Superman vs Wonder Woman Tabloid Sized Hardback (DC)

Gerry Conway (w) Garcia Lopez (a)

Back in the seventies the two major comic book companies launched a series of tabloid sized comics which Marvel called "Treasury Editions" whilst DC simply clled them "Collectors Editions". These were all a mixture of reprints or all-new stories. From what I recall the Marvel ones were genrally available but I could never seem to get hold of the DC issues.

As a result my collection of these comics is small. In fact as far as original editions go I just have a Thor Treasury and a Superboy and Legion of Superheroes Collectors Edition both of which were obtained from my local comic shop. I did however pick up a copy of Superman vs Muhammad Ali Hardback reprint a few years back which was an interesting read!

Now DC have issued another reprint this time of an all original story  of Superman and Wonder Woman clashing over the use of nuclear weapons by the USA and of course stopping the Axis from obtaining the weapon themselves.

The villains include Nazi emblemed suicide bombers organised by Baron Blitzkrieg ( origin in World's Finest #246 we are helpfully told) who teams up with the Samurai from Japan who is presented as a far more honourable character despite the brutality that Japan inflicted on it's opponents during the war.

There's a tale to be told and should frankly just be read as a special one off tale as trying to fit this into any of DC's now ultra confused continuity either pre or post crisis is impossible. I enjoyed the tale and tried very hard not to think about that fan boy aspect of comic reading...eventually!

History turns out a little different in this tale where we meet actual historical figures such as Albert Einstein on the underground (Subway for US readers) and of course president Roosevelt. Over all this 72 page adventure with over-sized art with heroes and villains that are larger than normal is well worth the price of entry.

I hope DC bring out some more of these in hardback even if finding suitable shelf space for these editions is difficult!