Daily Dose of Awesome: JLA/Avengers

Comics love their major events. Every year, both Marvel and DC, hype up some major event that will involve all of the major characters and forever change the status quo of their respective universes. These events are hit or miss. There are some that are brilliant and well done, while others stink and were clearly made for sales.

Back in the 90's Marvel and DC put aside their rivalry for a short while and actually decided to occasionally write crossover stories between universes. Superman teamed up with the Fantastic Four, Darkseid tried to fight off Galactus, Spider-Man teamed up with Batman, and Punisher tried to hunt down the Joker. There were a few others, but many may remember the Marvel vs. DC story where fans got to vote on who they thought would win in a fight between various characters.

It was OK for the most part. The fights were brief and some of the fights made no sense (Wolverine beats Lobo? really?) but it had its moments.

There was another crossover that was made. This one involved both the Justice League (DC comics super-team consisting of heroes like Superman, Batman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman) and the Avengers (Marvel's super-team with Captain America, Iron man, and Thor). It was an idea that had been talked about since the early 80's, but never came about due to legal reasons.

In September 2003, the first issue was released. The series was written by Kurt Busiek (who would later go on to co-write the awesome year long Trinity series) and the artwork was done by George Perez of Teen Titans fame.

The story was only four issues, but remains one of the most epic, well done crossovers I have come across. Crisis on Infinite Earths was a huge story, but it dragged quite a bit. Like Crisis, JLA/Avengers pits the heroes against an incredibly powerful enemy who has the potential to destroy both of their universes.

Both heroes are duped into collecting items from the other universe, and like Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, both see the other as an invading force, which leads to conflict.

It was kind of weird to see Superman and Captain America act so out of character. Both of them justified it saying that they were acting in the best interest of their respective worlds, and it's later explained but it was pretty jarring.

The story has a huge scope, and features a wide cast of characters. One would think that character development would be tossed aside, but the opposite is actually the case here.

It's too bad that the heads of Marvel and DC are unwilling to do more crossovers as they were quite good. It doesn't have to be a common thing, but having the Justice League and the Avengers team up every five years or so would be a neat thing. It would be mutually beneficial to both companies as it would give Marvel readers an introduction to DC characters and give DC readers an introduction to Marvel characters. A Brave and the Bold type series that teams a DC character up with a Marvel character would also make for good reading.

The individual issues of JLA/Avengers are kind of hard to find, but the series was released in trade paperback form. If you're a fan of either team, both teams, or just comics in general, you should check out this series as it's a satisfying read on almost every level.