The DC and Marvel crossover has already produced a bevy of delightful stories, and after the excellent DC/Marvel: Superman/Spider-Man #1, it’s Marvel’s turn to bat with the anticipated Marvel/DC: Spider-Man/Superman #1. Across 9 stories, fans get a host of intriguing team-ups, and one of the most welcome aspects is that they aren’t just limited to the Superman and Spider-Man family of characters, despite their obvious headlining of the issue. When Spider-Man and Superman do team up though, it’s magic, and Spider-Man/Superman #1 is a showcase for what a Marvel and DC crossover should and can be.
DC/Marvel: Superman/Spider-Man #1 was fantastic, so it was always going to be challenging to follow that up with another standout issue. Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be much of a problem, though that should necessarily be a surprise given the talented team of creators at the helm. Brad Meltzer, Pepe Larraz, Humberto Ramos, Marcos Martin, Geoff Johns, Stephanie Phillips, Todd Nauk, Rachelle Rosenberg, Joe Caramagna, Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli, Jason Aaron, and Russell Dauterman are just a few of the all-star names creating stories for the issue, and they brought their A-Game.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
The issue leads with its strongest story with Our Kryptonite, which is from the talented team of Brad Meltzer, Pepe Larraz, Matthew Wilson, and Clayton Cowles. Larraz and Wilson are a truly generational team and capture the iconic elements of both Spider-Man and Superman effortlessly. You’d think that this team wrote both Superman and Spider-Man every single month with how stunning this is from beginning to end.
Their work is absurdly impressive in the bigger moments, including a thrilling battle across the city between Spider-Man and a Venomized Superman, but it’s also just as impressive when it’s just a personal conversation between two of comics’ most down-to-earth heroes about why they choose to save others. It then all ties into what is one of my favorite scenes in recent memory between Clark, Peter, and their closest family, and you leave this story not only feeling like you got a great Superman and Spider-Man crossover, but also a better understanding of the humanity that powers each of these heroes and what they do.
It’s also lovely to see the extended cast featured throughout the issue. Joe Kelly, Humberto Ramos, Edgar Delgado, and Joe Caramagna craft the delightful Gwen Stacy and Lana Lang story in Sweethearts, while Steel gets some well-deserved shine in the Hobgoblin vs. Steel story Ghosting from Louise Simonson, Todd Nauck, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Joe Caramagna. Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, Matthew Wilson, and Joe Caramagna create a standout in The Wondrous & The Worthy, which features the Jane Foster and Wonder Woman team-up I didn’t know I needed but now need even more of.
Two highlights of the issue that deserve their own moment to shine are Identity War from Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, Brad Anderson, and Joe Caramagna, and The One Thing from Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli, Federico Blee, and Joe Caramagna. Identity War is action-packed, but what makes it so special is the story of what anger can do and how you look at and treat others at its heart. I also didn’t have poignant discourse between Superman and The Thing on my bingo card this month, but here we are, and it’s glorious.
As for The One Thing, it is the long-awaited reunion of Bendis and Pichelli, and it more than delivers. Miles brings so much out of anyone he happens to share a scene with, and that’s true of Superman as well. Bendis crafts a scene that never lacks for intensity, given the impending threat, but it’s the dialogue between Clark and Miles that really steals the show, and this is a team-up that should absolutely make a return somewhere down the line.
While many of the stories in this issue are excellent, a few fell a bit flat. Metropolis Marvels from Dan Slott, Marcos Martin, Muntsa Vicente, and Joe Caramagna has a fun premise and gorgeous artwork, but it never moves out of 1st gear, and before you know it, the story is finished.
One of Those Days from Jeph Loeb, Jim Cheung, Jay David Ramos, and Joe Caramagna starts off strong, but it feels like one or two more pages of that conversation between Spider-Man and Superman would have allowed it to really sing. As it stands, Superman almost feels detached at times from the seriousness of what Spider-Man is talking about, and it all ends a bit abruptly.
One of my most anticipated stories in the issue was Remarkable, which is a story featuring Ghost-Spider and Supergirl from Stephanie Phillips, Phil Noto, and Joe Caramagna. The premise of having two very independent characters clash a bit in their team-up is perfectly fine, but while Ghost-Spider feels accurate, Supergirl just didn’t really click for me in terms of how she’s depicted in other books compared to this one. It’s a subjective thing to be sure, but it just felt off for me.
Spider-Man/Superman #1 is a must buy for not only fans of Spidey and Superman, but also fans of the worlds of Marvel and DC as a whole, and the issue hits and soars past the bar of what company-wide crossovers should be.
Marvel / DC: Spider-Man / Superman #1 is in comic stores now.
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