Saturday, February 16, 2019

Comics Lust 2/16/2019

Welcome back, Donist World Denizens! For those of you new to our site, I’m Donist, and I am joined by Donist World CFO the Reverse Obie* (my friends’ Boston terrier whose fur recently swapped colors) and by our marketing director/administrative assistant/my valentine. Alrighty, the 30-Day Real Food challenge is over and I have had tacos with chips at Corazón Cocina and beer at the Garden; all is right in the world once again. Now that things are back in order and my puppy executive team and I are back to business as usual and armed with better dietary knowledge, we can commence maintaining our status as a Fortune 320,000 company…after a quick nap. Anyhow, be kind to each other, mind your health and sanity, treat your friends to some tacos, keep your pets safe, cherish the ones you love, hydrate, and read some great comics. Thank you for reading!


*Obie, through his dabbling in arcane magiks mixed with ancient corrupt business practices, has had not just the colors of his fur switched, but a complete overhaul of his work ethic as well…I think I’m kinda okay with the mishap.


Not sure what “Comics Lust” is about? Take a look at the Introduction to “Comics Lust” post or take a look at the static “Comics Lust Table of Contents” page to jump to a topic.

Comics Lust

Chocolate and Peanut Butter: Cross-Company Crossovers (Part 3)



I have no idea what I’m about to get myself into, but for this installment, I want to look at cross-company crossovers that mostly focus on the Dark Knight himself, Batman. I’m aware that this will probably need to be a multiparter within a multiparter as everyone who’s anyone has teamed with The Bat at some time or another. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll start with some of my favorites as well as others that touch on some well-known darlings from the ’80s: aliens, and predators, and terminators, oh my!


Batman Grendel #1–2

(Everythinged by Matt Wagner, originally published in 1993 by DC Comics and Dark Horse)
Oh, man, it has been far too long since I read this awesome crossover. Everyone knows my deep love of Wagner’s Grendel comics (and Mage, as well), so when you have the creator of the infamous crime boss Grendel training his electrified fork upon Gotham’s dark knight, there was no way I could let this one slip by. Here you have billionaire playboys Hunter Rose and Bruce Wayne meeting for the first time as their alter egos clash at night in some truly spectacular fight sequences mixed with noir intrigue. Fans of either character—or both, like me—simply must read this miniseries, especially before diving into the follow-up…


Batman Grendel II #1–2

(Everythinged by Matt Wagner, originally published in 1996 by DC Comics and Dark Horse)
Batman squares off against Grendel once again, only this is a different incarnation known as Grendel Prime, an unstoppable and ruthless killer determined to locate the skull of Hunter Rose. Gorgeous Art Deco style art by Wagner and a compelling as hell story have me chomping at the bit to dive back in. A trade collecting both parts exists, but it unfortunately looks to be out of print. Whether you read in issues or trade, just be sure you get yourself caught up.


Batman Hellboy Starman #1–2

(Written by James Robinson, illustrated by Mike Mignola, originally published in 1999 by DC Comics and Darkhorse)
This one completely snuck past me way back when which is shocking as I love Robinson’s Starman series. Jack and Ted Knight, Batman and Hellboy have to combine sorcery with science to stop a bunch Nazi scum from summoning an evil elder god? Heck. Yeah. So much fun! The only way to get these two issues collected is by finding either the Hellboy: Masks and Monsters collection or the Starman Omnibus Volume 4 or the DC Comics/Dark Horse Comics: Justice League Volume 1 (more on this one later).


Batman and Judge Dredd

I had always been aware of Judge Dredd and the 2000 AD publisher, especially during the ’80s, it’s just that my allowance was limited and there were a ton of other comics vying for my dollars. Then, in 1991, Batman had a one-shot that caught my attention as did a string of other books that followed:


Now, admittedly, I’ve only read the first half of these fine books, but thankfully there is a readily available trade called Batman/Judge Dredd Collection that includes all four of the above, with the bonus Lobo/Judge Dredd: Psycho Biker (written by John Wagner and Alan Grant, illustrated by Val Semeiks and John Dell, originally published in 1995 by DC Comics) included. Looks like I’ll be picking up this collection in the near future.


Aliens, Predators, and Terminators Meet DC

Okay, these are all uncharted waters for this here Donist, which is why I decided to take a closer look in the first place. Time to add to my own reading list, let’s see what we find:

  • Batman Versus Predator #1–3 (Written by Dave Gibbons, illustrated by Andy Kubert and Adam Kubert, originally published in 1992 by DC Comics and Dark Horse)
  • Batman Versus Predator II: Bloodmatch #1–4 (Written by Doug Moench, illustrated by Paul Gulacy and Terry Austin, originally published in 1994 by DC Comics and Dark Horse)
  • Superman Aliens #1–3 (Written by Dan Jurgens, illustrated by Dan Jurgens and Kevin Nowlan, originally published in 1995 by DC Comics and Dark Horse) This looks pretty dang cool to me!
  • Batman Versus Predator III: Blood Ties #1–4 (Written by Chuck Dixon, illustrated by Rodolfo Damaggio and Robert Campanella, originally published in 1997 by DC Comics and Dark Horse)
  • Batman Aliens #1–2 (Written by Ron Marz, illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, originally published in 1997 by DC Comics and Dark Horse). Wrightson on art?!?! How the hell did I miss this?!
  • Superman Versus the Terminator: Fight for the Future #1–4 (Written by Alan Grant, illustrated by Steve Pugh, originally published in 1999 by DC Comics and Dark Horse) Okay, given the creators, I totally want to check this out.
  • Superman vs. Predator #1–3 (Written by David Michelinie, illustrated by Alex Maleev, originally published in 2000 by DC Comics and Dark Horse)
  • Green Lantern Versus Aliens #1–4 (Written by Ron Marz, illustrated by Rick Leonardi and Mike Perkins, originally published in 2000 by DC Comics and Dark Horse) Yeah, I really want to check this one out!

Wow. This was a more extensive list than I initially thought it would be, but the good thing is that there are certain to be some real gems in there and they all look to be quite fun. Now, reading them in collected formats appears to be somewhat difficult in that each series has its own trade, but luckily you can read them all—with some extras—in these five collections:


Holy cow, I have a bunch of stuff to track down so I can get my read on! See you next week.



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Posted by Don McMillan at 2:48 PM
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