Every once in a while, someone visiting this blog will say something along the lines of, "You should be running a comic company, so we could see these stories for real!" A very kind sentiment, to be sure - but I have to laugh because they don't know what they are suggesting. My eclectic tastes would favor offbeat team-ups like this rather than more popular crowd-pleasing fare. The fact that these two heroes have so little in common is just what makes it a fun concept for me, but I have no illusions about the widespread appeal of such a pairing. At any rate, I like these two together and plan to revisit their partnership again one of these days.
Hey, Ross, where's the Elongated Man & the bad guys art from? I'm a fan of Dillin's art and Ralph as a character so it's a good match up, imo. :)
ReplyDeleteJLA interior page, not sure which issue.
ReplyDeleteI thought as much. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteNo kidding about this one being an odd pairing, but hey, you can always come up with a plausible reason why. My guess and probably unrelated(or not) to the story on the cover, is that since Ralph's a brilliant detective, he'd somehow catch wind of Moon Knight's multiple personality deal, or perhaps Marlene (worried about his erratic behavior and MPDs) secretly hires Ralph to find out what's going with him. Imagine Ralph encountering all of Marc's personalties.....Shit writes itself.
ReplyDeleteAs to your point Ross, you're the man brother. Don't sell yourself short. I get where you're coming from, and perhaps yo'd do better on a team-up book like Marvel Team-Up, B&B and World's Finest then.
Dave sez,
ReplyDeleteBut THAT's exactly why you should be publishing the stories behind these covers. The offbeat quality.
I'll echo the sentiments of others: the off-beat quality is exactly why these stories are great. Keep'em coming!
ReplyDeleteBTW I love both of these characters so it was a great cover to see this morning. :)
ReplyDeleteRoss, you might be surprised at just how many of us would buy these comics if the stories that you have in mind were to be published. No doubt, I enjoy the idea of seeing characters of different publications, but with similar attributes, get together. Batman/Capt. America, Sub-Mariner/Aquaman, Flash/Quicksilver, Red Tornado/Vision, are some that come to my mind. Those are fun but obvious. I like the idea even more of bringing together characters that one might not otherwise expect. I recall a Capt. America issue in which he fought Magneto. It was a great story, but one that I might not have thought of myself. That is what you bring. Yes, if you were running a company as suggested, there would be an expectation to feature more "popular" characters, but those of us who have loved comics since childhood who now share the stories with grandchildren (such as myself) would still love to see these "odd" pairings. Thank you for what you do.
ReplyDeleteA suggestion: how about Ragman and Moon Knight?
ReplyDeleteNice cover today. Always good to see the stretchable sleuths in action.
They might have one thing in common, Ross. Loss!* Ralph lost his wife and Marc lost his mind (to three other personalities). Of course, this being the STFU, it's possible those two points of plot history have been ret-conned away, as well, just like they were elsewhere.
ReplyDelete*Poetry not intended.
I love this team-up! I'm a fan of unlikely pairings, too.
ReplyDeleteDick Dillin was the man. What a fantastic run on JLA back in the day! Consistency and longevity on a single title is rare these days (Erik Larsen's 'Savage Dragon' and Mark Bagley on 'Ultimate Spider-Man' are the only relatively recent examples that spring to mind).
ReplyDeleteSaid but true, Ken. It's why the late, great Mark Gruenwald is practically the patron saint of Snood999's "UHOTMU Appendix" website. The former is one guy who _never_ left any unresolved plot thread eternally dangling.
ReplyDeleteThis is certainly less likely than the earlier pairing of EM with Captain America.
ReplyDeleteIs it too soon for Stevil (Hydra cap) to face off against some other foes?
What everybody else said. :-)
ReplyDelete---Another Ymous.
An OFFBEAT team-up might be before-and-afterish (in word order) Tennessee Tuxedo/Tuxedo Mask.
ReplyDeleteHaha, I am glad to see the positive comments for this one. I figured that this was a fairly self-indulgent cover, but I guess I am not the only fan of bizarre pairings!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Ross, regarding offbeat team-ups. While I enjoyed the many team-ups between Batman and Green Arrow in the original Brave and Bold comic, one of my very favorite B&B team-ups was the first team-up between Batman and Kamandi. I also really liked the team-up between Batman, Plastic Man and Metamorpho. My favorite issue of DC Comics Presents (hands down) was the time Superman teamed up with the Marvel Family including Hoppy the Marvel Bunny....
ReplyDeleteCount me in as a fan of oddbeat pairings -- but you probably already knew that, as I was the guy who wanted to see Wolverine and Ambush Bug together (and that story would have been a great one!). This issue is one I'd definitely read, even though I've never even cracked open a Moon Knight story, just to see how these two would interact.
ReplyDeleteFor something that's offbeat in a different way, I just read where Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson are being tapped to star in a Men in Black spinoff. That, I think, is as good of an excuse as any to have Agents Jay and Kay come along to question Thor and/or Valkyrie.
Great cover once again. How about this idea for an unusual team-up: CAPTAIN CANUCK and The JACK OF HEARTS. Both are great characters but very different from each other. Both were drawn by artist George Freeman, so finding images that match up correctly should be relatively easy. Maybe a "Crisis in the great white North" can be stopped by these two unique heroes.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, Ross, your ongoing Captain America / Wonder Woman series shows that you can produce a crowd-pleaser when you put your mind to it.
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with Jim. In fact, if there's ever serious talk about doing more Marvel/DC crossovers, I think they could take the whole Cap/WW saga and make a limited series out of it.
ReplyDeleteI don't see a twist in the Elongated Man's body, so it looks like his head and torso are backwards from his hips and legs.
ReplyDeleteIIRC, the JLA issue was #151, and originally had the Flash (Barry Allen) in the place of Moon Knight. The villain was Prof. Amos Fortune.
ReplyDeleteDick Dillin was outstanding as the JLA penciller. I remember when he died, DC tapped George Perez to replace him on JLA, so at least there was no loss of quality.
Anon at 9:46--Maybe the twist is hidden by the flamethrower blast?
ReplyDeleteOkay, first I thought they were shadows, but we can see the horizontal lines on Elongated Man's costume twist around his body, especially closer to his torso. Just looks strange.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: even stranger than Moon Knight and EM teaming up, in general?
ReplyDeleteCool choice! I like the oddball team-ups much more than the obvious matching power/motif pairs.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteCool, thanks Kid Charlemagne! (Awesome name BTW) And I agree about Dillin. I think he's probably underrated as an artist.
Kid Charlemagne said...
IIRC, the JLA issue was #151, and originally had the Flash (Barry Allen) in the place of Moon Knight. The villain was Prof. Amos Fortune.
Dick Dillin was outstanding as the JLA penciller. I remember when he died, DC tapped George Perez to replace him on JLA, so at least there was no loss of quality.