Retro Re-Read for October 27th 2024
JLA/Avengers #1
Writer-Kurt Busiek
Artist-George Perez
Colorist-Tom Smith
Letterer-Comiccraft
Here we are on the cusp of the DC Versus Marvel Omnibus being released to the public. What better way to celebrate this then by reading the one crossover comic they are not reprinting in either of the Omnibuses, get this reprinted to the public already! As I was reading through the pages I just couldn’t help but be amazing that these types of crossovers even exist. The world of Marvel and DC I know will never get together to do something like this, and lets hope that I am wrong about that. And not only that but to get one of the best writers and artists ever to make this comic is even more of an achievement. While I was amazed by every page there was also a part of me that felt wrong about these characters meeting. The Watcher standing outside the Watchtower, Metron warning the Avengers of the JLA threat, Lobo attacking the Shiar Empire, and so many more. With that lets recap.
We open up with a prologue showing the destruction of two universes, by what we later find out is Krona. One of these universes is DC’s Earth 3. Let’s start with the DC side of things. We jump over to DC Earth Prime where the Justice League is battling with Terminus. After a quick battle Batman comes up with a plan to destroy the being using the full force of the JLA. The Flash, Wally West, quickly realizes that this being is from another universe and jumps to that universe. This is no easy task as Wally learns that the barrier between them is very strong but has been weakened enough for him to go through. He finds himself in a small town where a mutant boy is being chased away, and then finds himself back in the DC Universe. Wally tells the JLA about the other universe and how they have no Speed Force so he is useless over there, but can get them all there. As that is happening the Watcher appears to witness this great event. As that is going on the Grandmaster appears to tell the JLA about 12 items of power they need to fix the rift between the two worlds, six items for each universe, and he quickly disappears. With the help of the Flash the Justice League jumps over to Marvel’s 616 and observes the world. After meeting together on Monster Isle they face off with Fing Fang Foom and other monsters while Batman notices one of the items they were told about, the Ultimate Nullifier, and snags it.
To catch up lets talk about the Marvel side of things. We see the Avengers facing off against Starro in a battle that they are quickly losing. The Vision has the idea for The Scarlet Witch to use her chaos magic while taken over by Starro to scare him away, and it works. They quickly learn of the rift between these two universe and develop a device that can send people from DC Prime back to their home universe. This is when the Avengers find out that a mysterious group of super powered people, the Justice League, are in their universe and head to Monster Isle. They zap the JLA back to their home universe, but miss the Atom, and are quickly met by Metron. Metron fills them in about the 12 items of power they must seek, and realize that the JLA has taken one of them. Iron Man figures out how to change the device they used to zap the JLA to their home universe and use it to bring the Avengers there using a Mother Box gifted by Metron. The Avengers are now in Metropolis in the DC Prime Universe witnessing the differences between the two worlds. The JLA quickly finds the Avengers and they start off by talking. Both parties seem to be going a bit overboard with their insults, even being mentioned by parties of both sides, which leads to conflict. We get a few quick punches thrown before shifting into an epilogue that shows that Metron and Grandmaster are working together to save their own skin against Krona by making the two worlds fight.
So much universe jumping in this issue, but it was a ton of fun. My favorite line of the whole issue, remember I tend to be more of a Marvel fan, was Hawkeye calling the Justice League a bad Squadron Supreme rip off. While this issue could seem confusing at times it all works together so well. Re-reading this series was the right choice that I needed right now to get myself excited to read all the crossovers I never have in the first Versus Omnibus. Kurt does a wonderful job of spotlighting both universes in this issue, and giving good screen time to as many heroes as possible. While Perez’s art is, as we would all expect, some of the best art you can find in comics. Look forward to next week when we talk about issue #2, and hopefully your local comic shop has a copy of DC Versus Marvel Omnibus in stock for you to pick up Wednesday.
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