In our Funnybooks podcast, we focus on current events, and usually large events.  Most times, the conversations are constrained so that we can fit everything into an hour or so, but here at Funnybooks After Hours the discussion continues to topics not covered, greater questions of events in comic past or whatever else strikes our fancy.

Walking up the alley, you are unsure if this is the right place.  A non-descript door halfway down the alley catches your eye and after a brief scan of the area, you see the marker that indicates that this is in fact the place.  Etched into a brick above the building is a bat symbol with an ‘X’ through the middle and a lightning bolt below it.

Knocking on the door, you hear a grating sound as a man with a luchador mask and vampire fangs opens the door, “What’s the password?” he asks.  “Beak is lame” you reply, nodding as he steps aside.  Visibility is limited, but as you look around you realize that you found the place.  Stepping up to the microphone, the five recliners are set up on a small stage in the back, as the crew eagerly awaits the question that drove you all the way here, to this secret place.

This week’s question:

What is your favorite crossover/major event?  Why was it?

Wayne boldly starts the debate, “My favorite crossover of all time is the one that brought me regularly into comics.  I had bought random issues of earlier books and even bought most of X-cutioner’s Song.  In fact it was almost my choice.  No, for me I have to go with the Crossover that cemented the comic addiction for me and started me needing a monthly fix.  That’s the Age of Apocalypse.  I started out with X-Man #1 and then branched out to the entire crossover.  My days of dabbling were over because this story was just too epic to not get completely into.  My quarter bin backlog of Fantastic Four just couldn’t match this storyline.

“Apocalypse was always my favorite villain so a reality where he had won with a heroic Magneto leading the last bastion of resistance was just too good to be true.  Being my first major crossover I also didn’t know what to expect.  I actually wondered if the comic world was permanently changed into this new reality.  I still cringe thinking about the followup mini-series that ran 10 years later.  They tarnished what was a strong stand-alone story by continuing it.  The story wrapped up and ended so nicely that they should NEVER have returned to it.”

Tim nods, “I am really torn on this one, because I would have gone with Secret Wars, but that was it’s own series.  That said, X-cutioner’s Song was my favorite crossover.  Much like the current X-Men crossover Second Coming, X-cutioner’s Song was labeled into chapters, spanning the x-titles.  Each title very much was just the next part of the story, sometimes even going so far as to not feature the team on the title if they weren’t a part of that chapter.

“The story was also a great read.  Someone shot Professor X, but who did it?  Signs pointed to Cable, who Xavier openly disapproved of Cable’s leadership of X-Force.  X-Force has to be taken down and brought into custody.  Wolverine and Bishop hunting down Cable himself as a side scenario was also fun.  X-cutioner’s Song is a blueprint that other crossovers should follow, with the chapter mapping, a story that has continuous movement throughout the floppies, great art, and no crummy tie in books.”

Paul looks at the person who asked quizzically, “Does a crossover being it’s own series preclude it from being included for the running?  The X-Men have always been kind of at the forefront when it comes to crossovers that really flow from one title to the next – it’s been doing that as long as I can remember, with Messiah Complex, Decimation, and as far back as X-cutioner’s Song and all those.”

“Favorite crossover, though?  I’m going to go with the Sinestro Corps War.  It was kind of like Blackest Night, except without the greed.  Whereas Blackest Night found ways to have a million tie-ins that had no bearing on the overall story (I mean, seriously, even post-Blackest Night, none of those tie-ins have any effect on those characters), Sinestro Corps War had very few tie-ins.  It was an 11-issue saga, with only 4 tie-in one-shots (Parallax, Cyborg Superman, Superman-Prime, and Ion) which were all well written and illustrated.  Not only that, the Sinestro Corps War was EPIC.  It was well written and inspiring, the story was suspenseful, and it was a prime example of how to do a crossover.  Absolutely loved it.”