Manic Monday--Avengers Vs. X-Men, 39 Years Early!

Well, apparently, the 1973 Avengers-Defenders War is in my brain today (and why shouldn't it be? Black Panther kicked Doctor Strange in the face--twice!!).

I very well may wrong, but I think this was maybe the first inter-book crossovers at either company, certainly of that length. If you counted the 4-page prologue in Defenders #8, the 3-page prologue in Avengers #115, and the two-page "bye, everybody" in Defenders #11, the whole thing took place over 8 issues of the two mags.

It's interesting to compare with the forthcoming Avengers Vs. X-Men book, which will be 12 issues long, plus a zero issue, plus a six-issue mini "expanding" fights from the main mini, plus 5-6 issues each of New Avengers, Avengers, Secret Avengers, Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine & The X-Men.

That's a lot of issues. Granted, there are a lot more members (and series!) of the Avengers and X-Men these days. But still, it sure seems like they're giving every single member their own individual issue.

Plus, buying each issue of the Avengers-Defenders War? $1.60. Avengers Vs. X-Men? Following every word costs you approximately $196. Save your shekels, kids!

It should be noted that the entire Avengers-Defenders War was written by one person--Steve Englehart. Avengers Vs. X-Men? The twelve issue series has FIVE different writers (Bendis, Fraction, Aaron, Brubaker and Hickman). Five writers...

There are other similarities. At the time Hulk and Hawkeye were former Avengers but hanging with the Defenders, something Englehart made good use of. Present day, the multi-team statuses of Wolverine, The Beast, Namor, and Storm will certainly come into play.

Both deal with potentially universe-altering crises: Dormammu and Loki taking over the universe, the Phoenix Force coming back again for...?

So 2012? Bigger, longer, more sprawling and much more expensive. But at its core, not really that different from 1973--two teams of heroes beating each others' brains in.

And to those complaining about multi-title crossovers? Your 40 years too late for that...