4. Spider-man & Red Sonja
Marvel Team-Up #79 (Marvel, 1979); by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Terry Austin

Already picked, several times (as I expected it would be).
In lieu of a write-up, I’ll just quote verbatim a 100-word review of this issue I wrote for the Bronze Age Babies a few years ago, because it concisely covers the premise and my thoughts on the story:


I would just add – and this is something that’s been noted about this issue many times before, including earlier in these 12 days posts – that it also counts as a bit of an understated, or perhaps ‘stealth’, crossover, because one panel shows Clark Kent in the Bugle newsroom.

4. G.I. Joe and the Transformers (Marvel, 1986-87):






G.I. Joe and Transformers are two of my favourite franchises of the 80s, toy-wise, comic-wise and cartoon-wise. So this one was a dream crossover for me!

G.I. Joe are a military organisation featuring the cream of the crop from various armed forces. They battle Cobra, a terrorist organisation intent on ruling the world. Meanwhile, the Transformers features the heroic Autobots battling the evil Decepticons, all of whom are from a planet called Cybertron. They brought their war to Earth millions of years ago but lay dormant in a volcano for millennia.

What's not to like, people?!!! These are the kinds of battles I had via my toys back then. But sometimes it's nice to put those toys away and let someone else present the battle. Marvel did this over four issues between 1986 and 1987.

Cobra want to rule the world, but the Decepticons want to destroy it. They need the energy our planet has in order to return to Cybertron. Earth is "collateral damage" to them. So this crossover, which initially features a Cobra/Decepticon alliance, ends with G.I. Joe, the Autobots and Cobra forced to team up to save the Earth. The stakes were indeed high!

You'd have to be a fan of either series to enjoy this. But for me it's an incredibly entertaining tale. And one I never expected to happen. While Marvel did publish both worlds, I just presumed they would stick to their own continuity - and that crossovers would be left to my toys. So not only was this a nice surprise, but if you are a fan of both series, I think it's an incredibly solid tale.

I'm not gonna claim it's the greatest comic series ever. Or that it'll be discussed in the same breath as Watchmen. But as the CCF tradition is about what is personal to us, this is my pick for the ninth day of Christmas.

4. Spider-Man and the Human Torch - Spider-Man/Human Torch mini-series (Marvel, 2005)




This has already been picked once by coke & comics , but here it is again. I love this mini-series so much. It's a brilliant examination of the way in which the Human Torch and Spider-Man's relationship has grown over the years. The unashamedly retro artwork of Ty Templeton really suits the nostalgic vibe of the mini-series, while Dan Slott's script is lighthearted, action-packed, and littered with neat references to Marvel continuity.

Each of the five parts of the series are set during different periods of Spidey and the Torch's careers: the first issue is set during the early Silver Age, second during the mid-Silver Age, third in the early Bronze Age, and so on. It goes all the way up to what was then the current continuity of J. Michael Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man, and Slott does a nice job of referencing the new spider-centric powers that Peter Parker had gained during the then-recent "The Other" storyline. Slott also does a pretty nice job of writing dialogue that seems era-appropriate in each installment; so, the earlier issues have somewhat old-fashioned sounding dialogue, which becomes more modernised as the series progresses. You know, thinking about it, this might be the best thing Slott's ever written, actually.

Anyway, Spider-Man/Human Torch is such a great read. It's shamelessly nostalgic, yes, but it's also briliantly written, gorgeously drawn, stedfastly respectful of continuity, and has plenty of genuine laugh-out-loud moments in it. It really is a "must read" for any fan of Spidey or the Torch's.

4. Tarzan and Batman

in Batman/Tarzan : Claws of the Cat #1 (1999, Dark Horse).


This is a no-brainer, as Tarzan and Batman were my favourite heroes when I was 4. Even before Tintin and Astérix. And here, we get them together in a comic-book that the authors had the excellent idea to set in the characters' original time period, during the early 20th century. It looks absolutely classic!



(I still get shivers looking at that first handshake!!!)

Writer Ron Marz gives us a tantalizing first chapter hinting at lost cities, ancient civilizations, still-active cults and nefarious plundering by unscrupulous villains. This book's Catwoman, an African priestess with an Egyptian name, is a great creation. Meanwhile, Igor Kordey proves that he is one of the very best artists of the late '90s and early '00s, with gorgeous page after gorgeous page. And another artist absolutely deserves to be named here: colorist Chris Chuckry, who does an outstanding job!!!

I never got to read the end of this limited series, having found the first chapter in a dollar bin... but I will keep an eye open, for if the rest of the story is as good as the opening, this is a keeper!

Nananananananananana--- YodelioooOOOOoooooOOOOOooooooo!!!!!

4. Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Catwoman 1-4

Written by: Ron Marz
Drawn by: Igor Kordey
Dark Horse Comics 1999



The Lord of the Jungle meets The Batman.  A match made in heaven.  Two jungles. Two protectors, one enemy that brings them together.
When Bruce Wayne's funding for treasure of Africa come back, a tribe comes back to reclaim what is rightfully thiers, Bruce Wayne and Lord Greystoke work together to return what was wrongfully taken.

If you ever meet Ron Marz, I highly recommend talking ERB with him.  You'll have the best times of hearing stories he has proposed to the ERB estate and might show you some cool Tarzan things on his phone.  He's a dye-in-the-wool Tarzan fanatic.  This was a perfect mini to showcase two pulp legends teaming up in a way that is so much fun. Marz showing the dichotomy between the two, that each protector's rules rub the wrong way but each justify their actions and respect eachother.  The laws of Gotham versus the jungle.. both savage in their own way and ruled differently when both Tarzan and Batman step outside their normal boundaries.

Igor Kordey's art I truly enjoy.  He's a master of tension and action.. from drawing a bull gorilla to Batman fighting nasty enemies, his art was perfect in every way.  Also a big ERB fan (look at his other Tarzan comic stuff he's done as well Carson of Venus).  Four issues of high adventure that is gorgeously paced, lush pencils and inks... I love his work so much

My favorite scene in the series is how Tarzan deduces Bruce Wayne is Batman.. brilliant beyond words.  I won't spoil it, but's perfect




 

4. Batman/Zatanna, "Trusts"/"Depths", Detective Comics #833-834 (DC, 2007)



Sometimes the entries on my list surprise even me.

Soon after I started compiling my list, I realised that Zatanna was going to have to be on it. She is a favourite character of mine, and was around for a long time before getting any kind of feature of her own, meaning that all of her early appearances were crossovers. Later she became the go to character for heroes needing magical advice in the DC Universe. (She is certainly more approachable than Dr. Fate.)

My first thought was "Z is for Zatanna...and Zero Hour!", but as a Justice League comic, I wasn't sure of eligibility, so I started casting around for another. I initially didn't think I was going to go for something this late (it's the most recent comic on my list), but it just kept pushing itself to the top of the list.

A bare bones summary of the plot:
When her former assistant is killed in a dangerous trick gone wrong, the Maid of Magic turns to Batman to uncover the real circumstances behind the young woman's death, leading them to a confrontation with the mysterious illusionist Ivar Loxias — and an ultimately terrifying revelation.

However, the reason I love this tale is for what it establishes about the background of the characters. In recent years (for given values of 'recent'), it has been established that Bruce Wayne and Zatanna had a friendship (and possible romance) before Bruce adopted the mantle of the bat. I believe this idea originated on Batman:The Animated Series (as did so many great ideas). While this had been accepted as canon in the mainstream DC Universe, very little ink had been devoted to the origin of this friendship. This story by Paul Dini (the premier Zatanna writer) changes all of that.

Through a series of flashbacks, we learn out the origin of this odd friendship. And it is done beautifully and believably. I believe that these two disparate characters have an enduring friendship that could easily turn romantic if they weren't afraid of what that might do to the friendship.

Nobody writes Zatanna as well as Dini (and if you haven't read his Zatanna series that was cruelly cut short by DC deciding to reboot the universe yet again, then you're being a fool to yourself and a burden to others). One nice point in the main story (rather than the flashbacks) is that illustrates some aspects of Zee's personality that other writers ignore (or forget): that she is cool under pressure, and thinks outside the box, both essential talents for a stage magician. Trapped in a drowning box with her throat cut so she cannot speak her spells, she comes up with a solution that even the Joker didn't foresee.

And while Don Kramer would not have been my first choice to illustrate the story, his art is more than adequate.



So top hat, tails, fishnets and just a dash of 'friendship is magic' earns this story my rebmun ruof tols.