It's not a dream, an imaginary tale, or even an outright lie -- nope: For the first time ever the JLA and the Avengers are crossing over.
DC and Marvel announced jointly that the two teams would meet in a four-part, 196-page mini-series, out possibly by summer 2002.
Avengers scribe Kurt Busiek will write the epic project and Busiek's former Avengers cohort George Pérez, a man who has lobbied for the project many times over the past two decades, will pencil and ink the series. "I've waited a long time to get this project back on track," Pérez says. "I wasn't always sure it would ever come to pass but I'm glad it finally has. This is a dream come true."
In 1983, DC and Marvel reached a deal to produce a JLA/Avengers one-shot, but company infighting scuttled the project, including 21 pages Pérez had already penciled. Don't expect to see the almost 20-year-old pages to pop up in the new series, however.
"That was definitely a huge blow," Pérez says. "But now those pages are long gone. I'm already planning what I can do with the new project."
While DC and Marvel suits sealed the deal for Pérez, it was CrossGen Comics founder Mark Alessi who made the deal possible for the artist. Pérez signed an exclusive deal with CrossGen last December, but Alessi included a clause that would allow Pérez out of his exclusive deal to work on the high profile project.
Busiek, who's used to playing with the Avengers in their monthly title, said he's honored to be working on the project and can't wait to get the ball rolling.
"We're still way off from getting everything settled as far as characters and match-ups go," Busiek says. "Who knows, there might not even be fights. Do they team up? Do they square off against each other? None of that's really been worked out. But I can tell you it's going to be one huge series."
While Busiek didn't want to give too much away more than a full year before the project will even be seen, he said there was one thing fans can count on being in the book.
"I'm writing the best Captain America, Batman fight ever," the writer says. "Count on that."
-- Mike Cotton
For much, much more on the "JLAvengers" project, including new art, check out Wizard: The Comics Magazine #116. It's on sale March 28.
