The comics that crossed over Marvel and DC characters are being reprinted for the first time in decades
Feb. 13, 2024Superman vs Spider-Man? Batman vs Daredevil? They’re all here, plus the truly peculiar Amalgam characters
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In comics they’re known as the Big Two. The House of Ideas and its Distinguished Competition. But nowDCandMarvelare joining forces to publish two massive omnibus editions of classic crossovers where characters from both publishers meet, interact, and do battle.
The DC Versus Marvel Omnibus brings together some of the most mind-blowing crossovers in comics, ranging from 1976’s fight betweenSupermanandSpider-Manto 1995’s grapple betweenDarkseidand Galactus, and 2000’s bout between Batman and Captain America.
The stories come from a stellar line up of all-time-great creators too, with the likes ofDennis O’Neil, George Pérez,Chris Claremont, Walter Simonson, John Romita Jr., and more all featuring.
DC/Marvel: The Amalgam Age Omnibus, meanwhile, flashes back to 1996 and the forging of the Amalgam Universe - a new reality that was the home of characters who melded aspects of both publishers. This was the world of Logan Wayne - AKA Dark Claw; Clark Kent Super-Soldier; Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Iron Lantern, who mergedIron ManwithGreen Lantern. The adventures of these amalgamated characters were told in a series of one-shot comics and the DC Versus Marvel limited series and its sequels.
The in-universe premise of Amalgam was that two nameless Brothers, who embodied Marvel and DC, became aware of each other for the first time in eons. They then set characters from their realities against each other, with several of the in-universe battles being determined by reader votes in the real world. When the overall war between the Brothers inevitably arrived at a stalemate situation, the Amalgam universe was born, and lasted for two series between 1996 and 1997.
Together, these two new books offer a fascinating and rare glimpse at a period where the two biggest comics publishers in the world were actively collaborating with each other. Here’s what’s inside each of the volumes…
DC Versus Marvel Omnibus
Both of the new books will be available from DC and Marvel on August 6, with direct-market-exclusive covers for both books available in comic book shops.
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Will Salmon is the Comics Editor for GamesRadar/Newsarama. He has been writing about comics, film, TV, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he has previously launched scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for over a decade. He sometimes feels very old, like Guy Pearce in Prometheus. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places and he runs the micro-label Modern Aviation, which puts out experimental music on cassette tape.
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