Everyone loves an intercompany crossover. Since Superman had his clash/team-up with Spider-Man in 1976, we have seen many of the greatest characters across all media come together to either fight evil or each other. Today’s title covers both grounds as Dark Horse present a new collection of the greatest crossovers of The Man of Steel and some of the greatest stars to be printed under the Dark Horse imprint. From the Xenomorphs of the Alien franchise to the crazy world of Madman, Superman has his hands full. And that’s not even counting an alternate universe where Superman crash lands in East Africa instead of Smallville which sends him and Tarzan on vastly different paths.
Content-wise, this collection is jam packed with a variety of different stories ranging from straight up action, to more subdued tales, to flat out craziness. Whichever type of Superman story you are looking for, this collection has you covered. The Alien crossovers mainly encompass the action category whilst managing to weave the Xenomorphs tied into Kryptonian mythology. All this whilst Superman tries to defeat them and stop the Xenomorph queen from hatching within him! Part two sees evil Apokolips ruler Darkseid getting his hands on some Alien eggs and sending them down to New Genesis to cause chaos leaving Superman and Orion to stop both him and the Aliens. Both stories present a great take on putting Superman out of his comfort zone whilst remaining faithful to both franchises being explored. There is also some great art from veteran Superman artists Dan Jurgens and Jon Bogdanove, who not only demonstrate why they’re two of the best artists to tackle the Man of Steel, but also do a stellar job in bringing the more horrific designs of the Alien franchise into Superman’s world. Chuck Dixon and Carlos Meglia also present an interesting take on Superman and Tarzan as we see a world where Superman grew up in the jungle instead of the city and vice versa for Tarzan. It’s a good change of pace after the action of the Alien stories and Meglia in particular does a great job bringing these vastly different versions of each character to life.
But a particular highlight is Superman/Madman as Madman creator Mike Allred write and draws a bonkers tale where Superman and Madman end up in each other’s dimension, courtesy of Mister Mxyzptlk. The story is a great combo of the craziness found in the pages of Madman and the more out there style Superman stories found in the 1950s and 1960s. Nothing demonstrates this better than the way Mister Mxyzptlk is eventually defeated – no spoilers but it is funny. Allred as usual cuts loose when he is in the world of Madman which also allows him to bring his trademark style to the world of Superman, showing a type of story you don’t see too often these days in the main Superman series.
Any fans of superhero crossovers will lap this collection right up and Superman fans who want to see the Man of Steel in both traditional-style stories and more out-there fares will be well served by checking this out.
Read a preview here
The Dark Horse Comics DC Superman is published 18 August by Dark Horse
9781506702148 p/b £18.99
Post by Leo
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