Battle of the Planets and Witchblade -- The Most Arbitrary Crossover of All-Time?

 

What happened when Top Cow crossed its flagship property over with its adaptation of a classic anime? I look back this week at CBR.

MEDIEVAL SPAWN/WITCHBLADE #1-#3, May-July 1996

Credits: Garth Ennis (story), Brandon Peterson (pencils), Batt w/Joe Weems (inks), Dennis Heisler (letters), Ashby Manson (colors), Richard Isanove w/Jonathan D. Smith, Steve Firchow, & Tyson Wengler (computer colors)

Todd McFarlane seemed to have plans for Medieval Spawn, yet this crossover miniseries turned out to be the character’s last gasp. Perhaps due to Neil Gaiman’s lawsuit, he was essentially erased from the franchise by the late ‘90s. Later, another Middle Ages Hellspawn, “Dark Ages Spawn” debuted, possibly continuing whatever plans McFarlane had for Medieval Spawn. (Recently, a judge deemed Dark Ages Spawn to be derivative of Medieval Spawn, and even a continuity error.)

At this time, the Witchblade series was only a few months old, but it was already a hit for Top Cow. Marc Silvestri’s division of Image had yet to do a Spawn crossover, so it made sense to pair their hot new character with Image’s biggest franchise. Just as McFarlane established that his hero was the latest in a long line of Spawns, Sara Whatshername was only the latest possessor of the Witchblade. Why not do a flashback story that brings their pasts together?

The story is provided by Garth Ennis, who was receiving a lot of attention from Top Cow during this era. Not surprisingly, most of the characters are profane and nasty, and the comic can’t go three pages without a rape reference. After establishing that a mystery man is waiting for the apocalypse in 1996, the story flashes back to the Pyrenees, circa 1175. An alleged sorcerer named Matthew Royale convinces the evil Lord Cardinale to invade the “Otherworld of Faerie.” After a few pages of gruesome violence, the action spills out of the Faerie’s dimension, drawing the attention of Medieval Spawn. Unlike the moody, self-absorbed Spawn of the ‘90s, Medieval Spawn views himself as a chivalrous knight, so he aides the Faeries. Their fight brings them to a nearby inn, where the irascible young Katarina is working off her bill.

Katarina receives two surprises: Medieval Spawn recognizes her, and she somehow possesses the power of the Witchblade. She joins the fight, and later watches as Medieval Spawn enters a portal into the Faerie’s dimension. Her friend, and debt-holder, Stalker has heard stories of Faerie gold and wants to follow. A subconscious prompt, apparently from the Witchblade, convinces Katarina to join Stalker. This brings the first issue to an end, and while the story so far seems like an excuse for the heroes to cut up demonic soldiers, I am curious to see how the mysteries surrounding Katarina play out.

Credits: Garth Ennis (story), Brandon Peterson (pencils), Batt w/Joe Weems & Tim Townsend(inks), Dennis Heisler (letters), Ashby Manson (colors), Richard Isanove w/Jonathan D. Smith, Steve Firchow, & Dan Kemp (computer colors)

Katarina and Stalker join Medieval Spawn, who is unaware of their motive to loot Faerie gold (notice that the only noble character so far is the one not created by Ennis). Meanwhile, Lord Cardinale’s witch-queen Elinor, who’s somehow stolen the outfits from a 1996 Playboy pictorial, questions Matthew Royale’s loyalty. Royale proves his deceptiveness a few pages later by bringing Katarina, Stalker, and Medieval Spawn to the battle at the Faerie capital. While Lord Cardinale and the heroes fight, Royale pursues his own agenda. Sprinkled throughout the story are more hints that Medieval Spawn knows Katarina, some “humorous” leprechaun bashing, and more graphic violence. Brandon Peterson is given some insane things to draw, but the story is obviously thin.

Credits: Garth Ennis (story), Brandon Peterson, Billy Tan, Mung Khoy, Mike Turner, & Anthony Winn (pencils), Batt, D-Tron, Brandon Peterson, Aaron Sowd (inks), Dennis Heisler (letters), Ashby Manson (colors), Richard Isanove w/Tyson Wengler, Catherine Burch, Dean White, Nick Kozis, & Teresa Bellman(computer colors)

Now that’s a list of credits. I wonder if anyone working at Top Cow during this era didn’t touch this issue? (Oh, yeah. Marc Silvestri.) Occasionally the book does resemble a rushed jam comic, but most of the issue maintains the rather high production values associated with Top Cow. The most grievous example of deadline fighting comes in a two-page "vision of the future" in the middle of the book, which is actually recycled art from an ad for another Top Cow comic (I forget the name, but it was the ad that referenced “It's the End of the World as We Know It”).

As it turns out, this mini is actually a lengthy promotion for a 1996 Top Cow crossover, which somehow involved the apocalypse (given as October 2, 1996 in this issue). Matthew Royale predictably turns against everyone, steals the Darkness power from Lord Cardinale (yup, it’s a Darkness crossover as well), and survives to the age of Real World Miami, free AOL trial discs, and Keri Strug mania. He explains the full story behind Katarina and Medieval Spawn to the disembodied head of Cardinale before the story closes: Before his rebirth as a Hellspawn, Medieval Spawn and Katarina had a drunken one-night stand. Katarina apparently didn’t remember it because she’s something of a slut. Later on, she promises to give Stalker a shot until she discovers the Faerie gold they’ve stolen is just lead in our dimension. There’s your Medieval Witchblade, Top Cow fans.

This is even less of a Spawn story than Wildstorm’s Spawn/WildC.A.T.S limited series. I can understand the story leaning towards the Top Cow side since they produced it, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the mini to turn into a prelude to some forgotten crossover. It’s a shame this is Medieval Spawn’s only starring role. Neil Gaiman’s brief introduction of the character had potential, and his design still holds up well. Here, he's mainly treated as a joke. It's almost as if Garth Ennis thinks these characters are...dumb.

BALLISTIC/WOLVERINE & WOLVERINE/WITCHBLADE

BALLISTIC/WOLVERINE #1- February 1997

Credits: David Wohl & Joe Benitez (plot), Larry Hama (script), Joe Benitez (penciler), Aaron Sowd (inker), Dennis Heisler (letters), Dean White (colors)

Summary: On New Year’s Eve, Wolverine receives a message from Zoe Culloden to meet him at LL&L’s Times Square branch. He passes through the “WC” room, which sends him to another dimension. In this Times Square, a fascist police force is terrorizing innocent citizens. Ballistic arrives and helps Wolverine fight the police. She informs him that “the Mayor” is her Cyberforce teammate Heatwave, mind-controlled by Mephisto. Zoe Culloden is his aide. At the Mayor’s office, Wolverine and Ballistic try to stop his mysterious plan, which strikes at midnight. Zoe fights against Mephisto’s mind-control and turns against the Mayor, but can’t stop his scheme. At the stroke of midnight, everyone in Times Square disappears.

Continuity Notes: This is a chapter of the “Devil’s Reign” crossover event, which pitted Marvel and Top Cow characters against Mephisto. Ballistic is a member of Cyberforce, who’s protected from mind-control by cybernetic implants (Heatwave is a cyborg, too, so I don’t know how Mephisto ensnared him).

Production Note: “Devil’s Reign” is another Marvel/Image crossover that partially wasn’t published by Image. Although the inside front cover has a “special thanks to Image Comics,” this issue was published during the very brief period Marc Silvestri broke away from Image and self-published.

Not Approved By The Comics Code Authority: Landau, Luckman, and Lake’s Times Square office is attached to a fetish nightclub.

Review: Hey, it’s another ‘90s inter-company crossover I barely remembered. A few months after Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld were handed a chunk of the core Marvel Universe, we have this crossover with the remaining Marvel characters and Marc Silvestri’s Top Cow studio. I don’t recall a lot of promotion for this crossover on Marvel’s end. In fact, I think I only knew of its existence from the ads Marvel ran from comics retailer American Entertainment, which bragged about all of the variant covers they had to sell. On Top Cow’s end, this seems like something of a big deal, as the crossover apparently leads into the next storyline in Cyberforce. Image titles seemed to be okay with incorporating outside properties into their actual continuity (WildC.A.T.S. apparently did this all the time), but I’ve never seen that willingness on Marvel’s end.

Larry Hama, who wrote Wolverine during Marc Silvestri’s stint as artist, seems to be the only Marvel writer involved with this event, and he’s merely providing the script for this issue. Hama’s always able to capture Wolverine’s voice, and his fight scene dialogue is usually fun, so this issue does at least have some personality. The plot covers a surprising amount of ground, given the number of fight scenes, and splash pages and double-page spreads. Joe Benitez is one of the better Top Cow artists. He’s obviously following the Silvestri model, but Benitez isn’t doing a bad impression of him, and he doesn’t have the obsession with wrinkles and scratchy lines that so many Top Cow artists share.

WOLVERINE/WITCHBLADE #1- March 1997

Credits: David Wohl & Christina Z (story), Michael Turner (co-plot, pencils), D-Tron (inker), Dennis Heisler (letters), Jonathan D. Smith (colors)

Summary: Ballistic leaves to find her sister, while Zoe Culloden departs to find backup. Wolverine follows the scent of evil, searching for the missing crowd in Times Square. Meanwhile, Sara Pezzini begins to wonder if her past as Witchblade was an illusion. Her powers have disappeared, and her former enemy Ian now claims he’s her boyfriend. She begins to fall for the illusion until Wolverine crashes through the window and attacks Ian. Sara realizes that she’s had the Witchblade all along, as Ian transforms into Mephisto.

Production Note: Look how much larger the Image logo is now. Silvestri's back with Image by this point.

Review: Okay, the previous chapter balanced the two characters well and told a passable action story. This does not. Wolverine barely appears in this comic, and most of his appearance is spent dryly recapping the storyline thus far. The story is really about Witchblade, and it appears to be set after a specific storyline in her book as it has her mourning the deaths of several friends, then discovering (as a part of Mephsito’s illusion) that they’re alive. I never understood the appeal of Witchblade or Michael Turner, and this doesn’t do anything to win me over. Obviously, Witchblade is a mostly-nude female hero with an inhuman body, but look at her. She’s covered in hideous gray scabs that take the form of skeleton hands that cup her breasts, Janet Jackson-style. She’s also rail-thin and has virtually no facial features, with the exception of her lips, which are bigger than her fists. People were into this?

While Turner can mimic the surface elements of Silvestri’s style, and draw an impressive Mephisto, his characters designs are pretty appalling. Most of the cast barely looks human, and it’s impossible to tell Witchblade’s friend Michael apart from the villain, Ian. What’s worse, looking back over the comic, I think they’re not even supposed to be the same race! Maybe the rest of this crossover isn’t so bad, but I’m not curious enough to find out. This storyline is continued in Witchblade/Elektra, but since that doesn’t fit into the X-Universe, I’m thankfully off the hook.