written by Mark Waid (main story), Tom King, Christopher Priest, Sean Murphy, Matt Fraction, Jeff Lemire, Greg Rucka, Gail Simone (back-up stories)
drawn by by Jorge Jimenez (main story), Jim Lee and Scott Williams, Daniel Sampere, Sean Murphy, Steve Lieber, Rafa Sandoval, Nicola Scott, Belen Ortega (back-up stories)
colored by Tomeu Morey (main story), Alex Sinclair, Alejandro Sanchez, Simon Gough, Nathan Fairbairn, Ulises Arreola, Marcelo Maiolo, Jordie Bellaire
So far, I have had mixed feelings about this new wave of DC/Marvel crossovers. I hated last year's Deadpool/Batman published by Marvel, but enjoyed the DC-published counterpart, Batman/Deadpool.
Well, so far, the third crossover book, Superman/Spider-Man, is the very best of the bunch.
The main story features Clark Kent aka Superman, and Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, going up against their old-time foes Braniac and Doctor Octopus, who have teamed up to help Braniac unload corrupted code from his system into the brains of humanity. Doc Ock has agreed to help Braniac in exchange for the chance to travel to worlds that will appreciate his genius. The plan to upload this code, of course, will have catastrophic consequences for humanity, and must be stopped. Can Supes and Spidey save the day?
As main stories go, this one is as strong as it gets, with a tight, entertaining script by Mark Waid, who knows his way around both Marvel and DC characters, but also with some astonishing art by Jorge Jimenez, who has, in my opinion, just made the case for a regular gig drawing Spider-Man, assuming DC ever lets him. Even though I've kept abreast of the emergence of new artistic talent over the years, since I'm mainly a Marvel guy, Jimenez has flown under my radar for a while since he's done mainly DC stuff. Like his fellow DC exclusive artists Dan Mora and Sean Murphy, this is someone I would love to see working on a Marvel book in the future.
The back-up stories, ranging from four to nine pages, also feature Superman and Spider-Man and their supporting cast, like Mary Jane Watson, Lois Lane, J. Jonah Jameson, Perry White, Jonathan Kent, Ben Parker, Jimmy Olsen, Superboy Prime, variants of the characters like Spider-Man 2099 and Batman Beyond, other heroes like Power Girl and the Punisher, and even villains like High Evolutionary and Carnage. There's even a walk-on from one of the most hated characters in Spider-Man's history, Paul Rabin. While some stories are better than others, there is not a single lemon among any of these stories. Every single one is worth reading.
It should be emphasized that none of these stories, main or backup, are canonical, which, as I understand it, is in keeping with the very first crossover back in 1976 (50 years ago now). There's no effort to explain how these characters occupy the same universe, which was done rather laboriously in the 1990s DC vs Marvel crossover and more recently in the JLA/Avengers crossover in the early 2000s. This, honestly, is how it should be. One story in particular (no spoilers, I promise) really runs with this non-canonical premise and delivers a tongue-in-cheek shocker that I'm frankly kind of amazed that DC editorial greenlit (you'll know which one it is when you see it).
Next to the main story, which I absolutely loved and give a full 10/10, the other highlight of this anthology is some very nice wish fulfillment that's been decades in the making for me: I finally get to see Jim Lee drawing a Spider-Man story, which is something for which I have been pining since he finally broke out in the 90s, even before his Image and DC-exclusive days. Sure, it's only nine-pages long and doesn't have any real money shots like a two-page spread of Spidey swinging or anything like that, but at least it's an itch scratched after a really long time. It's also worth noting that in the Tom King/Jim Lee story, Mary Jane is wearing what clearly looks like a wedding ring on a necklace, which means that in that little pocket universe, Peter and MJ are still married, so it's wish-fulfillment in more ways than one. On that note, the brief Paul Rabin appearance (in the Power Girl/Punisher backup) is just as insulting and demeaning as it needs to be.
Comic books being as pricey as they are nowadays, it's hard to recommend to people to go out and buy one, but in my humble opinion, this one is definitely worth the money.
9.5/10
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