i agree it was really great, i so loved each team reactions to the other world, cap calling the jla a fascist team who pass themselves as gods, or flash reaction against a typical marvel angry anti mutant mob
…what the heck was the Ultimate Nullifer doing on Monster Island? Did someone put it there to be guarded? Why doesn’t Watch just shove it in his bra or something?
I didn’t see Superman getting up from hammer time. All I saw was his leg sticking out of a hole in the side of a building. Looked pretty out of it to me. For all we know, Thor knocked his leg off 
And why are Cap and Supesacting so “let’s get 'em!” all of a sudden. I thought it was strangely out of character for both of them. Luckily so did Scarlet Witch and Plastic Man, so apparently something is up.
Oh yeah, forgot about Manhunter. Sorry about that. Scarlet Witch is in the Avengers team too.
One thing I didn’t like is that they said the citizens of Latveria worship Doctor Doom as leader out of fear. That’s never the way it’s been portrayed. Latverians love Doom. They see him as a protector and provider. And he loves his people. If anyone were to harm his citizens, there would be some serious hell to pay.
My favorite part was when Hawkeye said, “Oh, look–the Welcome Wagon.”
“Oh, now I remember–they’re a bunch of Squadron Supreme wannabes!”
Heh. I think we ALL saw that line coming, but it’s still funny.
At the middle far left of the very last page, one of the viewing screens has Superman getting out of the hole. It’s right by the reaction shots of Vision, Green Lantern, Hawkeye, Wonder Woman, and Captain America.
Also, I was wrong about the Martian Manhunter not being there when the JLA confronted the Avengers.
This didn’t work when I tried a spoiler box–screwed up the coding. So…
**
SPOILER
SPACE
SKIP THIS POST
IF YOU DON’T WANT
TO READ SPOILERS!**
The Artifacts–
[ul]
[li]The Green Bell of Uthool, the Silver Wheel of Nyorlath, and the Red Jar of Calythos can free three hugely powerful demons (they’ve been wimped out in recent years, but they should be able to swat Mephisto and/or Dormammu aside like the insects they are.) named Abengazer, Ghast and Rath. To give you an idea of their power level, the three Demons were able to easily trash the Earth-1 JLA, the JSA, the Legion of Super-Heroes AND Mordru. With a gesture or two. [/li]
[li]The Medusa Mask can control the emotions of people on a planetary scale. And would explain Superman and Cap’s odd behavior quite nicely, wouldn’t it? In the Grant Morrison run of Animal Man, it’s also apparently a pre-Crisis artifact and can bring back pre-Crisis characters. But that’s never been referenced since. (Factoid: Psycho Pirate, who owns the Medusa mask is one of the only two or three people who survived the Crisis and isn’t a “Post-Crisis version of a Pre-Crisis character”. He is the Earth-One version.)[/li]
[li]Spear of Destiny–Major magical artifact that can cancel out super-powers (IIRC, it had to be used in conjuction with the Holy Grail to do this–Tojo had it), or mind-control people with super-powers or…well generally screw with people with mind-control powers. In either case, it was used by Hitler to keep super-types out of Europe. It can also summon Valkyries. [/li]
[li]The Orb of Ra–Turns people into Metamorpho-type creatures (Chimera). Also allows the weilder to transmute elements as well. May have other powers.[/li]
[li]The Power Battery–Depends on which version. Based on the design, it’s not the Alan Scott version (which is completely different) and it’s probably not the Hal Jordan version. Thus, if it’s the Kyle version, it sucks energy directly from the Guardians and allows Kyle’s ring to be recharged. Some versions allow the wielder to actually use it like the ring, some versions can just be used to blast energy (but without allowing the energy to be turned into giant boxing gloves) and some versions don’t do nuthin’ except recharge the ring.[/li]
[li]The Eternity Book–#1) It’s NOT the same book as Destiny’s Book (from the Endless). Note the Purple/Gold/Orange motif? Destiny’s book is brown.[/li]
#2) It’s tied in with Etrigan/Merlin/etc. The only appearance I’m aware of is in the Demon story in Detective around 480 or so (482-486?). There, it granted the person holding it all sorts of mystic powers (“All the powers of Merlin” --approx quote). IE, Hold it and POOF–you’re instantly Dr Strange’s equal. Others have told me that the book does more than just that, that it’s like Glinda’s book in that it records anything/everything that happens. But it also allows you to edit the text…and the editing will affect the real world. I don’t remember a story where this appeared.
[li]The Wand of Watoomb—Mondo Mystic Artifact that Dr. Strange and Spidey (who usually gets involved when the Wand is called into play) have to safeguard against a doofy-looking bad guy who wants it for nefarious purposes. It’s got high-level, poorly defined powers[sup]tm[/sup][/li]
[li]The Ultimate Nullifier–Annhiliates anything you think of when you use it. Up to, and including, the entire universe. It also has the nasty side-effect of anhilating the user. (“That’s not a bug, it’s a feature!”)[/li]
[li]The Infinity Gems–Six bits of an ancient god of some sort. Put 'em together and you essentially become God. Or not, depending on how Eternity feels about it. But even individually they have galaxy-wide effect radiuses.[/li]
[li]The Cosmic Cube–Hold it in your hand and wish. Your wish will come true. ANY wish. Even “I wish I was God”. Has the nasty side effect (which has been demonstrated EVERY time it’s been used but has never been spoken) that it also makes the user stupid so they make dumb wishes or bad mistakes that they otherwise normally wouldn’t.[/li]
[li]The Evil Eye–Green Lantern Battery level power source. It has a zap-bolt that would easily knock Darkseid on his ass. Dormammu and Loki used it to try to merge the Dark Dimension with Earth once. Which also kind of ties into what’s happening with the DC and Marvel universes, don’t it?[/li]
[li]The Cask of Ancient Winters–Holds the Fimbulwinter in check. If it’s opened, the Earth gets a global blizzard, which is nasty of course, but it also triggers Ragnarok…which is much worse. [/li][/ul]
And the Grandmaster is lying or wrong. Of the two sets chosen (and if they’re going for raw power alone, the DC choices are wrong…but I don’t think that’s the point) the Marvel artifacts are far more powerful.
That said, I loved this book. The scene where Flash vibrates across to the Marvelverse made me feel like I felt when I was 12 years old and discovered Earth Two and the Legion in JLA 147. Kurt has really evoked a sensawonda in this book and the stunning art by Perez (even if I hate his Scarlet Witch costume) only helped. Best book of the year…until #2 comes out!
**
END SPOILERS**
Fenris
I suddenly thought of Jennifer Love Hewitt in an Emma Peel catsuit.
A nitpick: Thor’s hammer is not comparable to a tactical nuke. It’s comparable to a strategic nuke, since Marvel describes both of those weapons as being approximately what it takes to put a dent in a true adamantium rod.
And if Mjollnir’s magic power is the ability to hit really hard, and Supes is just as vulnerable to magic as the next guy, then it stands to reason that Supes would be hit really hard by the hammer. What’s so inconsistent about that?
Nitpick 2-
True adamantium can’t be dented. The end.
If it was dented, bent or otherwise damaged by physical means*, it was um…the other kind of adamantium.
And point of fact, in it’s first appearance in Avengers #65/6 (?), we saw Thor try to dent it, and fail.
*Molecular Re-arraingers aren’t physical for these purposes. I’m talking force here.
Got it, mostly to see how my boys in JLA held up.
Very cool. I retract my tentative objection to the Thor scene.
See, I’ve heard fanboys in the past state that since Thor’s powers are magical in nature, his hammer’s strike would bypass Supes’ invulnerability completely, instead of just hitting him harder than a hammer has any earthly business doing, putting him down for the count in one blow, and that’s just not how Supes’ magic vulnerability works. Thor may be able to give Supes a beatdown with that thing, but no moreso than (for example) Doomsday, or the Hulk, or any other non-mystical thing that hits really, really hard.
Well, he got a sucker punch in, but now that the League is aware that these fools aren’t fooling around, I expect to see mass caranage.
Approximate quote, because I’m too lazy to go get it:
Pietro: Wanda, they have a super-speedster here that has a whole museum dedicated to him. A whole museum!"
In general I’m really enjoying the exploited differences between the way heroes are treated in the two universes – and like another poster, man, I feel like I’m 12 again. That must be why I read these things – for moments like this.
And here I am!!!
Oh…sorry. I misheard you.
Gotta agree though. I think Thor has reeeeeeeally pissed off the JLA. If he’d hit Guy Gardner, no biggie. But this is Supes. EVERYbody loves Superman. Still, I think Thor can take him. Call down some mystical lightning. Worked for “Shazam” (yes I know that’s not his name.)
Yes. That’s “Captain Shazam” to you, fella.
Exept that Thor doesn’t do mystical lightning. He can cause the storms to gather and lightning to strike, but the magic is his control, not the lightning itself.
Lok
Wait, wait, wait…I’ve seen adamantium dented twice. Once was in Secret Wars #12, where the Hulk was p.o.'d enough at Ultron that he was able to give him a minor ding in the leg. The second time…and I’m cheating here…was in the recent Thor/Iron Man/Avengers crossover where Thor dented Cap’s shield with his hammer. (Yeah, yeah, there’s a dispute over whether Cap’s shield is adamantium, vibranium, or some combo of the two. I still saw a dent. Nyah.)
No more spoiler boxes for issue 1; if you haven’d decided by now whether or not you want to buy it, you’re in the wrong thread.
The Speed Force doesn’t work in the Marvel U.? Maybe. Or maybe someone on that side of the divide has the Spear of Destiny and is trying it out…
It’s interesting that the Marvel heroes for the most part have “self-contained” powers: Cap’s serum, Vision’s an android, ect. Even Thor will be Thor wherever you go. Jack of Hearts I don’t recognize, and I’m not sure about Triathalon, but it seems that for the most part the Marvel heroes don’t have to worry about losing their powers while they’re away from home, while Flash and Green Lantern, at least, would. Kinda tips the scales, no?
I believe Thor may derive some of his power from people that believe in him. That may just be Earth X continuity though.
Y’mean I’m not the only one reading Earth X? Hot damn!
Nope. That’s “Adamantium 2”…or “False Adamanitum” or somesuch (Note: I just looked—it’s “Secondary Adamantium”). There was a 4 part story-arc where it was point blank said in print and in the story that (paraphrased) “If it dents, breaks, etc” it’s not “True Adamantium.” *
And Cap’s shield isn’t adamantium. Couldn’t have been. Adamantium was invented (we saw Dr. Myron MacLain inventing it) in Avengers #66-68 ish circa 1967. Cap’s shield was made in the 1940s. Per a fairly recent story (roughly Avengers (current series) 20-24, plus a backup story in an Annual) Adamantium was invented in an effort to duplicate the metalurgiacal accident that created Cap’s shield (which is a steel/vibranium mix).
If you want, I can go to the usenet and dig up the specific quotes by Busiek where he discusses this at length in addition to the stories quoted above.
Busiek sez (in essense and I agree) that the whole damn point of adamantium is that it can’t be dented/broken/bent. If it can be at the whim of a writer trying to show how tough his or her character is, then what’s the point? And that’s what was happening: characters were regularly denting or breaking the stuff just to show how tuff they were…which is fine, but it ruins the story use of the metal, which, by definition is unbreakable.
Fenris, Ubergeek.
*From a faq I found,