how about JMS’s Thor run mentioning that not even a god can make people forget love, poking fun at his own ejection from ASM?

I see a pattern here.
There seems to be messages from DC having fun of DC, Marvel of Mrvel or Marvel of DC.
I wonder if there are any from DC about something in Marvel… difficult DC has so much more class these days.
Last but not least, the Deadpool cover with the rings was a big mettamesage (another Marvel for DC by the way)

Brian,
if you got time, try and take a look at Starlin’s last and short-lived run on “Thanos”. When facing Galactus, Thanos seems to talk about something else entirely… namely, US foreign policy. I always wondered whether his evidently less-than-patriotic speech was the actual reason he was soon after replaced by Marvel.
Please let me know if you find out.
Best.

One of the most META reference comics was the issues of E-MAN (First comics) where the whole “X-Men – death of Phoenix” stories were lampooned.
“DARK ALBATROSS”

There was a riff on Marvel offices as well, with characters who were also direct “homages” (read : SLAMS) of Stan Lee, Jim Shooter, John Byrne and Chris Claremont.
Classic stuff!

Similar character assassinations (in a META sense) were also to be found in the KIrby-penned “Funky Flashman and RoyBoy” – in various DC comics (Mr Miracle? iirc).

I wonder if there are any from DC about something in Marvel.

How about the Superman/Batman Annual where the Earth-3 version of Deathstroke showed up… and was basically a color-shifted Deadpool? Too on-the-nose?

You could always mention Dave Cockrum’s Imperial Guard.

Try Legends and Byrne’s creation Sunspot.

This is rad column.

Howsabout the Ennis Punisher vs Wolverine, and its response, written by someone I can’t remember

or how about the issue of quasar (can’t remember issue number) where all the Marvel speedsters are racing and the winner ends up being a amnesiac barry allen who remembers his name as buried alien.

Someone above mentions Starlin’s run on Thanos, and I vaguely remember that, but I’ve always liked the back and forth between Starlin and Dan Slott. Starlin uses Infinity Abyss to say that most of the Thanos appearances he didn’t write and/or like were really Thanos clones (similar to Doom and his Doombots), and when Dan Slott has Squirrel Girl defeat Thanos, he actively has the Watcher there saying that it was the real Thanos so it couldn’t be written off in a similar way.

How about Peter David’s shot at John Byrne’s assertion that Lockjaw is a Terragen Mist-mutated Inhuman, not their pet. PAD wrote it so that Gorgon & Triton were playing a ventriloquist trick on Ben Grimm when Lockjaw “spoke” in The Thing #4.

I’m only leaving this comment to say one thing: Peter David is probably one of the cleverest writers in comic book history. Whenever he goes meta, you’re in for a great ride. I’ve been a fan of his for ages, and checking out his meta messages in this archive just reminded me why.

Peter David used Captain Marvel (Genis) to explain Bruce Jones’ Hulk and Absorbing Man “mistakes.”

A lot of these “meta” suggestions seem more like parodies or even, in the case of Starlin, and Thanos, metaphor.

Marshal law. Almost all of theMarvel big guns in a lunatic asylum. My favorite the Human Torch. Anytime his skin touched the air he ignites into agonizing flames.

I recall an issue of X-Men where they parodied DC’s Invasion crossover, citing a “Jean-Bomb” in place of the “Genebomb”

I’ve recently wondered is Noh-Va/Marvel Boy/The Protectors recent forcible, final and fairly ignominious ejection from The Avengers (in the recent run during AvX) with a proper “Don’t ever come back” from the team, was a poke at Grant Morrison. He created the character and winged about Marvel in Supergods (good book by the way) and that just looked like Bendis giving him the finger.

Here are two “meta-messages” I would like to see discussed here:

1) Way back when, in Legends (1986/7 crossover, by John Ostrander and John Byrne), a disposable character was introduced who wanted to create a “New Universe”. This was obviously a dig at Jim Shooter.

2) In an issue of Savage Dragon, Erik Larsen drew his versions of characters who, at that time, had been revamped by John Byrne (here named Johnny Redbeard), like Superman and She-Hulk, each complaining of the treatment they had been subjected to.

Deadpool s#!+s all over Blackest Night in multiple issues

What about the jackals rant in the clone saga about other companies? ” an image of a valiant dark horse….”?