Comments on: The Top 25 Comic Book Battles Are Up! Reactions?

By: Shane

Shane — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:27:14 +0000

I think this whole exercise was a lot of fun, and thanks to Brian for putting it together. I do empathise with the commenters who keep seeing other battles they would have included if they'd thought of it, but I guess with 70+ years of comics to chose from (and thats just the US ones theres a lot of great british stuff as well) then we're spoiled for choice. It would be fun however to do this again next year and see how much the top 10 would change, which I believe it would do.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:22:59 +0000

Ah yes - I'd have picked that nit myself if I'd read the write-up properly

By: Vincent Murphy

Vincent Murphy — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:07:29 +0000

Another nit about The Dark Knight: "In this book, things take a turn for the worse for Batman in terms of public support when he finally kills the Joker while all of America is following the situation."

Batman doesn't kill the Joker. The Joker kills himself.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:41:22 +0000

Well, if someone said â€œSupergirl vs. Anti-Monitorâ€ or â€œFlash vs. Anti-Monitor,â€ I counted them separately, but if someone said â€œAll the DC superheroes vs. Anti-Monitorâ€ or â€œGolden-Age Superman and a lot of DC superheroes vs. the Anti-Monitor,â€ I lumped it into a general â€œDC superheroes vs. Anti-Monitorâ€ vote.

If people vote like that without specifying then that's all you can do. (unless you fancy taking on the job of chasing them all down and asking them which battle they meant - which I certainly wouldn't)

By: fourthworlder

fourthworlder — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 07:16:57 +0000

Nice to see a couple of mentions of the awesome Terrible Turpin.

1 - Steppenwolf, Darkseid and Apokolips vs. Izaya and New Genesisâ€“ New Gods 7
2 - FF and Daredevil vs. Doctor Doom â€“ FF 39/40
3 - Orion vs. Kalibak vs. Terrible Turpin â€“ New Gods 8
4 - Avengers vs. Michael, the Enemy/Korvac â€“ Avengers 177
5 - Thor vs. Pluto â€“ Thor 130
6 - Avengers vs. Defenders â€“ 1973
7 - Shang-Chi vs. Shen Kuei, the Cat â€“ Master of Kung Fu 38/39
8 - Legion of Super-Heroes vs. the Fatal Five â€“ Adventure 366
9 - Dream vs. John Dee â€“ Sandman 6/7
10 - Wedding of Reed and Sue brawl â€“ FF Annual 3

11 - Avengers vs. Egghead, Henry Pym and the Masters of Evil - Avengers somewhere in 1982 or so
12 - Orion and Lightray vs. the Deep Six - New Gods 6
13 - We3 vs. We4
14 - Swamp Thing vs. Arcane - Swamp Thing 29-31
15 - Batman vs. Superman - Dark Knight 4

By: David

David — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:15:26 +0000

"And so you demonstrate that you have never read it."
Did you read all my posts in this thread beforehand?

By: I AM FeAR

I AM FeAR — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:14:55 +0000

Well, here's my dump. Only the Kingdom Come fight made the top25, but then I tried to go outside the norm.
Many of my runner-ups did make the list tho. Lobo vs Santa not ranking is probably the most surprising one to me.

1-Marshal Law vs Public Spirit

2-Lobo vs Santa Claus

3-Hulk vs Abomination (Hulk #25)

4-Wolverine vs the Gorgon (Wolverine #30-31)

5-Nextwave vs Beyond Corporation (#9-12)

6-Superman vs Shazam (Kingdom Come)

7-Mr Sensitive vs Iron-Man/naked Guy Smith vs naked Tony Stark (X-Statix #24)

8-SonGoku vs Frieza (gotta have a manga one)

9-New Warriors vs Terrax (New warriors #16-17)

10-Daredevil/Elektra/Bullseye (Elektra Lives Again)

By: Todd Lawrence

Todd Lawrence — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:58:23 +0000

I loved that Thing/Champion battle in MTIO Annual, but we were allowed only ten battles, man!

Seeing a lot of the stuff you guys had picked makes me wish that we could have voted for more (25?). Any chance that we could see the next 25 (or even 75) battles, even if it's just done as articles on this blog?

By: Scott MacIver

Scott MacIver — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:12:42 +0000

The one that I'm still really shocked about is the lack of Thing/Champion in that Marvel Two in one Annual. I can only guess that not enough people have read it.

By: GatchamanUK

GatchamanUK — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:40:03 +0000

Richard hit the nail on the head with his first suggestion.... Battle for the Baxter Building. The rest of the FF hang back and watch Ben take every nutty weapon and scornful insult that Doom throws at him. He should just stay down, but he's too plain stupid to know when he's beat. He then shatters Dooms gauntlets with his bare hands (wouldja expect him to wear kid gloves??). What does Doom feel? HUMILIATION!!!

'Nuff said

By: Ethan Shuster

Ethan Shuster — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:53:57 +0000

It's time to come clean and reveal a shocking secret:

I don't like The Dark Knight Returns.

There. I said it.

By: Pedro BouÃ§a

Pedro BouÃ§a — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:11:31 +0000

I'm sad that John Byrne is so unpopular nowadays that he made the list just by the Dark Phoenix Saga fame. The Avengers vs. Nefaria battle he drew on the 70s is my fave superhero slugfest ever! He drew many other memorable battles, though, and has a knack to show wanton destruction that few other comic artists can match.

Also, Walt Simonson not being on the list is just absurd. No one can show the raw power of godlike beings in battle as well as he does! He did the very best Orion vs. Darkseid battle (one of my votes), but any other of his legendary battles could have been on the list.

But the greatest injustice is the paucity of Jack Kirby. Only two battles?!? What's wrong with you, people?

Of the ones I voted for, only made it the Superman/Batman battle on DKR, the Infinity Gauntlet and the Avengers vs. Michael battle, so maybe my tastes are way too old-fashiioned.

Best,
Hunter (Pedro BouÃ§a)

By: Graeme White

Graeme White — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:37:23 +0000

Deathstroke premiered before Deadpool.

By: Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:04:46 +0000

Well, if someone said "Supergirl vs. Anti-Monitor" or "Flash vs. Anti-Monitor," I counted them separately, but if someone said "All the DC superheroes vs. Anti-Monitor" or "Golden-Age Superman and a lot of DC superheroes vs. the Anti-Monitor," I lumped it into a general "DC superheroes vs. Anti-Monitor" vote.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:15:04 +0000

Those fights were separated by a couple of issues in the same series. The Wolverine fights were separated by ten years and even different comic book titles

Fair point - I guess you have to draw the line somewhere. I guess it's just that the fight in CoIE #7 is an all time classic that made people actually care that Supergirl (who hardly anyone actually liked) died, whereas CoIE #12 is an over the top replay of "we've beaten him" "no we haven't" "now we have" "no we haven't" "now we have" "no we haven't" "now we have" over and over to unintentional comedy effect.

By: Mallfunction

Mallfunction — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:12:12 +0000

Don't agree with the top 3. X-Men Vs Maurauders should be No 1 and Infinity Crusade No 2. The deathstroke part was pretty funny though. The whole "Jla" Defeated by a Deadpool wannabee.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:11:51 +0000

Damn - I've just realised I forgot the fight between Batman and the leader of Suicide Squad (Rick Flagg??) in that Justice League/Suicide Squad crossover. That was great. The problem was the whole issue was a battle and the rest of it wasn't so good.

Oh and I forgot to say - I liked the Deathstroke vs JLA fight (though taking out The Flash was a bit unconvincing) but it didn't make my final list.

Oh and as everyone else is doing... List-dump (the number in brackets is where they placed):

1 - Batman vs Superman in The Dark Knight Returns (1)
2 - Batman vs Swat team in Batman Year One
3 - Batman vs Guy Gardner in Justice League (16)
4 - Rorshach vs Prison in Watchmen
5 - Jesse vs Cassady in Preacher
6 - Miracleman vs Kid Miracleman (4)
7 - The Ultimates vs The Hulk in The Ultimates. (7)
8 - Captain America vs Hank Pym in The Ultimates
9 - Rorshach vs Police in Watchmen
10 - Green Arrow and Atom vs Darkseid in Rock of Ages

By: Random Stranger

Random Stranger — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:05:23 +0000

"The three fights youâ€™ve listed are good but Darkseid has omega beams and having normal humans go up against god like characters seems too silly to put them on my list."

And so you demonstrate that you have never read it.

By: David

David — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:17:33 +0000

"Off-hand Simonsonâ€™s Darkseid vs. Orion has more impact, better fight choreography, and genuine emotional resonance than Superman vs. Doomsday. Kirbyâ€™s Turpin vs. Kalibak in New Gods is also brutal and again, has real emotional power. Same thing with the LOSH vs. LOSV that climaxes with Projectra killing Nemesis Kid with her bare hands. All three of those are DC fights that Iâ€™d rank well above Superman vs. Doomsday, which I dislike for many of the reasons people have listed. If youâ€™ve read all three of those examples and still think the Doomsday fight is the best, then thatâ€™s your opinion, but if you havenâ€™t read the fights Iâ€™ve mentioned yet, well you have some good reading ahead of you that might make you realize where us people who criticizing that fight are coming."
The three fights you've listed are good but Darkseid has omega beams and having normal humans go up against god like characters seems too silly to put them on my list.

By: Jacob T. Levy

Jacob T. Levy — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:01:10 +0000

Odd that I can't think of any one Milestone fight that stands out, even though the action and battle sequences in Icon, Static, Shadow Cabinet, and Blood Syndicate were uniformly terrific. Static vs Tarmac, Icon vs Holocaust, Icon vs Blood Syndicate, and Superman vs Blood Syndicate all leap to mind., but none strikes me as being For The Ages-- just good, solid, consistent superheroics. Holocaust vs Tech-9 was great as a character piece, and 'brutal' to use the word du jour, but a little lacking in interest purely as a fight scene (part of what was often so good about Milestone fights was the interesting and varied uses of powers, whereas Holocaust and Tech-9 just blast away at each other for a while).