Slade Wilson: Contract Journal - Part 3 - The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans

 Back when crossover used to be a thing 

What X-Men was doing for Marvel, Teen Titans was doing it for DC. This is no surprise for anyone, one title even influenced the other. The creation of Terra was supposed to be a "dark" version of Kitty Pryde just as one example. 

And since crossovers used to be a thing during the 80, why not a crossover with the two? The result was what many consider the best Marvel/DC crossovers. 

Apokolips . . . Now!

Writer:  Chris Claremont
Artist: Walt Simonson

Colorist: Glynis Oliver

Inks: Terry Austin

Letterer: Tom Orzechowski

Editor: Len Wein
Cover: Walt Simonson and Terry Austin

This might sound weird, but for a comparison, this comic feels like a summer blockbuster. Think about the first Avengers movie, you had these characters you learn to care about coming together to stop a villain who wants to conquer the world. Obviously, the situation here is much different but the feeling you get reading is somewhat similar to watching that movie for the first time, you just know you're in for something special. 

As the comic opens, we're presented to the X-Men, so if you're here but only read Teen Titans you would not feel lost, the group is brilhant presented and made easy to understand the basics of them. 

And the plot is also made clear, Darkseid wants the Phoenix. (And of course, we're presented to the basics about the Titans and Deathstroke, in case you only read X-men) 

Darkseid hires Slade to collect residual energy from places where the Phoenix had appeared, when doing so, he gets attacked by the X-men. Meanwhile, the Titans attack the X-men mansion. With help from some parademons, Deathstroke captures the X-men and brings them to Darkseid, and a character named Ravok captures the Titans. Both groups get put inside a machine, Darkseid uses their energy to summon the Dark Phoenix. 

He leaves, letting the two groups to escape the machine and unite. And here is the point I have to stop just to comment about how cool and unique it is to see so many characters from completely different places interacting. It is the type of thing you would never see today.

They catch up to the bad guys, the art and text working tremendously well to sell the action. Cyclops using the Phoenix Force manages to trap Darkseid in the Source Wall, this sequence is gorgeous to look at. As you can expect i did simplify the plot a lot, however the plot is simple, maybe this is one of the reasons it is so good. 

The simpler the plot, the better for the characters, the interactions that you can't get anywhere else, the action, the artwork, etc. The plot is not bad by any means, it is good, i want to make that clear. 

The plot works, the art is great, everyone has enough space to be memorable, you get everything a crossover promises with this one. Maybe the only downside is how text heavy it can be at certain times. Still, this is a 100% recommendation for anyone who likes super hero comics.