8. Tarzan and Carson Napier
Tarzan/Carson of Venus #1-4 (Dark Horse, 1998) by Darko Macan and Igor Kordej

Like last year, I made an effort to include some work by my fellow ethnic Croats, and this time it was pretty easy – it was even first published in English in the US.
This team-up is just a fun roller-coaster ride: the problem of getting Tarzan to Venus was quickly solved by having him fall through a ring of fire that just appears suddenly in an alley in New York – it’s a portal through space and it conveniently drops him in the vicinity of Carson on Venus, who’s just been imprisoned by some savages. Tarzan helps him out of his jam, and then agrees to help him find his mysteriously disappeared lady love, Duare, in return for help in finding a way back to Earth and his own beloved Jane. The story is very true to the Burroughs tradition, with our heroes, both together and separately, encountering various strange denizens and places on Venus, and all manner of obstacles and snares, and always managing to get out of trouble thanks to their ingenuity, pluck or just plain old good luck (and combinations thereof). Near as I can tell, Macan and Kordej even created a new race of beings for this story, the ocean-dwelling, giant-turtle-riding Gerloogians, who, although humanoid in form, are transparent like jellyfish.

I know American comics fans have mixed feelings about Kordej’s art, but it’s perfectly suited to this story and it looks like he was enjoying the hell out of drawing it (I know for a fact he’s a big fan of the Burroughs oeuvre). Also, I like how Macan, as per his practice when writing stories for the American market, slips in Croatian names or other words. For example, our heroes’ main adversary, the new king of the amphibian people, is named Wladar, which is derived from the word ‘vladar,’ meaning ruler in Croatian (and a number of other Slavic languages). Also, two of the Gerloogians are named Addria and Marrin, the first evoking the Adriatic Sea, while the latter (albeit spelled Marin) is a pretty common men’s name in Dalmatia.

Otherwise, I should note that I had burned out on Burroughs before I ever got to the Carson of Venus novels, so this is in fact the first (and so far only) story I’ve read featuring that character and his setting.

#8 Cerebus and Moon Knight (Cerebus: High Society arc, Dave Sim, 1981-83)

Dave Sim used his barbarian aardvark to parody the American comics scene in high detail. His “Red Sophia” wasn’t just a parody of Red Sonja; she was specifically a parody of fellow indie comics phenom Wendy Pini cosplaying Red Sonja. Sim found great flexibility in the madcap character The Cockroach, who adopted numerous guises throughout the series, ranging from Captain America clone to wannabe Gaiman Morpheus. In the second large arc of Cerebus, Cockroach parodied hot new character Moon Knight. He adopted the guise of Moon Roach and haunted the rooftops of the city, repeatedly offing corrupt politicians just as Cerebus was about to use them for his advantage. As with other superhero parody, it only works if Sim can sell the action, which he can.

8. THE INCREDIBLE HULK VS. SUPERMAN

Written by: Roger Stern
Drawn by: Steve Rude & Al Milgrom
Marvel Comics 1999




"One is half a ton of primordial rage and fury and the product of modern science. The other is the last son of the doomed planet Krypton and endowed with abilities far beyond those of mortal men." 

A brilliant What If story only Roger Stern could create. What's great is that it's fun story that ties into their first meeting in Marvel Treasury Edition #28.  Stern goes all out, bringing everything you want in Superman (Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Jimmy Olson) and in the Hulk (Rick Jones, Betty Ross, Thunderbolt Ross) and weaves a meet up of two powerhouses. Great humor, dynamite action, and c'mon... Steve "The Dude" Rude doing classic drawn Hulk and Fleischer Superman. What's not to love about this crossover?

8. Batman vs. The Incredible Hulk (DC/Marvel, 1981)






In 1981, DC and Marvel collaborated on this really intriguing tale which sees Bruce Banner get a job at a division of Wayne Industries so as to look for a cure via an invention called the Gamma-Gun. However, the Joker steals the gun. Soon after, the Joker convinces the Hulk that Batman is their enemy. This leads to a confrontation between the Dark Knight and the Green-Skinned Goliath. Can they set aside their differences and stop the Joker who is working with the Shaper of Worlds, a being who can reshape small pockets of reality?

This isn't the best DC/Marvel collaboration. And one could pick a few holes in it. I would have liked to have seen Robin in this even though he wasn't a partner of Bats when this story was released. I also am not sure why the Shaper of Worlds was in the story. True, he first showed up in a Hulk comic, but there are so many more recognisable Hulk villains they could have used: Abomination, Leader, Juggernaut, etc.

However, it works very well, including having Batman convincingly take down the Hulk at one point. Yes, it requires suspension of disbelief, but it is done in a semi-convincing manner. There are also many memorable moments, including the Joker convincing the Hulk that they are allies because they both have the same colour hair!

The early DC/Marvel crossovers took place on a shared Earth. It was all so self-evident. Later on, someone decided that the DC and Marvel heroes lived on different Earths. I was never a fan of that policy, which often required dimension-hopping. (Oddly, some later crossovers, such as Incredible Hulk vs. Superman, stuck with the shared Earth approach. It's a big multiverse, I guess!). I prefer the shared Earth approach, though. At one point in the story, Batman reveals to Commissioner Gordon that he has always had a file on the Hulk in his Batcave.

There are far better DC/Marvel crossovers out there, but where can you go wrong with Bats vs. the Hulk?

Day 5:Tarzan/John Carter: Warlord of Mars 

Dark Horse: issues 1-4 Jan-June 1996

Bruce Jones and Bret Blevins send Tarzan (after fighting Nazi's) off to John Carter's Mars where these ERB heroes meet to battle against the usual Martian villainy (beautiful Purid Mos of the Red Cadre) who lusts for Tarzan and wants Carter dead. This looks and feels like a classic 1940-1950's fantasy epic. Some truly scrumptiously delicious artwork from Blevins with wonderful action and heroic statuesque leads and curvaceous alluring women and fearsome Martian creatures (yes, Tars Tarkas looks bad ass!) for full on fantasy/alien designs helps to push a mediocre story into something very unique. This one sealed the deal for me with Blevins and ever since I will pick up ANY Blevins comic.

If I had time to do a list this one would have been my #2 choice.

8. Ant-Man and Peter (Spider-Man) Parker
Marvel Feature #4, July 1972, Marvel Comics
by Mike Friedrich and Herb Trimpe


To be perfectly honest, it's not the team-up here that makes this special to me, it's more that it's the initial installment of the much-beloved--by me, anyway--Ant-Man solo series revival. But once I thought of it, there was no way I could leave it off my list.

While Spider-Man does get a little in-costume action, it's Peter Parker who's mostly featured as the student assistant in the experiment that leads to Hank Pym's climactic predicament of being stuck at his small size for the duration of this series. Friedrich (unintentionally, I'm sure!) implies that maybe Peter wasn't much of a science whiz, after all: "A State U. student...young Peter Parker, I believe it was...had come out to assist me. From the first, things went wrong: labels missing, caps unsealed, test-tubes not quite clean..."

Hank and Peter are investigating "American Indian drugs" for Curt Connors when they trigger an explosive destruction of Connors' lab. These drugs have come to the attention of mobsters who have kidnapped Connors' son as ransom for the drugs. Knowing that Connors is likely to turn into his villainous alter-ego, the Lizard, if he learns his son is in danger, Parker accompanies Hank on the mission to save little Timmy (when Hank and his dog, Orkie, later rescue the boy, who has fallen down a shaft at a construction site, "Timmy" becomes "Bobby", de-Lassie-fying things a bit!). 

Especially memorable for me was this final page, where Peter delivers the antidote that should restore Hank's ability to grow to human size:




I remember being quite upset that Peter left before confirming that Hank was okay. I should have been just as upset at how tiny Hank was going to take the "antidote, in pill form", which would have been like swallowing a football at that size!

In retrospect, it was a refreshing approach to the later highly-overused gimmick of guesting a more popular character in a lesser light's debut issue. I have my doubts whether that ever really helped initial sales, but in this case, it didn't at all detract!