Written by Ninja Jupi
Hey all, Jupi here to hijack Mark’s blog with a review of my own. I’m not as avid a reader of mainstream comic books like Mark, but I do have my moments and this is one of them. As you can see from the title, it is a Marvel/DC crossover involving these two groups which, unfortunately, only lasted one issue due to behind the scenes conflicts, but I’ll get into that later. Let’s get into it.
First of all, Mark surprised me with this. I am a fan of the New Teen Titans, which ran from 1980 to 1984, the title then changing to Tales of the Teen Titans up until its cancellation in 1988, so I guess you could say the original run was from 1980 - 1988. Could never get into the 90s iteration. This came out in 1982 and would fall in line between issues 16 and 20 of the New Teen Titans (no Nightwing yet and Kid Flash is still around) and after the Dark Phoenix saga of the X-Men series, so after issue 150, but apparently most fans place it around issue 168. For all you X-Men fans, please feel free to share your thoughts.
Before getting into the story, let’s get into the teams and characters from both series.
Titans/DC
Robin
Wonder Girl
Kid Flash
Cyborg
Raven
Starfire
Changeling (I know some know him as Beast Boy, but that was his Doom Patrol alias)
Deathstroke the Terminator (I know some know him as Slade)
Merton
Dakseid
X-Men/Marvel
Professor X
Cyclops
Storm
Wolverine
Nightcrawler
Colossus
Sprite/Kitty Pryde
Dark Phoenix
With that lineup, I’m sure that this will be interesting, especially with the antagonists there. I’m not as well-versed with X-Men lore, but this should be fun, so let’s get into it! Also, given the nature of this, I apologize in advance since this will probably be pretty lengthy.
So we open with Metron and Darkseid. I’m going to be honest, even though I’m better with DC characters, Metron is one I have very little knowledge of. He is helping Darkseid with his endeavor to break through the Source Wall. Metron with his godlike powers breaks through it for Darkseid to enter.
Next, we see Colossus, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler training in the Danger Room with Professor X at the controls. During their training, Professor X is pleased at their progress. Kitty Pryde then calls them for dinner, who telepathically lets the others of the mansion know.
After the day is done, we see the professor resting, but during this, his mind gets probed as you see a hand resting on his head. The minds of the others are also probed while in their sleep, causing them to have nightmares from the painful memories being forced to the surface. The memories being probed are of Jean Grey and the ultimate sacrifice she made as Phoenix to save the universe. If you grew up in the 90s, you likely watched or knew of the 1992 X-Men animated series. The Phoenix arc was adapted for that if you’re curious. Probably some differences, but the outcome was the same, Jean sacrificing herself.
Getting back into it, when approaching a slumbering Kitty, she awoke before anything could happen, seeing a dark figure, awakening the others by screaming. Everyone comes together in the sitting room, attending to a shaken up Kitty. I loved Colossus getting all protective of her and Wolverine telling him to calm down. There was a knock at the door and Scott (Cyclops) went to answer it. The person was none other than a spiritual looking Phoenix, asking for help and she ended up entering his body!
In another part of New York, we see a slumbering Rachel (Raven) in Titans Tower. As some may know, she’s an empath with healing powers and for this era of the Titans, she was the one who reunited the team using her powers. She needed help, but the Justice League turned her away, so she went to the Titans. She awakens screaming and Starfire rushes to her. She explains the bad dream she had of the earth being “a burning wasteland” and the humans being stripped of their humanity. Raven is worried because her dreams are usually prophetic with some truth to it.
Garfield (Changeling) also is there to hear Raven’s tale where she describes a figure like a goddess surrounded by fire shaped like bird. He offers to transform based on Raven’s description and when he does so, Starfire goes into warrior mode and attacks Gar, referring to him, before coming back to his senses, the evil Phoenix. Starfire is worried now and summoned the rest of the Titans who were out, as she knows of the power Phoenix has and the destruction it could cause.
Everyone assembles and they explain to Donna (Wondergirl who was out on a date), Wally (Kid Flash), who was out crimefighting, and Victor (Cyborg), who was out looking over a damaged area caused by outlaws about Raven’s dream and Starfire attacking Gar. The only Titan not to answer the call was Robin, who was busy with Deathstroke. Robin takes down a Para-Demon and is surprised to find out it's an actual monster and not a guy in a costume. Deathstroke reveals that the Para-Demon was working for him.
Going back to the X-Men, we see the group at Jean’s parents’ place. It turns out that the Greys also had strange dreams. They had heard a noise and when checking it out, they saw that it was Jean, who was calling out to her father for help, but she disappeared. They want answers, as they believe her to be dead. The professor sends an astral projection to the group and the Greys, explaining how there’s no sign of Jean, but there were strange anomalies going on in a few places. They are all connected to Phoenix. Based on that information, the professor feels it would be easy to determine where the next anomaly will occur and face whoever is responsible, so the X-Men are on the job!
Since Robin didn’t answer the red alert that Starfire sent out, they all go out looking for him, finding him badly beaten. Raven offers to heal Robin and he explains that he got into a fight with Deathstroke. Starfire arrives, explaining how there was no sign of the evil one after search of the city. Starfire finally explains what Phoenix is and how she knows of her, which also explains her backstory. As some may know, she is from Tamara’s and to save her planet she was forced into slavery. While on the ship before her escape to earth, she learned of Jean as Phoenix who saved the universe, but with all the power she absorbed, becoming insane with that power, she could easily destroy it. The one to relay these messages was Lilandra, so there goes our X-Men connection. Lilandra played a big role in the Phoenix Saga.
It’s funny how Robin suggested on whether they should seek out either the Justice League or the Avengers for help, but agrees that they, as the Titans, should help to defeat Phoenix. Their only lead is the X-Men as they (likely Robin), know that Phoenix is affiliated with them.
Next we join Slade, relaxing with a glass of champagne in his hidden domain after his fight with Robin. While doing so, he gets randomly attacked by Ravok the Ravager, who was sent there, but he was just testing him. This small section was just showing how capable Deathstroke is, which is good for those not familiar with the character. Ravok’s true targets however, are the X-Men.
Back at the mansion, Wolverine’s sensing something off earlier was warranted. We see the mansion being attacked. Professor Xavier managed to block off the attacker, thinking it was Jean, by using his powers, knocking the person out. It was Starfire. Before Xavier could get a grasp of what was going on, he gets attacked and weakened by Cyborg. Raven steps in to stop him, though as she realizes the Professor has telekinetic abilities, which she senses and feels his pain as she’s an empath.
Robin has reservations over their tactics of breaking into the mansion, given how criminal it all was. This is still early in this run and Starfire is still getting accustomed to earth’s ways. Robin pretty much tells Starfire how you can’t blast into people’s homes to obtain information and how if she wants to remain a Titan to follow those rules.
After finding the mansion void of the X-Men, Raven senses that the Professor has no evil within him. Starfire argues against this, reminding them that Phoenix was a member of the X-Men and how Robin traced the X-Men to the mansion.
Before any other discussions can be had, the mansion is attacked again. The Titans are being mistaken for the X-Men. It turns out to be Ravok, who the Titans assume is Colossus. “Colossus” and his goons defeats all the Titans, and teleports them, except for Gar, whom they missed. He comes up with a plan to follow in hopes of freeing them.
Going back to the X-Men, they found the place of the anomaly that the Professor had gone on about earlier. They are in New Mexico, and come across Deathstroke. Wolverine managed to get a surprise hit on him, which is rare. He is a highly skilled fighter which Deathstroke acknowledges, pointing out that if he hadn’t dodged in time, Wolverine would’ve knocked him out. He was there surveying and ordering the Para-Demons around. They are gathering Jean’s residual energy using something called Psi-phons, but Deathstroke has no idea what for. With the unexpected appearance of the X-Men, Deathstroke realizes that he was obviously hired to take care of them so that who he’s working for can succeed with their plans.
Even though the X-Men did their best, it wasn’t enough as Deathstroke and the para demons supplied to him took them all out. Even Colossus couldn’t do anything with his strength. The Psi-phon was destroyed during the confrontation, though, by Colossus. With that situation occurring, the amount of energy needed seems to not likely be enough, but our mercenary tells the demon helpers to forget about it and just use the energy they’d absorbed before the mutant team arrived.
Back to our other team, we are at the wall with Darkseid. Ravok declares that he captured the X-Men. Darkseid only recognizes the Professor, though. Right at that moment, Deathstroke comes through a portal, and points out how that Ravok didn’t capture the X-Men, but the Teen Titans. The Terminator explains what happened regarding the Psi-phon. Gar, during this, had taken on the form of one of the Para-demons. He knew his morphing abilities were limited to just animals, but since these demons weren’t human, he was able to transform into one of them. Unfortunately for Gar, he was discovered by Darkseid, as he realized one of the Parademons was “emerald green”. Since Ravok didn’t notice he had an infiltrator amongst his ranks, Darkseid does away with Ravok. Boy, was his role short.
While trapped, the X-Men are zapped, to drain more of their memories of Jean. This leads to the summoning of Dark Phoenix. Cyclops reacts strongly to see her, and tries his best to call to her. Darkseid explains his reasons for summoning Dark Phoenix and wanting to harness her power. Darkseid leaves with Dark Phoenix, but once they are gone, the restraints holding the two teams in place, vanish. The Titans stir first, though. The one that was the most affected for their team was Raven, who sensed nothing but evil from Darkseid.
Before they do anything, the two teams finally meet and introduce themselves. Kitty Pryde thinking Gar is cute (and looks about her age) was funny, as well as Raven’s thoughts on Wolverine and Wolverine sensing the “bird lady” is spooked by him. Wolverine is a bit apprehensive about working with the Titans since they’re “kids”. Funny, though, since Kitty Pryde is a member of the X-Men and is also a kid, and it's ironic since later on, Jubilee will be part of the team.
Realizing the danger they were in, as they only had about an hour to survive in their environment, they ended up going through space via Asteroid, as it seems they were on one with the help of Starfire and Cyclops. Cyborg was picking up on something with his radarscan and went towards it. The artifact they came across was a chair. Of course Wolverine had to comment on that. “All that work for a chair?” lol
Gar and Kitty were getting acquainted, doing their introductions, while sitting on the chair. Kitty mentioned how she wished she were back home and suddenly, the pair vanished along with the chair and then it suddenly returned. Professor X figured that the chair was controlled by telepathic thoughts, but as Robin pointed out, all of them wouldn’t fit on it. Luckily, Kitty and Gar came up with something, much to Changeling’s embarrassment to transport everyone.
Colossus understood the reference. Kitty had Gar transform into a type of dragon that only he and Kitty seemingly have an inside reference to, but also notices how Kitty may have an attraction to Gar. For those who aren’t aware, these two do become a pair at one point. Not sure what the status of the two are at this point of the run, though. While thinking out aloud, in Russian, Starfire is intrigued. She’d never heard Russian before so if you know of her character and how she learns languages, it should be obvious what she did to the strong man of the X-Men team. lol This got Kitty’s attention and she was not happy about it. Robin explained the situation, but not sure if Kitty heard it. lol Wonder if she’ll end up embracing Nightcrawler if he starts speaking in German.
After successfully getting back to New York, the professor uses his telekinesis to try to locate Jean, which was easier since Dark Phoenix’s defenses would be down as she would assume Xavier is dead. They determine their plan and use the chair to teleport back to the hideout of the enemy. They formulate a plan to destroy Darkseid’s device which is channeling Dark Phoenix’s power.
Once the groups get through some of his minions, they finally reach Darkseid, but now have to deal with Dark Phoenix. Changeling and Kitty are dealing with the machine while the others are dealing with Phoenix. Of course the team keeps trying to reach her and addressing her as “Jean”, but she insists that she is not, which Xavier determines while explaining everything to Raven. He tells her how Darkseid failed to gather all of her residual energy and how she is nothing but a vessel and Darkseid’s plan is to open up “Hellpits” around the planet, starting with New York City and at the moment, there’s a concert going on in Central Park.
Raven realizing what must be done to even have a chance against Dark Phoenix, she puts her feelings aside on the situation and fights her. Rachel has the one thing that Phoenix is vulnerable to, as she’s an empath and that was love. Combining Raven’s power with Xavier’s psi-wave, Raven used that ability to remove the hateful and rage-filled emotions Dark Phoenix had with all the love that the X-Men had for Jean, which leaves her feeling strangely. Meanwhile, the others are buying time.
This did help as well as the others distracted Darkseid. Dark Phoenix feels as if she’s losing control again and combines with Cyclops and while there, he explains Jean’s sacrifice. This distresses Dark Phoenix and she, while in Scott’s head, attacks Darkseid. After the smoke and such clears, both are gone. We see that her spirit has headed back to the Source.
At the end, the two groups are enjoying the fireworks and the summer concert in Central Park. They are going over all that had happened, but also were wondering how certain things occurred. Earlier on, Jean appeared to them and her parents. Since Dark Phoenix wasn’t really “Jean” who was that and how did she appear? What was she?
On the last page, it was kind of interesting seeing upcoming series to check out that were being put out by DC. All new and coming out in 1982. I just find stuff like that cool and makes me wonder if those runs were well received or not.
My thoughts
Man, what a story here. I liked it a lot! It was fun seeing both teams working together and getting an idea of the dynamics of each group. This is good introduction to these two sets of characters. I loved the interactions and the counterparts of each team. Cyclops and Robin are obvious parallels being the leaders. Wolverine would be Starfire’s counterpart. Raven and Storm, Cyborg and Colossus, Changeling and Kitty, etc. I also liked seeing Wolverine fighting against Deathstroke.
As mentioned at the beginning, I’m more familiar with the DC characters than I am with the Marvel ones. I’ve never read an X-Men’s comic or many Marvel comics. For Marvel, it’s mostly been cartoon series and movies. I wish I could read the Dark Phoenix arc in the comics as my only exposure has been the 1994 X-Men series’ adaptation of it. I’m not sure how well it was adapted so if you’ve read and seen it, please feel free to share how you felt about it in comparison to the comics.
The only real negative I have regarding this crossover, which is no fault of the comic itself, is the lack of knowledge one might have regarding one group or the other. It can get a bit confusing. For instance, Metron and Ravok I’d never heard of prior to this comic. Ravok turned out to be a throwaway character, but Metron was an established one.
I really wish we’d gotten some more crossovers here, though. It would’ve been nice to see these teams in particular from this era to meet up and work together again. Too bad it just wasn’t in the stars. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my review and thoughts on this issue. I’d definitely check it out, especially if you’re a fan of either team of characters during their 80s runs and before the nonsense (IMO) regarding most anything tied or connected to the New 52. Yeah…I’m a bit biased against all of that. ^^;
Now, as for why the planned sequel was scrapped was due to squabbling between the editors at the time between both companies. It’s sad, though, since the comic was apparently generally liked by fans of both series. Issue 2 was originally scheduled to be released sometime in late 1983. Marv Wolfman had received details from the X-Men’s writer (Claremont) on future storylines for him to write out scripts. Also during this time, George Perez (who I do know from this era) was brought on to draw another DC/Marvel Crossover series involving the Justice League and the Avengers, which was supposed to have been released in 1984, but there were disagreements as mentioned earlier from the editors of both companies. George Perez (whom I’m sure many DC fans know of) was even angry, apparently, over the killing of the JLA/Avengers crossover project which also led to the cancellation of Issue 2 of the Titans/X-Men crossover. Such a shame that they couldn’t agree on anything to get that project off of the ground. We can only imagine what the next story would’ve been like…
Mark's quick Thoughts-
Pretty cool story and it was cool to see what the lineups for the X-Men and Titans were back then. With Robin mentioning the Avengers so casually, this is one of those crossovers where the characters just... co-exist in the same world and have just never ran into each other until now. It's funny if you stop and think about it. The Justice League and Titans don't seem to care whenever Magneto or Juggernaut are wreaking havoc and likewise the Avengers and X-Men just chill whenever Trigon attacks the Earth.
Shame about there never being a sequel to this story. That Justice League and Avengers would eventually happen... but all the way til 2003.
Also we bought this comic from Hipcomic and somehow we misplaced it. As luck would have it, we found it... right after I bought a new copy. It's not all bad. This copy had several pages fall out in the middle (where the staples hold it together), so maybe the new copy coming in the mail will be in better condition?
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