Truth, Justice and Great Responsibility

I grew up with Superman and Spider-man. They were literally my first great comic book loves.

As a child, I obsessively watched the black-and-white repeats of The Adventures of Superman (1952-1958) starring George Reeves or got up early every Saturday morning to thrill to Super Friends (1973-1985), where the Man of Steel was indisputably the lead character.

Afternoons were Spider-Man time. The 1967 animated series ran in syndication after school — and yes, like so many nerds of my generation, I can still sing the iconic theme song in its entirety. 

But the afternoons also meant I could look forward to Stan Lee's Spider-Man comic strips, which ran daily in the Tucson Citizen newspaper starting in 1977.

In my youth, I don't know if I ever imagined Superman and Spider-Man teaming up. But thanks to Marvel and DC Comics continuing their tradition of superhero cross-overs, we have a new Superman / Spider-Man comic book. Like previous versions, it contains various stories, this time spearheaded by powerhouse creators like Mark Waid, Jorge Jimenez and Jim Lee.

Thanks to decades of variants and multiverses, the book features different team ups — sometimes of Superman and Spider-Man, but also of their friends, family members and tangential characters. My two favorites were titled "Truth, Justice and Great Responsibility" and "Tapping In."

The first features the iconic versions of the main characters going up again Doctor Octopus who's under control of Brainiac. The artwork by Jorge Jimenez is fantastic!

The second finds Peter Parker discovering Superboy-Prime in his apartment... apparently trying to steal his spider suit. But why? Superboy-Prime is a really interesting and complex character who kind of lives outside the multiverse and sees it all for what it is — pages in a comic book. The intricate artwork by Daniel Sampere is gorgeous, even if the storyline is a little hard to follow.

Other stories include:

"The World's Finest" finds Lois Lane and Mary Jane Watson in a friendly and humorous conversation about careers and navigating relationships with super-powered men with secret identities. Plus, they crush hard on Gambit. 

"The Bridge" offers some "dad to dad" bonding as Jonathan Kent and Ben Parker encounter each other during a torrential storm — and prove that their son/nephew aren't the only heroes in their families. 

"Beyond the Cobwebs of Tomorrow" features Superboy and Spider-Man 2099, with Batman. In this story, the superheroes realize that they're on parallel paths as they slip through time to stop the brutal reigns of Dr. Doom and Lex Luthor. 

"Jimmy con Carnage" is an amusing short where Jimmy Olsen leaves Metropolis and goes to work with Peter Parker at the Daily Bugle, where he must endure the ultimate boss-from-hell — J. Jonah Jameson. In is quest to please J. Jonah with photos of Spider-Man ("who's Spider-Man??"), Jimmy mistakes Carnage for the web-slinger. 

"Bias" takes a page from our modern talk news with Lois Lane and J. Jonah Jameson having a fiery debate about media and how it covers the likes of Superman and Spider-Man. And also Wonder Woman, Captain America and the Fantastic Four. 

Continue to watch this website as I will be debuting a curated Spider-Man book list in the near future. You can find my Superman Collection here.

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