When I was a kid, I regarded characters like Kal-L, Jay Garrick, Stephen Strange and Reed Richards as "elder statesmen" in the world of comic heroes because they looked older than their contemporaries due to their distinguished grey/white sideburns. Well, now my own personal grey sideburns are getting quite prominently, and I feel neither elder not like a statesman! I feel like the same goofy comics fan just trying to get through life without messing things up. Where has the time gone?
The JSA and X-Men have met a couple of times before. They were manipulated by Apocalypse in STF #1675, and first crossed paths in STF #1400...
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How I see it : Angel underestimates Mr. Terrific allowing an upwards kick and judo flip to take out Angel. Marvel Girl gets the drop on Red Tornado once she understands his power comes from spinning and shifts from defensive to offensive attacks . Beast nearly takes out Robin through brute strength and agility but Robin 's own acrobatic skills by enough time to use sleep gas capsules. Iceman uses his power to slow down and finally pin down Hourman under a too large mountain of ice. Cyclops keeps Wonder Woman off balance but just barely as she deflects his eyebeams back at him BUT all wins and losses are rendered moot as Professor X breaks down Superman's will and sends him against the JSA buying the X-Men the chance to grudgingly escape .
Hmmmm! With the JSA's greater collective experience, I picture it going down this way. Wonder Woman deflects one of Cyclops optic beams at Professor X, with her Amazonian bracelets, thereby stunning the latter into unconsciousness which simultaneously frees Superman from telepathic hypnosis. The Man of Steel then knocks out Cyke and Marvel Girl (whom Red Tornado has cyclonically rendered too dizzy to use her tk) with a Kryptonian version of the neck pinch!
Meanwhile, grown-up Robin (using his hard-won experience dealing with Mr. Freeze) slows down Iceman with some kind of mixture of de-icer and mace long enough for Wonder Woman to use her magic lasson on him. Robin then grounds Angel with a pair of TASER-like bolas, allowing Hourman and Mr. Terrific to double-team the Beast into submission. Finally letting the JSA win one against these Children of the Atom.
And, no, Brother Barnes, I don't mean Palmer, Pratt, or Choi!
@Anonymous: Nice alternate take !
This is the kind of melee that comic book writers (and game designers) just love. There are so many ways for either side to win, and various fights can be won via strength, speed, skill, or just plain luck.
Ross, nice flipping and re-arranging the X-Men figures from the original image! I hadn't known that Ordway had done any X-Men work!
Nice one Ross. I see you got your favorite version of ROBIN in there with his great costume. I like the way he and the RED HOOD sport bat emblems on their chests as a sort of tribute to their roots. How about a team-up between these two?
At first glance, I was thinking short fight. And then I remembered that this particular characterization of Red Tornado was over-eager and less than helpful. He would blow Wonder Woman’s magic lasso out of her hands before she could use it on Cyclops and then knock Robin off the (conveniently available) trapeze when he flew after it. Angel ends up with the lasso and, upon orders from Professor X, lassos a hesitating Superman (who realistically couldn’t employ his powers against any of these X-Men without killing them) and tells him to knock out Wonder Woman. Between the remaining X-Men and Red Tornado’s “help,” Hourman and Mr. Terrific won’t last long.
But I think Terrific would escape and go get the Spectre.
hey Ross, has anyone passed along the sad news that Stan Lee passed away this a.m. at age 95...
ver sad news indeed...
Stan will be missed...
on a different note, i really loved this cover alot....
my all-time first favorite comic book heroes the Justice Society and my fave from the 70's and 80's the X-men together again...
well done, Ross and thanks...
Ross
how about a Stan Lee tribute/memorial cover having some of his Marvel crrations meeting his 2001 DC Just Imagine if creations???
anytime you could fit it in, if you think the idea has any merit...
you are the best as always...
I was thinking, if there's some way you could make a picture of Lee with Siegel, Shuster, Kane, Finger, Kirby, Ditko, etc., that would be the greatest team-up of all. No, I'm not really expecting you could do something like that on short notice. :)
Simply posting the Superman-Spiderman crossover team-up would be altogether fitting though.
They're probably fighting over which school district the Xavier Academy should belong to.....which is a surprisingly serious issue in Westchester (school districts, not fictional private schools), which makes life in Westchester so screwed up.
There's the Village of Port Chester, which is one of the largest (by population) communities in the county. It is located entirely in the Town of Rye, which is NOT to be confused with the City of Rye (which is smaller in area than the Town of Rye), or the Village of Rye Brook (which is also part of the Town of Rye). The Town of Rye also contains a portion of the Rye Neck section of the Village of Mamaroneck (the remainder of the Village of Mamaroneck is in the Town of Mamaroneck).
Got that?
Loved the group of JSAs, odd group and cannot remember where it came from but I think I have seen (and probably have somewhere) comic.
Regarding where Robin got the trapeze I assume same place Beast got his.
Other than Professors mental telepathy/bolts I cannot see X-Men winning this one assuming playing field is even.
1. Outstanding cover today, Ross. I don't remember the robotic Red Tornado ever being a member of the JSA, but that's not your responsibility. You did good here.
2. Regarding the face-off from an in-story perspective, Superman seems awfully bully-ish with such a fierce face charging toward Professor X. My guess here would be that the JSAers are being mind-controlled or psychically manipulated in some other way.
3. jackel echoed my thoughts on Stan Lee precisely. Having some of his Marvel creations meet the "Staniverse" JLA would be fantastic, if you have a way of managing it.
Dear Ross: I just heard about Stan Lee, myself. His passing truly marks the end of an era. :-(
My suggestion for a tribute cover? Julius "Julie" Schwartz shaking hands with Stan The Man at the Pearly Gates.
P.S. @albarfie: At Robins's suggestion (using Batman-like strategy), Superman uses Wonder Woman's magic lasso to tie up all six of the X-men at super-speed. No fatalities, accidental or otherwise! Just victory for the JSA.
I noticed the deletion of a tasteless joke that was a reply(?) to "The Micronauts and Krypto".
Glenn Host: The JSA line-up came from the cover of the "Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol 2" trade paperback, which re-printed 4 of the JLA/JSA annual crossovers, including the first appearance of Red Tornado.
Bob Greenwade: Red Tornado first appeared in a JLA/JSA crossover in 1968 as a "creation" of T.O. Morrow to infiltrate the JSA and take them and the JLA out, but he "rebelled" and save them and took out Morrow. He stayed with the JSA until he was seemly destroyed at the end of the JLA/JSA/Seven Soldiers crossover (JLA #100-102). He later was "found" on Earth-One and many retcons about his true nature followed.
Jay: Thanks for the reminder. I'd been reading (sporadically, as anyone at the time did without a paid subscription) but had forgotten about all of that.
Jay: Thanks. Since I bought them when the JLA came out never looks at paperback versions.
I have to admit, that right off the bat I also thought it would be a very one-sided fight. Then, I realized what a perfect match Superman had in Prof. X; the the most famous strongman/ultimate physical speciman vs the master of the mind. It would all depend on if Xavier could use his mind powers before the Kryptonian could use his superspeed to beat him. I'd like to think if Suoes was caught off guard it was because of pausing too long to reflect on Prof. X's reminding him of a pre-woman/pre-bug/pre-ape Ultra-Humanite. The rest, with the possible exception of the Golden Age Wonder Woman, would be even money, IMHO.
PS. Once again a great matching masterfully blended. Thank you, Ross.
How about JSA v. THE INHERITORS? With Morlun et al. coming to the DCU looking for the Golden Age Tarantula (after consuming the Cobweb Kid over on Earth-Inferior 5)!
Carycomic brought me back here from the "Secret Society invades the Marvel Universe" in Dec. 2019.
I never did my match ups on this one so I decided to give it a go =
The X-Men face an uphill climb as Supes, Wondy & Reddy could defeat the entire team by themselves (Could Prof. X uses his telepathic powers on the android/Tornado Champion at this time? I'm not sure).
Iceman would have to be familiar with WW's weakness of having a guy bind her wrists/bracelets together for him to stop her. Cyclops could get her into that position with a couple of blasts where she would try to use her bracelets to deflect them. Bobby then freezes her wrists together in that position where she loses her Amazon powers to a male.
Angel could take down the weak Mr. Terrific since he would have an air advantage against a slower moving Terry.
Beast could match strength & speed with Hourman but his agility might be superior to HM's cloaked physique. I could give this battle to Hank.
Cyclops should target the Red Tornado after giving Iceman a few stray optic blasts against WW. Reddy might lift him off the ground with his winds but I doubt his android body could withstand Scott's top blasts for long.
Marvel Girl could easily take down Robin by reading his mind & using her telekinesis to shield herself from his attacks. Most likely knocking him out with his own Batarang.
Professor X would be the one to best take down Superman with a mental blast of some sort. The human mind can be super fast with its decisions so it's possible Charles could take out Clark with a quick mind bolt.
I originally had Marvel Girl using Superman's invincible cape against him with telekinesis but I'm not sure she could accomplish anything with that stunt so I discarded it.
The above JSAers (even with Robin & Mr. Terrific) are just too powerful in most other match ups against this group of X-Men.
Also since this is the Earth 2 Robin, I don't remember him fighting a version of Mr. Freeze on his Earth like the 2nd response recalled.
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