious to get my hands on a copy of it as I would've been on any Christmas morning. Imagine, if you will: my two favorite heroes ... the mighty Man of Steel and the wondrous Web-Slinger ... in one adventure TOGETHER! And on top of all that, you got a superb story with dynamite art to boot. Now c'mon ... be honest. How often does that happen in comic books today? Man, that rocked beyond my wildest imagination. Even today, it's still my favorite comic book read!

[nightwing]

I wouldn't call it the greatest comic book story ever...it wasn't even that great a story in my view...but it certainly qualifies as one of the major "event" comics of all time.

It's probably difficult for modern readers to understand just how mind-boggling the very concept of this book was.  The mere notion of Superman and Spider-Man meeting each other, in defiance of all we'd come to expect in the "Cold War" between Marvel and DC, was bigger than big.  This kind of thing simply wasn't done.  These days we're used to cross-overs in comics, on TV and in movies (Alien vs. Predator, Freddie vs. Jason), but back then it was practically unheard of.  I remember staring at the ad for that book for the longest time, and then when I finally saw it on the stands it was amazing.  The price tag was a bit off-putting...2 whole bucks was a 100% markup for the tabloid format...but how could you NOT get that book?

The contents were not as earth-shaking as I might've hoped...but then what could be?  Personally I thought the story was kind of simplistic...I got the feeling this book was being used as some sort of primer for kids who might be just discovering the characters.  Certainly it's fascinating to read a book that goes to such pains to explain who everyone is (like we didn't know) in this modern age where readers are thrown cold into impossibly byzantine continuities and told to sink or swim.

It was fun, it was pretty, but for my money the script was too light-weight to ever qualify as greatest comic book story of all time.  Greatest event of my generation of comic fans, maybe.