Spoiler Comics Book Reviews: TALK BACK: The Greatest Team-Ups Ever

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Robot Overlord

It’s a big day here at Major Spoilers (more on that later), and it has us all talking about team-ups. Over the years, great heroes have teamed to dispatch the villain – Batman and Superman, Batman and Spider-Man, Batman and Spawn, Batman and FILL IN THE BLANK…. you get the idea.

We want to know what your favorite team-ups of all time are, and why?

Here’s your chance to go to town, and share your thoughts on the topic. The best, and only on the best, answer will get something from the growing Major Spoilers Prize Stash.

AAAANNNNNDDDDDDD… GO!

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Xybec Katta says:April 26, 2011 at 11:23 am

As my knowledge of comics of comics is extremely limited, I will have to go with something a little different. I choose Hasbro and Discovery Kids teaming up to create HUB. It has better shows for my kids during the day, and what Nick @ Night used to be at night. Any channel that can show me 80s GI Joe then 80s transformers and then 50s Batman is great.

Larry King says:April 26, 2011 at 11:27 am

I will have to say Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. There team-up changed the face of comics, and is a pillar to pretty much all we know now of Modern Comics. With the concepts these two generated over the years, many things were built, and still continue to thrive. Their influence wasn’t only felt at Marvel Comics, but those who read those comics, and influenced their points of view, and steered them in a way that wouldn’t have occured unless Stan and Jack had teamed up.

TaZ says:April 26, 2011 at 11:28 am

After all the years of Brave and the Bold, Marvel Team-up, World’s Finest, Action Comics and others that featured one or two-shot “dream teams” my favorites were anytime (pre-Crisis) that an Earth-1 and Earth-2 hero or team would team up. I never failed to pick up the annual JSA/JLA team-ups and the year that they combined the JLA/JSA and Faucette heroes I was in “alternate universe” heaven. It was interesting to see the heroes that developed on Earth-2 over the years and the “aging” (somewhat) of the Golden Age Heroes. The fact that in the JSA “their” Batman was REALLY dead and that Dick Grayson had taken his place but not his name in the hero pantheon was also interesting. It also led to one of the most god-awful composite Batman/Robin costumes ever drawn in one issue, never to be used again (Imagine the grey/blue bat-costume with no cowl, “Robin” domino mask, a “peaked” cape collar and an emblem that was the combination of the Batman and Robin logo. They would later go back to the red/orange/green costume that is still being used in the “new” Earth-2 Robin. There was the team-up that brought back the Seven Soliders of Victory with the twist at the end that the “Unknown Solider” that had sacrificed himself was none other than the one member of the team that was never “counted” as one of the seven, Wing the Crimson Avenger’s sidekick. Those team-ups where where so many of us Silver Age fans were able to learn about the Golden Age heroes in the days before easy access to comic shops and, of course, no internet.

Xybec Katta says:April 26, 2011 at 11:54 am

In gaming, you can go with Squaresoft and Nintendo or Square Enix and Disney. Both team-ups brought us new games that have been built upon since and are still considered must plays.
Super Mario RPG introduced a new kind of fighting mechanic and had a must see story. Kingdom Hearts brought us new ways to see the Disney Universe and mixed in plenty of Final Fantasy.

Matt S. says:April 26, 2011 at 11:55 am

Quite possibly my favorite “team-up” story ever? The JSA/JLA/All-Star Squadron/Infinity Inc. mega team up from the early 1980s that stretched through both the JLA & All-Star Squadron books. It was that team-up that 1st introduced me to the All-Stars and made me a HUGE fan of the Golden Age characters and Earth 2.

Kirby says:April 26, 2011 at 12:52 pm

The best team-ups include: Ostrander’s run of Suicide Squad, completly b-list villains brought into awesome. following off of that Gail Simone’s run of Secret Six, where Bane can become interesting. Giffen’s control of both JLA and JLE, again showing the strength of B-list heroes like Blue Beetle, Booster Godl, Elongated Man, Power Girl, etc.

Steven Allen says:April 26, 2011 at 12:56 pm

peanut butter and jelly :)

J Michael T says:April 26, 2011 at 1:16 pm

Hahaha! Awesome … my first thought was “chocolate and peanut butter”!

Jimmy says:April 26, 2011 at 1:40 pm

The greatest team-up of all time would have to be Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis.
You all know the story–Justice League had entered its dark, dreary Detroit days, doling out dismal stories with heroes that no one really cared about, like Vibe.
Then Keith Giffen–a former artist and sometime plotter sometime writer–got together with J.M. DeMatteis, who tended towards more transcendental and mystical stories like his Doctor Strange story “Into Shambhala” and something amazing was born.

Justice League started out strong from the first issue, with its “Wanna make somethin’ of it” cover, challenging the reader to challenge the creators over their choice of characters and the work. And the Justice League team had exactly the right mix of well-known characters (J’onn, Batman, Black Canary) along with some total curve-balls (Blue Beetle, Guy Gardner, eventually Booster). Giffen and DeMatteis really shone with these D-listers, fleshing them out and giving them life and characterizations that have lasted into the modern era. Even their work on the established characters has had impact–J’onn’s oreo addiction being an example.

Story-wise, Giffen and DeMatteis set into motion things which have impacted the modern DCU more than perhaps any other team with the exemption of Wolfman and Perez, (understandably–they brought us INTO the modern era with Crisis on Infinite Earths) and potentially Grant Morrison, but he certainly can’t be considered a team unless we are accepting the multiple personality disorder theory (or a rumored collaboration with Animal Man).

Giffen and DeMatteis created Maxwell Lord, the instigator for Infinite Crisis; the nation of Bialya, which has shown up repeatedly through the DCU (and the Queen Bee is said to be an upcoming villain in the Young Justice TV series), and of course the characterization of characters like Elongated Man and Sue Dibny, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Fire, Ice, Guy Gardner and many others who have stepped up and taken larger roles in the DCU. They did for a couple dozen characters what Chuck Dixon did for the Bat-family, growing and developing them into a sustainable force in the DCU.

Tovias says:April 26, 2011 at 1:43 pm

When I was a kid I had a very limited budget for comics. I generally chose World’s Finest because I was able to get more than one story in the comic and it would generally feature Batman, Superman and at least two or three other heroes. For this reason the Batman/Superman team-ups will always be foremost on any list of team-ups for me. Other than those two, I always enjoyed a good Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-up. Their personalities seemed to be so different and yet they seemed to be best friends.

Production-wise, any time Neal Adams and Denny O’Neil teamed up I thought I was in comic book heaven.

vistapa says:April 26, 2011 at 2:04 pm

for me the archie/punisher it’s a must read, not only for the ridiculous concept, but as a fun & entertain comic book

Oldcomicfan says:April 26, 2011 at 2:13 pm

It would have to be the current Superman Bat-Man comic series. Up until now, Team-Up stories were barely a step up from the old “Summer Fun” issues the comic publishers used to put out. Which were oversized issues filled with art and stories that weren’t part of continuity, usually drawn by the second stringers and written by their writers in training and edited by a lobotomized Alfred E. Newman. They usually mixed characters who didn’t even belong in the same universe and usually went like this. Heroes meet. Heroes beat the crap out of each other. Heroes realize it’s a mistake and join up to beat the real bad guys, [who were usually something the writers pulled out of their arses at the last moment and had nobody had ever heard from (before or since) even though they were such a threat to the universe that it took a team of heroes to barely defeat them]. Heroes go back to their own planet/universe/dimension and agree never to mention said cross-over ever again. And the old World’s Finest comic books were never all that great. Batman and Superman never mixed well. But the new World’s Finest trade paperback line tells major stories that influence continuity, and have situations where having Blatman and Stuporman teaming up actually make sense.

In second place would be the old Green Lantern/Green Arrow team up. Which was actually pretty good when it first started out.

clubberlang6 says:April 26, 2011 at 2:59 pm

I would have to say Dungeons and Dragons and the Apple IIc computer (pool of radiance)!!!!!

lordrandy says:April 26, 2011 at 4:34 pm

I remember some bad ass marvel team up/ two in one cross overs. Spidy and Ben Grim are like pizza and beer to me. Also the first comic i bought was invaders/ FF cross over( FF annual #four maybe) Ben had his exo-suit back then. Nuff said….

brainypirate says:April 26, 2011 at 4:37 pm

Dick Giordano and any drawing instrument

Dave Cockrum and the Legion of Super-Heroes

chocolate chips and oatmeal cookies

Russ Catt says:April 26, 2011 at 4:47 pm

I’m rather fond of the Trenchcoat Brigade from DC’s Vertigo Line.
John Constantine, Phantom Stranger, Doctor Occult and Mr. E make a pretty awesome combo.

brenton8090 says:April 26, 2011 at 5:36 pm

Seabear and Grizzly Shark! No joke! One of my favorite comics ev-ah!

Nick S. says:April 26, 2011 at 8:22 pm

In literature: Sherlock Holmes and John Watson.
In comics: Dream and Delirium in the ‘Brief Lives’ arc of ‘Sandman.’
In real life: Either Voltaire and Emilie du Chatalet or Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.

James says:April 26, 2011 at 8:27 pm

Kamandi and Batman, Brave and the Bold #120 (July 1975).

MechanisticMoth says:April 26, 2011 at 9:09 pm

Nothing fills me up with as much joy as seeing Usagi Yojimbo grace the page with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Here are two franchises that mesh so well with one another, and has been shown to work not only in the comics but also both television series. It’s the sort of team up where the creators are on an equal footing with one another, and, best of all, it comes out of friendship. The guys at Mirage have always been friends with Stan Sakai, and that really shows itself on the page. I mean really, Samurai Rabbit and Ninja Turtles… it’s a match made in heaven.

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