Daredevil and Rose & The Thorn

 

Rose & The Thorn was a cool back up series.  It's too bad that the character has slipped through the cracks.  DC needs more heroines that are not just female versions of previously existing male heroes.

Batman and Daredevil in: "Birds of a Feather...!"

 

Batman and Daredevil have some history on the blog - they shared Golden Age adventures together in STF #1584 as well as on an early B&B Cover... and their first meeting was in even earlier MS Paint B&B meeting..., they were ambushed by the Owls in STF #1114... and DD was caught in the Bat-Signal in STF #1846. Batman has even met the original Golden Age Daredevil in STF #2252.

The Guardian and Daredevil

 

Between Batman, Daredevil, TMNT, and many other street-level crimefighting comics, there seems to be an unending supply of Ninjas for our heroes to face off against.  Who's to say they aren't all connected in some grand cloning conspiracy?  Might make for a fun tale, anyway!

Psylocke and Katana

 

Psylocke entered the scene just as I was getting out of the X-Men comics, so I never really learned too much about her, other than the fact that her costume looked really uncomfortable to fight crime in. Still, she does seem to be pretty popular and I have received some requests to include her.  I am glad she can finally make her STF debut.

Batman and Agatha Harkness

 

The Agatha Harkness Disney+ series, which has gone through so many name changes that I'm not sure what has been settled on, seems to be in a state of flux.  Like many of their recent projects, Marvel has pushed back its airdate and are reportedly doing extensive reshoots.  I really did enjoy Katherine Hahn in the role, so I hope that the final product is up to Marvels' standards - well, their standards from about four or five years ago, that is.  

Commissioner Gordon and The Punisher

 

This is another cover that required a bit of prep work to accomplish.  With only a partial image available, I had to build out the signal and fencing before I could add in the Punisher elements.  Here's a behind the scenes look at the process:

Daredevil and Static

 

There has been some talk of a Static movie in the works, and I thought that possibly it would have been announced as part of James Gunn's DC plans.  Static has crossed over with the DCU in the comics and in the animated shows as well, so I thought that maybe there was a chance.  It looks like the Milestone characters will get their own cinematic universe.  Let's hope they get started soon, it's getting crowded out there! 

Dick Tracy and Bullseye

 

 I enjoyed the Dick Tracy movie back in the day.  It's been decades since I've watched it, I wonder if it holds up.  One thing I remember that bothered me was they used so many different Tracy villains in one single film, killing most of them off - it seemed like a waste of potential there.  I still think a Dick Tracy streaming series would be a great idea, that way each villain could get an arc or at least an episode to themselves.

Commissioner Gordon and J. Jonah Jameson

 

I thought that it was time that two of comics' most enduring supporting characters shared a cover.  I like in comics when we are reminded that it's not always up to the heroes to come to the rescue - sometimes the non-powered, un-costumed folks have to jump into the fray as well.  As Aunt May said in Spider-Man 2, "I believe there's a hero in all of us."

Hawkman and Captain Britain

 

I was happy to use an image of Hawkman here by the very talented Lee Weeks.  I was able to pick up an original page of his many years back, and even got to thank him for it at a convention years later, he was incredibly nice and got a kick out of the STF Daredevil/Calvin & Hobbes t-shirt I was wearing. I gave him a business card with the Blog's address on it when he asked where I got the shirt from, so who knows?  Maybe he's checking out this entry right now.

G.I. Robot and The Human Torch

I am a fan of robotic characters, and I especially like it when they look unmistakably like robots.  I prefer when Red Tornado has a more mechanical look than when he just looks like a human colored red.  G.I. Robot has a great design, there's no mistaking that he is a machine.  Jim Hammond can pass for human, but when he flames on, he loses all of his facial features, which gives him more of an air of danger and unpredictability than Johnny Storm.

Hellcat and The Phantom

We started to see the beginnings of Patsy Walker's transformation into a super powered vigilante on the second season of Netflix' Jessica Jones, and it will be interesting to see where her story goes in the upcoming third and final season.  I'm guessing we won't be seeing her in any kind of costume like the one she sports above, given Netflix track record for getting their heroes out of plain clothes, but it would be nice to see her move a little closer to the Hellcat that we know from the comics.

Sandman Vs. the Hulk

Fans have been wondering when of if we were going to get a version of the Grey Hulk in the movies.  He certainly has been evolving - first becoming far more verbose after Being in Hulk form for two years in Thor: Ragnorok, and then refusing to emerge after a Thanos butt-whuppin' in Avengers Infinity War.  Promotional images of the next Avengers film indicate that we may be getting a different kind of hulk the next time around - but not Mr. Fixit or the early Grey version.  To me it looks as though they are heading towards the Professor Hulk of Peter David's run, with full un-torn uniform and Banner's intellect intact.  It will be interesting to see exactly where they are going and how they handle it.

Adam Strange and Captain Marvel in "The Death of Adam Strange"

Death and rebirth in comics is such a merry-go-round these days, it's hard for any character's demise to have a real lasting impact anymore.  The Death of Captain Marvel was published in a very different time for comics, and the demise of Mar-Vell was a true shock and gut-punch for the reader.  The fact that he has been "allowed" to remain dead in this era speaks volumes about the impact of that beautifully illustrated and written graphic novel.

These two heroes first crossed paths in STF #1386...

Iron Man and The Legion of Super-Heroes

Continued from yesterday's cover, We see that Ferro Lad was serious when he said they needed Tony in the 30th century.

I'm wondering how large Tony Stark/Iron man's role will be in Spider-Man: Homecoming.  When I first heard he was in the film, I figured that is would be for a quick scene or two, but he did seem to be a big part of the trailer that was released.  I wouldn't mind too much if he had a larger part, I liked the interaction between Stark and Peter Parker before and it would be fun to see a Marvel Team-Up style Spidey flick.

Hawkman and Sasquatch

I have liked Sasquatch since I first discovered the character in the pages of Marvel Two-In-One.  There are a lot of big strong guy characters out there, but I really thought that his design was cool - both his look and his massive size.  It's too bad that he and Alpha Flight have had a hard time maintaining a series for very long.

Daredevil Vs. Bane

I have watched the Netflix Daredevil series twice now and enjoyed it just as much the second time around.  It gives me high hopes for the other Marvel shows on the way - Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and The Defenders... but especially for Daredevil season 2.  With characters like Elektra, Bullseye and The Punisher (perfectly cast with Jon Bernthal) slated to appear, it sound like it's going to be a wild ride.

Black Lightning and Daredevil in "The Devil Made Him Do It!"

OK, we've had Simon Stagg (Metamorpho's boss) on The Flash, and Katana is on Arrow... I'm liking the seeds being planted for The Outsiders.  Now we need for Black Lightning to start appearing on one of these shows.  He would be a good fit for either, really.  He's street level like the heroes on Arrow, but he's got powers like the characters on The Flash.  C'mon, Warner Brothers, let's make this happen!

Martian Manhunter Vs. Fin Fang Foom

I love that Fin Fang Foom graduated from his early days as the villain of a monster comic to becoming a fairly wall known opponent  in the Marvel superhero line of titles.  There were a lot of giant monsters terrorizing the populace when Foom first hit the scene, but few would be able to transition genres they way that he has managed to. And why not?  With creators like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, it's not surprising that other writes would like to use him in their stories.  Now let's get him into an Iron Man or Thor movie

The New Teen Titans and The Hulk

I really miss seeing this grouping of Titans together.  They were the biggest hit DC had seen in ages when they first hit the scene in a the 80's, and I was hoping to see them in adventures as a team for decades.  Unfortunately, the characters keep getting pulled into different parts of the DCU and while the Teen Titans has remained a constant concept, it has never regained the prestige of the Wolfman/Perez years.  The Young Justice animated series did a good job of utilizing all eras of the Titans, but that was cancelled before it could really influence the comics.  I live in hope that the classic Titans will return again in one form or another.