It’s time again, friends – the crossover gods have descended upon us for the second of the two crossover specials featuring the Man of Tomorrow and the Friendly Neighborhood Arachnid. And I almost hate to say it, but this one may even be better than the first.

Marvel/DC: Superman/Spider-Man #1

Main Cover: Pepe Larraz. Like the last one, though, this issue was released with over forty different covers, which is absolutely absurd, but I once again would totally be willing to buy a special that collected all of the various covers of the two volumes. Maybe a charity special or something? Pay attention, people. 

Title: Our Kryptonite
Writer: Brad Meltzer
Art: Pepe Larraz

In the first book in this series, Mark Waid gave us a tale of a Superman and Spider-Man who were clearly old friends. This issue seems to greet the two of them relatively early in their association, picking up in the middle of a story that has trapped the two of them in a building collapse that includes a dose of Kryptonite, forcing Spider-Man to try to keep them alive as Superman struggles against the radiation. 

And that’s just how it starts.

The story, ostensibly, is about the two heroes in combat with their respective arch-foes, Lex Luthor and the Green Goblin. But honestly the identity of the villains couldn’t matter less. The bulk of the story is built up around these two heroes trapped together in a harrowing situation and just…talking. Getting to know one another. Learning who each other are. The supervillain plot wraps up with several pages left, and we follow Clark and Peter into their respective civilian lives as well, including a final sequence that should touch the hearts of anybody who loves these two characters.

Meltzer knows Superman so incredibly well, and the way he plays Superman’s strengths into Spider-Man’s inherent insecurities builds up BOTH characters and makes them better, stronger, and more inspiring. I’ve seen articles online drooling over a few panels where the Venom symbiote snares Superman as if that’s what this story is about. It’s a perfectly good sequence, but Peter taking his Aunt May for dinner at the Kent farm is where the soul of this story is, and that soul is utterly beautiful. 

Title: Spider-Man Noir and Superman in “Metropolis Marvels
Writer: Dan Slott
Pencils: Marcos Martin

The first backup in this issue dives into the world of Spider-Man Noir, where the friendly fedora’d webslinger is targeting the kingpin of crime: Lex Luthor. But Noir’s more violent tactics bring him into conflict with a Superman pulled from the pages of Fleischer cartoons. The story is fun, and Martin’s artwork is fantastic (especially a page where Superman ‘38 gives us a quick homage to Amazing Fantasy #15), but as turned out to be the case with many of these back-ups, it was over too quickly and felt somewhat rushed.

Title: Gwen Stacy and Lana Lang in “Sweethearts”
Writer: Joe Kelly
Art: Humberto Ramos

A college-age Lana Lang and Gwen Stacy meet up on campus and strike up a quick friendship, fueled at least in part as the two of them talk about the mysterious goody two-shoes men in their lives that they just can’t seem to shake. This bite-size story is actually pretty perfect, showing the two women as foils to one another in a way that feels surprisingly natural. There have been many different incarnations of Lana Lang over the years, and Kelly seems to have created one who’s kind of a gestalt of different ones. She’s not the nosey mini-Lois that plagued Superboy in the Silver Age, nor is she the tragic, heartbroken wreck that John Byrne left behind, but rather a woman who is strong enough in her own right but still besmitten with the boy back home. Gwen, on the other hand, is pretty much Gwen, although (thankfully) not the angelic simulacrum that many contemporary writers have cast her as. The knowledge that each of these women are in doomed relationships – doomed for very different reasons but doomed nonetheless – gives the whole story a bittersweet edge that concludes things on a note of joy that is tempered by the fact that the reader knows it won’t last. 

Title: The Thing and Superman in “Identity War”
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Gary Frank

Frequent collaborators Geoff Johns and Gary Frank reunite for this story in which Mysterio has teamed with the Legion of Super-Villains and, using the power of a Red Lantern, set the Hulk out on a rampage fueled by even greater rage than he’s ever felt before. But that isn’t what this story is about. It’s actually about the Thing, one of the few people immune to the rage that is infecting the world, watching Superman tussle with his frequent green-skinned sparring partner and seeing how he handles the situation in a very, very different way than Ben ever would.

The description, I admit, doesn’t sound that exciting, but this story is a masterpiece of character work. Johns knows Superman, obviously, but casting him in this story is just perfect. The story about rage and division is a clear allegory for the real world, but Johns pulls it off without getting heavy-handed or pointing fingers, but rather by using Ben Grimm to draw conclusions that far too many people in the real world need to understand. 

Title: Hobgoblin Vs. Steel in “Ghosting!”
Writer: Louise Simonson
Art: Todd Nauck

Steel’s co-creator Louise Simonson gives us this quick tale about him going into battle against the Hobgoblin, with a special surprise guest that’s wonderfully appropriate. But like the aforementioned Slott/Martin story, this feels rushed and over too quickly. Great art by Todd Nauck, and I would love to see him draw Steel more often, but it left me wanting more.

Title: Ghost-Spider and Supergirl in “Remarkable”
Writer: Stephanie Phillips
Art: Phil Noto

Ghost-Spider visits Metropolis only to find herself teaming up with Supergirl in combat with Live Wire. It would be a great team-up, if only Supergirl had any idea who she was. This is a really funny little story, and a strong character piece from Phillips (who has a lot of experience writing Gwen, but does a dandy Supergirl as well). This story really works well with the short format. In fact, I find that for the most part the stronger backup stories in this issue are the ones that tell a quick character study of the two characters rather than the ones that try to squeeze in an adventure in the limited page count.

Title: Miles Morales, Spider-Man and Superman in “The One Thing…”
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: Sara Pichelli

Miles Morales’ creators reunite for this one, in which Mile sees something crash to the Earth, only to find Superman trapped by a strange alien artifact. This story tries to split the difference between character piece and adventure story. It ends on a kind of cliffhanger (not unlike the Superboy/Spider-Man 2099 story from the previous book), but in the middle we get Superman talking to Miles and sort of propping him up as a hero. It’s not bad, and that’s coming from someone who didn’t like any of Bendis’s Superman run, but it also covers a lot of the same ground that the Meltzer story does at the beginning of the issue, only better. I feel like this was a wasted opportunity, honestly – it may have been more interesting to see Bendis write Miles and Jonathan dealing with legacy.

Title: Thor and Wonder Woman in “The Wondrous and the Worthy”
Writer: Jason Aaron
Art: Russell Dauterman

Jason Aaron, the writer behind the Jane Foster era of Thor, returns to that version of the character for this story. The most interesting thing about this one, honestly, is the setting. Aaron seems to be placing this story as an encounter between the two heroes in the midst of the War of the Realms event Aaron wrote back in 2019. In this version, however, it looks like Darkseid and the New Gods were tossed into the mix as well. It’s another “inexperienced hero gets a boost from the older one” story, and while I’m curious about the backstory, the character stuff feels a little incomplete. 

Title: Spider-Man and Superman in “One of Those Days”
Writer: Jeph Loeb
Art: Jim Cheung

Loeb and Cheung wrap up this issue with a two-pager of…well, it’s Superman giving Spider-Man a pep talk again. It’s fine for what it is, really, but we get a LOT of that kind of thing in this book. I’m all for Loeb and Cheung doing a quickie about the two heroes, but it feels like the editors should have kept a closer eye on the back-ups to make sure they weren’t all retreating the same ground.

To be fair, I loved this issue. The main story and the Johns story are both without peer. The Gwen/Lana and Gwen (the other one)/Kara stories are both excellent. The rest range between “good” and “would be better if it wasn’t the same thing we’ve already read.” But the thing I’m taking away from this is that there’s so much ground to cover in bringing these characters and their respective worlds together. These two one-shots, wonderful as they are, only seem to hint at a larger connection that I would love to explore. 

Marvel. DC. There is so much ground to cover here. Don’t wait another 50 years before you do this again. 

Blake M. Petit is a writer, teacher, and dad from Ama, Louisiana. His most recent writing project is the superhero adventure series Other People’s Heroes: Little Stars, volume one of which is now available on Amazon. Don’t forget, you can check out earlier blogs in the Year of Superman/Superman Stuff Archive! Got a request for a future “Superman Stuff”? Drop it in the comments!