Marvel and DC cooperation was the first controversial processor for the OZ project

In 1975, the famous competitors Marvel Comics and DC Comics did what many unforgettable fans felt: they collaborated for the first time.

Marvel and DC, to this day, are still the largest comedy manufacturer. Marvel has made the bank since the 1960s with characters such as Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider-Man, The Avengers and The Awesome Slapstick. The capital, on the other side, was profitable since the 1930s, where it supervised characters such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Women, Flash, Green Lantern, and an amazing ambush. Discussions About the company that produced the higher personalities It is the source of the endless student conflict, even more than “Star Trek VS. Star Wars” discussions. Looking at how Marvel and DC are around their characters, it was a rare event if they crossed.

This happened from time to time, of course. Citizens of the comic fees of the ancient school will remember the first crossover of 1976 “Superman Vs. The Amazing Spider-Man: The Battle of the Century”, where DC and Marvel Heroes entered a short fight. There is no parallel universe in this comic film. Superman and the Spider -Man are seen as simply living on the same Earth. The battle between the characters is leaking through a high -tech radiological beam that weakens a slightly superman, but it greatly reinforces the spider man. This was just a first supercar. Each year or so, another event will appear, and the obsessed with the photo books will learn, for example, if the structure can hit Superman, etc.

But the first cooperation between companies came in 1975 on a very strange and competitive project. It seems that both companies were working on the coincidences of the classic MGM classic for 1939, entitled “The Wizard of Oz”. But instead of a company that waives the project to the other, they ended up joining the efforts. The result was a huge 84 -page comedy called “MGM’s Marvelous Wizard of Oz”.

The story was listed in the 1987 number of Baum Bugle, Easily archive by Oz Club.

At that time, a man named Roy Thomas has just ended his boss as a editor -in -chief at Marvel Comics. A letter of discovery of his books revealed that Marvel and DC are negotiating for the rights of MGM “The Wizard of Oz” at the same time. At that stage, the classic Victor Fleming was only 36 years old, but it was already entrenched in popular consciousness. It was broadcast on the TV, and it was adapted to new musical plays such as “The Wiz”. Thomas was Advertiser “Wizar Oz” Super VanAnd it was clear that his idea of ​​bringing the movie was to the page. With the rights of MGM, comedy will be allowed to use images from the movie, and the effects of its representatives Judy Garland, Ray Bolgger, Jacques Haley, Bert Lahr, Margaret Hamilton, Billy Burke, and all others.

The capital was negotiating with MGM to make not only “The Wizard of Oz”, but also a new game line. Nevertheless, Marvel somehow won the contract, and Roy Thomas, who was working with Marvel John Busima, began working on the comedy immediately. Initially, they built several pages of the original drawings completely, and completely new personal designs for the eternal L. Frank Baum, but this version was canceled in favor of a more accurate version on the screen.

All this was before the appearance of VHS, so Buscema had no visual signals to go to, unlike many shots presented by MGM. In a frustrating way, MGM refused to give Thomas a copy of the text “Wizard of Oz”, so Thomas came out and bought a heavy acoustic cassette for dialogue. He was able to copy the sound, describe the visual images to Buscema. Thomas also occupied the missing dialogue himself, as cassette did not have a soundtrack. In a blow from good luck, Buscema watched the movie several times (who did not do?), And he was able to track the photos from the memory.

In Thomas’s message, though, it was observed that the DC cartoon has a reprisal plan. It seems that the capital, in an attempt to undermine Marvel, decided to start working to adapt their “Oz processor”. The original novel was in the public domain, so the capital was among its rights to use the title, even if it was unable to use similarities from the actors from the 1939 movie. “At the last minute, he said in Thomas’s message,” It seems that Marvel was panic and reached a deal with the capital to avoid two ounces at the same time. “

The real reasons for this deal are still blurry, but the deal has been concluded with that. “MGM’s The Marvelous Wizard of Oz” was scheduled to be published as a joint Marvel/DC project. Strangely, though, no one from DC Comics creatively contributed to the book. Thomas’ and Buscema project remained to the end. INKERS and the participating writers were also Marvel employees. The final book was scheduled for 72 pages, but extended to 84, including films, OZ maps, and A short biography of L. Frank Baum.

The book, however, was not success. There was no marketing, for anyone. Since the book was very thick, and of course in coordination than traditional comedy, most comedy lovers have been far away. Traditional libraries refused to store them because at that time, comic libraries are rarely stored.

Al -Hazali faded quickly, and disappeared from public awareness. This historical cooperation was supposed to be more major Caribin manufacturers than the Célèbre case, but he ended up being just Coro. footnote. These days, only a few dollars can be burned to buy the book on the used market.