Now that Marvel and DC are collaborating again, it’s the perfect time to get in on reprints and facsimile comics like Spider-Boy Team-Up. It’s good timing, too, with the comic running as much as $20 in some resale outlets. The value is high not only because it’s a Spider-Man and Superboy combo, but the one-shot features tons of combos from the main universe all the way to 2099 and beyond. Given it leans into the omniverse, one might even argue it was ahead of its time, given the multiverse obsession in media of late.
Marvel / DC: Spider-Boy Team-Up Facsimile Edition is a fun comic, never letting up on action, scene changes, or big reveals. A lot of those reveals are wild combos of characters popping up, like the Scavulture or the Silver Racer. In fact, writer R.K. Sternsel stuffs this issue with so many combos it’s as if the amalgam paid him!
The story is simple, but also complicated. The straightforward plot sees Spider-Boy zipped to 2099 and soon embroiled in time-travel nonsense. The time travel is where the complications come into play, though fans of the Legion of Superheroes and Kang can certainly appreciate the dangers and fun of zipping around through time. Through the time jumps, we get many more character combos via the iconic profile snapshots framing Spider-Boy in two separate pages. That’s a lot of characters.
Try to count all the characters revealed in this issue.
Credit: Marvel/DC
Art by penciler Jose Ladronn, inks by Jean Vlasco, and colors by Joe Rosas. The level of detail in backgrounds and character design is up there with Darick Robertson’s Transmetropolitan. There are multiple stunning pages, and the detail certainly helps when characters are standing around talking. There’s also some incredible gadgetry that makes the far future believable, fun, and pleasantly weird.
Another visual plus is that the original advertisements are reprinted here. That makes this a bona fide time capsule.
The overabundance of characters can feel overwhelming, though, and it leaves little time besides name introductions. It’s leaning into comic tropes and primarily works. Another gripe is the comedy: Spider-Boy isn’t very clever or funny.
Marvel / DC: Spider-Boy Team-Up Facsimile Edition is a blast from the past that feels strangely ahead of its time, leaning hard into omniversal chaos years before multiverses became the default. While its overload of characters and uneven humor keep it from perfection, the sheer imagination, gorgeous art, and nostalgic presentation make it a must-have for fans of crossovers, curiosities, and comics history.
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