So, the event’s over, you’d think I’d be out of rambling to do. About 8 months after the event, DC published a 4-issue mini called DC/Marvel: All-Access by Ron Marz, Jackson “Butch” Guice, Joe Rubenstein and Lee Loughridge. It stars Access, of course, and in each issue, he’d team up different heroes from each world. Guess who kicked it off?
This is pushing us way ahead of the timeline, to the point that Peter is back in the Spider-Suit, but whatever, I’m not gonna revisit this later. Axel Asher is having lunch with his girlfriend in the Marvel Universe when his head starts killing him. He recaps Marvel Vs. DC and then senses that Venom has made his way to the DCU somehow. So he makes a lame excuse to his girlfriend, runs into an alley and turns into Access. He pops into the DCU as Venom is running amok in Metropolis, disoriented and angry, harassing a random woman and demanding answers from her, when guess who shows up.
Venom kidnaps the woman for some reason, saying he “needs a guide,” and Access shows up. He tells Supes he’s there to help, but Superman has no idea who he is, and just leaves. He hunts down Venom, not far away, and Access follows, teleporting the girl to safety as they fight.
It’s true, they fought in the first issue of Marvel Vs. DC, but off-panel. Access gets the girl to safety, and is way too responsive to her flirting for someone who just left his girlfriend, and then teleports back to the fight… where he’s nearly killed immediately, so he blinks back out, and when he returns, he’s got a ringer.
Supes and Spidey tell Access to stay put while they rush off in a double-page spread what wouldn’t photograph well.
Access pops back up, and finally gets to explain himself to Superman. He tells Access to go get a sonic generator from STAR Labs, and gives him his cape to prove the story when he gets there, then jumps back into the fight. I am not nearly convinced by Venom fighting Superman to a standstill, by the way. That’s absurd. Anyway, they all fight some more, and then…
Venom is down, everyone has a friendly chat, Spidey webs up the bad guy, and then Access takes them home.
The end. Ish. Access’s story continues in 3 more issues, teaming up Robin & Jubilee, Batman & Dr. Strange and The JLA & The X-Men (The Avengers slighted twice!), but that’s kinda outside our purview.
Six months later, a new round of Amalgam titles. Some continuing elements of the first batch, some even weirder than the last time. For my money, none of them more amusing than…
Yeah, man, really going gonzo. Also a Challengers of the Fantastic book, Iron Man FINALLY gets in the game with an “Iron Lantern” comic, “Super-Soldier: Man of War” by the same team as last time, “Bat-Thing,” a crazy mix of Man-Bat and Man-Thing (Shoulda called him Man-Man), John Romita, Jr. CRUSHING on the Asgard/Fourth Word mashup “Thorion of the New Asgods…”
…(which served as a preview of his gorgeous future run on Thor with none other than Dan Jurgens) and others, but most interesting to us would be…
Spider-Man, Superboy, The Legion of Superheroes and the Guardians of the Galaxy (Not that Guardians of the Galaxy, the original, future ones) all smushed together, with a 2099 reference for fun. It’s by what I assume is Roger Stern & Karl Kesel billed as “R. K. Sternsel,” Ladronn, Juan Vlasco and Joe Rosas. This post is already going to be too long, so I’m not going too far into it, but Spider-Boy is fighting “Scavulture” when he gets pulled into the year 2099 by The Legion. Superboy did a similar thing with the regular Legion long ago.
That’s 23 Marvel/DC mashups on one page! They get in a fight with the Frightful Five, Spider-Boy gets shot 5 years further into the future, the timestream gets messed up, he comes back to a different 2099…
These guys are clearly having a blast. Spider-Boy returns to his time with the Guardians and defeats Scavulture, Kang The Time Conqueror shows up and tells him he’s a nexus of reality, and by separating his “Amalgamated Life Essences,” he can conquer the Omniverse…
And it all works out. Not the best recap, I know, but this is getting too long. Aaaaaand finally, 6 months after THAT…
…Marvel did THEIR Access comic. In the first issue (by Karl Kesel, Pat Oliffe, Al Williamson & Greg Wright), he encounters the DC villain Mantis…
Mantis turns out to be teaming up with Juggernaut, but then Spidey gets some help from Wonder Woman…
…and after a big fight, the villains are defeated. But then they disappear, like Access teleported them, only he didn’t.
Yuk yuk. Wonder Woman is sent back to her world, and then Access goes off on his adventures. I actually only got the first issue of this, I don’t know if Spider-Man comes back or not. At any rate, what a weird deal, huh? Marvel & DC co-own Access, but I believe this series was his final appearance. And that, finally, is the end of Marvel Vs. DC posts. I hope you’ve enjoyed this detour from the usual, because I did. With Marvel & DC owned by ever-more-competitive mega-corps, odds are this is the last crossover we’ll ever see. But it was always fun when the two companies teamed up, and I wish it could happen again. Next time, we’ll get back to normal with the beginning of a 6-part story that will close out this block. See ya there.