Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "darkseid"

DC/Marvel: Crossover Classics 4 by Ron Marz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


After a disappointing Third Volume in the Crossover Classics, this Fourth Volume sees a return to Premier team ups of some of the most memorable characters in the DC Universe:

Green Lantern/Silver Surfer; Unholy Alliances: Silver Surfer finds himself fighting DC Universe Villain Cyborg and runs into Parallax (aka. Hal Jordan, the former DC Universe Green Lantern, now a current prominent Green Lantern, who had turned evil.) and the two are drawn into an alliance. Meanwhile Thanos goes to Earth and gets Kyle Rainer, the then-Incumbent Green Lantern to battle Paralax.

This idea, which to fully appreciate, you have to have some basic idea of what was going on in the DC Universe back in the 1990s. The Parallelism between Paralax and the Silver Surfer is interesting and it makes perfect sense that they'll come together. The art has some amazing panels. It's very imaginative and holds together dramatically. A bit continuity heavy, but still a winning story. Grade: B+

Darkseid/Galactus: The Hunger: Written by John Byrne, whose best known for his work on Superman, Fantastic Four, and Silver Surfer among others this features Galactus trying to feed on Apokolips with a Silver Surfer who has not yet encountered the Fantastic Four and is still Galactus' loyal herald. It's an epic that's mostly enjoyable. I've got mixed feelings on Byrne's artwork, but if you love it, than you'll love this story. You have the New Gods, Silver Surfer, and Galactus. Unfortunately, the ending doesn't make much sense other than showing how evil Darkseid can truly be. It makes the exercise kind of pointless. Still, I'll go with a Grade: B

Batman and Spider-man: New Age Dawning: This is the second Batman, Spider-man team up and features two classic foes: Ra's Al-Ghul and the Kingpin. Kingpin's wife is dying of Cancer and Al-Ghul has a cure but wants the Kingpin's cooperation in his latest quest to save the world by destroying it. The Kingpin wouldn't normally sign on but he's really hard pressed. This is a very clever tale with Batman and Spider-man being the only White Hats in a story that's, in effect, populated by morally ambiguous villains. I didn't like how the story played Al-Ghul as Quasi-religious as an explanation of his actions and had mixed feelings on the art for Mary Jane, didn't quite capture her vitality. Still, this is perhaps one of the most cleverly written crossover and I loved the ending. Grade: A-

Superman/Fantastic Four: The Infinite Destruction: Superman finds a message from Jor-el that implicates Galactus in the destruction of Krypton, so he flies to the Marvel Universe. When he's captured by Galactus and made the new herald, it's up to the Fantastic Four to rescue Superman and stop Galactus with the Cyborg Superman playing a key role. There's a lot to like about this. I love the visual of Franklin Richards watching Superman on TV in the Baxter Building. You see a more modern version of the FF in action which has good and bad points to it. I'm somewhat non-plussed on Cyborg Superman as a villain in this epic struggle. He really plays too big of a role. Still, the interaction between the FF and Superman is quite enjoyable. The art is superb. Overall, I'll give this story a Grade: B+



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Cosmic Odyssey by Jim Starlin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


What can you say about Cosmic Odyssey? The book has a great cast of heroes, it avoids the worst traits of many of the future crossovers and it has all kinds of potential. It just didn't live up to it. I don't know if the fact that it came out not too long after Crisis on Infinite Earths and really pales in comparion.

Many of the character journeys and actions aren't really consistent with the characters as we know them particularly John Stewart. And there are too many characters, a few of them who are hard to like. Add in a plot that's not as great as it thinks it is and you've got a fairly mediocre event that still has good moments, but its easy to understand why its been forgotten.



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