As I recall, that same point definitely occurred to me, with regard to Wolverine in particular, when I first read that graphic novel after finding it very cheaply at a sale. (After reading it, I understood why it only cost me something like 3 bucks.)

It would be particularly hypocritical of Wolverine to try to hunt down a more clean-living hero like Spidey just because he had allegedly killed a bunch of guys who were, in fact, professional criminals themselves. However, since Wolverine only got one cameo on a "montage" page, with no dialogue, I didn't actually learn exactly what his rationale was for trying to punish Spidey for (supposedly) doing much the same sort of thing that Wolvie has done on many previous occasions when fighting gangsters in Madripoor, or ninjas in Hong Kong, or whatever.

The thing is it makes many of these heroes just look rock f'ing stupid. What, the worlds greatest detective can't deduce that Superman is not his enemy? That they ultimately have the exact same goal? Also, why the hell does Batman need to beat Superman in the first place. Are Batman writers and fans in such dire need to prove the character that they can only do so if he has total victory over any and all other heroes? Sorry but all the prep time, Kryptonite, darkness, and one liners in the world doesn't negate the fact that this is a being with heat vision and superpowers among his arsenal of powers.

Here's a wild way out wacky concept, how about having great heroes working together (GASP! protecting humanity against a common threat and kicking ass as only they can?

So how does it count when some (or all) of one side of the Slugfest figures the whole thing is just a smoke screen, but some (or all) of the other side actually thinks the life of a former teammate is at stake if they don’t kick the butts of those holier-than-thou JLAers?

That was meant to be covered by my other category suggestion, Zen Sadism, where a hero who does know better attacks another one who doesn't in order to "test them" or to achieve some other goal, after which the attacker explains all to the attackee as if it justified the initial assault. As I noted,it's named for the most typical setting in which it occurs, the Zen master who attacks the martial arts student as a final test. Superteams also sometimes use this as an initiation stunt -- and even weirder, as a recruitment tool! It's usually not successful in those con texts for obviousreasons.

It's a point. A case where the heroes are angry at each other -- and agree to fight it out -- but they aren't actually trying to kill each other, for instance -- might not fit under the umbrella of "good clean fun."

Maybe I should have given "Grudge Match" its own listing? Examples that have been featured on covers include "Green Lantern #3" from 1990 (with Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner slugging it out), and another story that came along a bit later, a boxing match between Guy Gardner and Blue Beetle in "Justice League International #52."

Comics.org doesn't seem to be working, so I can't quickly provide URLs to nice big cover scans.

Incidentally: The first example ended up with Hal winning, but then he and Guy were both tossed in jail for disturbing the peace in a small town. (They had taken off their rings to make it an old-fashioned, bare-knuckle, man-to-man confrontation. Naturally, a couple of other guys stole the rings during all the commotion.)

The second example was done in a boxing ring, with both guys wearing gloves and supposed to play strictly according to the rules of the sport, with General Glory as the referee. (Guy lost his temper as he started getting the worst of it, hit Beetle in the back between rounds, and then started kicking him while he was down, all of which was absolutely against the rules in what was supposed to be a sportsmanlike contest. General Glory finally had to break it up when he realized Guy had gone berserk.)

Mullon said: "This makes me miss the top 5 lists that were here a while back. They were a lot less cynical."

I don't like to think I've been overcome by cynicism. I do get frustrated by Bad Writing, but my enjoyment of Good Storytelling in Superhero Comics remains vast!

"Fantastic Four #357," for instance, did not qualify as "Good Storytelling" by any stretch of the imagination, and I expressed my feelings accordingly. That doesn't mean I've gotten so cynical that I assume every Hero-Versus-Hero Slugfest on a cover will be advertising an equally flimsy plot. I still have my fair share of optimism, and I keep hoping for good storytelling with reasonably honest cover illustrations.

In case you weren't clear on this: Some of the stories I cited as examples in this Numbered Lists were stories that I enjoyed immensely! ("The Judas Contract" springs to mind -- as a schoolboy, I was buying those issues each month as they came out.)

Let's find out if I remember how to put quotations in comments on here . . .

Assuming it works, here's my response:

I guess there's a case to be made that a carefully-staged fight between friends (or polite acquaintances) that is meant to look very much like a real no-holds-barred grudge match could fall into a separate category from the friendly sort of sparring session that I labeled as "Good Clean Fun." It occurs to me that the fighting between the JLA and the Titans (in the three-part "JLA/Titans" mini by Devin Grayson that preceded her run on a newly launched "Titans" title) was an ambiguous situation.

The putative argument was over whether whatever was left of Cyborg's personality deserved to be kept alive when the giant spaceship thingie he was in was threatening -- and already damaging -- the entire Earth. Various members of the two teams (including reservists who hadn't really been Titans in years) starting expressing their differing opinions violently. After several pages of Hero-Versus-Hero Slugfest, someone (Batman?) said something that revealed that at least some of the JLA members who'd been fighting had only been doing so as part of a secret strategy to create a very noisy diversion to cover something else entirely. Nightwing hadn't known that; I'm not sure any of the Titans had (although you'd think that one or two of the more psychically gifted ones, such as Raven, might have sensed something fishy going on.)

The JLA/Titans Slugfest certainly was reflected on the covers of the mini.

So how does it count when some (or all) of one side of the Slugfest figures the whole thing is just a smoke screen, but some (or all) of the other side actually thinks the life of a former teammate is at stake if they don't kick the butts of those holier-than-thou JLAers?

There *must* have been a Wolverine & Hulk fight like that, at some point.

I think either Morrison or Whedon wrote Wolverine & Cyclops that way in an issue, too.

http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=55740&zoom=4

And Spider-Man/Kingpin was really really bad.

Mm. It's especially goofy because you can make something of a case for the other heroes' behaviour. In a universe where mind-control is a literal moment-to-moment threat, it well might've seemed the better part of caution to take Spidey in first and ask questions later.

Unfortunately, from Lorendiac's article, it appears our Stan didn't take even that flimsy out - the other heroes clearly think Spidey's simply decided to start shooting people. Presumably because he hates Mondays. Or something.