Can't they just get along? Marvel and DC...I want a new Crossover.

So, as it stands, I've pretty much stopped reading comics, again, because I really can't follow some of the writers that current trends show are popular. These include: Brian Michael Bendis, Grant Morrison and Jonathan Hickman.  I've written about my distaste of Bendis' writings since he became a household name. Morrison is one of those guys that everyone states he's a genius, but I tend to believe they only state it because they heard someone else say it, and if they don't keep up the act, they won't have "friends" anymore. Hickman is a different breed. The guy has these really crazy ideas about what he wants to do with your favorite books, but then the stories just get way too convoluted, and I lose interest.

I'm not saying the writing "smart" comics loses me, mind you, I still love Geoff Johns, Mark Millar, Scott Snyder and a host of other writers in their medium, but those three, coupled with Daniel Way and the extremely hit or miss Rick Remender push me away from wanting to read further, and as such, I've begun to shy away from reading altogether.

However, there's one thing that would bring me back (if done correctly), and that's a BIG Crossover event. No, not of just ALL Marvel's books, or in turn, all of DC's books, but of their two respective universes.  I want Marvel and DC to patch things up so I can relive my adolescence again, and know I'm seeing something special.

The two major publishers (Marvel owned by Disney, and DC owned by Warner Bros, respectively) haven't done a crossover in 10 years, with JLA/Avengers (#1 & #3) and Avengers/JLA, drawn beautifully by George Perez, and written by Kurt Busiek.  In fact, that book almost never happened.

From the wikipedia page:
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In 1979, DC and Marvel agreed to co-publish a crossover series involving the two teams, to be written by Gerry Conway and drawn by George Pérez. The plot of the original crossover was a time travel story involving Marvel's Kang the Conqueror and DC's Lord of Time. Writer/editor Roy Thomas was hired to script the book, based on Conway's plot,^[2] and although work had begun on the series in 1981 (Pérez had penciled 21 pages by mid-1983) and it was scheduled for publication in May 1983,^[3]editorial disputes - reportedly instigated by Marvel Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter - prevented the story from being completed.^[4][5]The failure of the JLA/Avengers book also caused the cancellation of a planned sequel to the 1982 The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans crossover.^[5]

An agreement was reached between the two companies in 2002, with a new story to be written by Kurt Busiek and drawn by George Pérez. In a joint panel at WonderCon 2000, Busiek (then writer of the Avengers title) and Mark Waid (then writer of theJLA title) stated they had nearly come to an agreement to begin the crossover within the regular issues of the respective titles but the two companies could not come to a business arrangement. When the series was approved, however, Waid was unavailable due to an exclusive commitment with company CrossGen, and Busiek became the sole writer on the project.^[6] Perez also had an exclusive commitment with CrossGen, but had had a clause written into his contract allowing him to do the series if and when it was approved.

The series was reprinted by DC Comics in 2004 as a two-volume collector's edition hardcover (which included for the first time the original 1983 Pérez penciled pages), and then re-released as a trade paperback in November 2008.

As of present, it is the most recent crossover between DC and Marvel.

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I also remember hearing that the book would have to be drawn by George Perez, and he had the contract on his table, but hadn't signed it. At the eleventh hour, he signed the contract and began working on it, not knowing that this may be the last time we ever see these two companies come together with a massive story, and an artist that could handle the load (and he did!).

So, ten years later, we haven't seen the two work together. In fact, there's a lot of bad blood between the two, dating back to when Joe Quesada and Bell Jemas took Marvel from bankruptcy, created the Ultimate Universe, and made some snide comments about then DC VP, Bob Wayne, which hurt Wayne's feelings so much, that him and publisher (at the time) Paul Levitz said as long as Quesada and Jemas were in power, they would NEVER do another crossover with Marvel.

Since then, Quesada has been promoted to CCO (Chief Creative Officer) at Marvel, Jemas left a long time ago, Bob Wayne and Levitz are no longer tied to DC as officials, and yet, still no crossover books. In fact, while he's now known as one of the top Batman artists, Jim Lee, the current  (co-)publisher at DC, got his real start at Marvel in the eighties on Alpha Flight and his fame on X-Men (anyone remember 7 million copies sold in 1992?), yet, here we are, no crossovers.

All I'm saying is this: I'll put aside my "I hate Bendis" signs long enough for him and Jim Lee to craft a 4 issue double-sized miniseries of Batman / Spider-Man, or X-Men / JLA, or Punisher / Deathstroke, I don't care. The possibilities are endless, the stories are NEW and fresh, unlike everything going on in comics, and we would finally have something that could create a renaissance in comics. A new age. And...you'd both make a TON of money.

- Rob