Reading the facsimile reprint of the first issue of JLA/Avengers sent me down the rabbit-hole of digging out and re-reading the 1996 DC Versus Marvel/Marvel Versus DC.
Legend has it that the inter-company acrimony stems from fierce competition. What it comes down to is sharing the slices of The Pie. I'm not sure who said it, Joe Quesada or Dan Didio - and I don't mean to demonize either one - but someone is on record as being quoted as saying, "Why do an inter-company crossover where DC and Marvel have to share the profits and proceeds", when we can enjoy the wealth of our labors on our own characters? When Spider-Man and Superman team up, the split is 50/50. Same with Batman and The Hulk and New Teen Titans and Uncanny X-Men.
What's interesting about DC Versus Marvel is that it's the entire line... and it's decided on fan votes.
Didn't anybody learn anything from the 1988 fan-vote Death of Jason Todd? At that time, no one really thought that the fans would kill off Batman's second Robin, Jason Todd. However, they did.
The unfortunate outcome of DC Versus Marvel is that Marvel's characters either tied or bested DC. There's the off-panel battle between Lobo and Wolverine, where Wolverine comes out on top. There's the near stalemate between Batman and Captain America, with serendipity favoring Batman.
Admittedly, I have to read a little more closely, but there's the budding infatuation between Robin Tim Drake and Jubilee that hampers that face-off.
One fan reviewer put it that it's hard to please every individual fan with an outcome, so it may seem that the actual story just sort of stays flat and bland. A Contest of Champions that really has no decisive winner. Yes, there were winners and losers. Storm beat Wonder Woman. Flash beat Quicksilver. Thor beat Captain (SHAZAM!) Marvel. Superman beat The Hulk.
Aside from the battles, it all feels so much like Crisis on Infinite Earths. Realities and worlds hang in the balance for the winners and losers.
My only other gripe, if I'm allowed to is that we get one-offs. We get Ben Reilly. Smart Hulk. Wally West and Kyle Rayner. Maybe mullet Superman.
I know, it's a minor nitpick. However, just as with JLA/Avengers, we're not really seeing a "Classic" line-up. We're not seeing "Classic" versions of the characters. Further, why not create a single, shared reality where everybody knows everybody? Clark Kent knows Peter Parker - Peter Parker knows Jimmy Olsen. Get passed the familiarity and get right down to a story that affects all the characters.
That seems to be the flaw I find in DC Versus Marvel.
But, that's just one fan's opinion - and you're entitled to it.
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