The Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told by Mike Gold

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book can be divided into two sections: Great and meh.

The great section is the first 189 pages are great beginning with a great introduction by Julian Schwartz and then Mike Gold about the history of crossovers and team ups.

Then we get into the stories the 1950s and 60s and we're treated to a smorgasboard of fun stories beginning with "The Terrible Trio" focusing on a supervillain team up between Luthor, the Toy Man, and the Prankster. Then "The Three Super Musketeers" with Superman, Batman, and Robin travelling back in time and stepping for the Three Musketeers to solve the mystery of the man in the iron mask. There's another time travel tale when "Superboy Meets Robin." Then we get to see a more okay story when Green Arrow and Aquaman team up in a magazine they shared together.

Thing then get really fun as we're treated to the landmark "Flash of Two Worlds" Story that established the DC status quo for 20 years as Barry Allen traveled quite by accident from his world to that of the other Flash Jay Garrick and they teamed up. Next up, the first JLA/JSA team up story is told.

Then we get to see Adam Strange and Hawkman teaming up to save Earth and Rann from a madman who is willing to destroy both worlds. We get a similar but even more wonderful sci-fi story when the Flash and Atom join forces in, "Challenge of the Expanding World" in a battle royale against tiny space aliens. Finally, there's what can be seen as a pilot for the Teen Titans as Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin team up to fight Dr. Twister.

From there, the book moves on to the 1970s and we get the first Green Lantern-Green Arrow team up where Green Lantern is chastised for fighting evil on other planets while not doing anything about it on Earth. Says one black character, "I been readin' about you...How you work for the Blu Skins...and how how on a planet someplace you helped out the orange skins...And you done considerable for the purple skins you never bother with the Black Skins! I want to know how come." Rather than explaining, his job is to patrol the galaxy, the Green Lantern feels guilty and joins with the sanctimonious and self-righteous Green Arrow and ends up going around the country in a van with one of the guardians from Oa. The story would be hilarious if it weren't meant to be serious.

Then we get a totally out of place story when the Guardians decided to reward a faithful Green Lantern nearing retirement by bringing him to the council to remind him of what a failure he was in preventing the destruction of Krypton. There's no real crossover here, so it doesn't even belong.

We're then treated to a team up of Batman and the Creeper which was really a ham-fisted attack on the religious right. The book ends up on a somewhat better tone on the surprisingly good 1985 team up between Superman and Swamp Thing.

Overall, put together with less care than The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told, this is still a worthy read particularly due to the introduction.



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