Superman vs. Muhammad Ali

Superman vs. Muhammad Ali by Dennis O'Neil
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When aliens are threatening to annihilate Earth and demand Earth's champion face theirs, Superman and Muhammad Ali duke it out to see who really is the greatest and earns the right to face the alien champion!

I've been aware of the existence of this crossover almost as long as I've been reading comics. When 2019 was staring me in the face, I resolved that this would be the year I finally read it.

The very concept of this is kind of absurd. The greatest boxer of all time vs. the greatest super hero of all time? Shouldn't Superman be able to punch Muhammad Ali's head off? Fortunately, Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams made chicken salad out of chicken shit on this occasion.

The story starts simply enough. Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen are in a bad part of Metropolis, chasing a rumor that Muhammad Ali is in town. The Champ is and he and Superman quickly get pulled into the schemes of a mad alien dictator bent on destroying Earth. Yeah, it cheesier than a box of Cheez-Its but it could have been so much worse.

Neal Adams' art was fantastic. Superman looked iconic and Muhammad Ali looked great, like the man himself. I always forget how ahead of his time Neal Adams was. His art still looks contemporary 40 years later. His illustrative style forever changed comics and you can still see his influence today. Also, it's mindboggling how many real life faces he worked into crowd on the wraparound cover. There are 124 and most of them are real people.

Highlights of the issue include Ali teaching Superman to box, Ali beating the shit out of Superman, and the big boxing match with Hun'Ya, the alien champ. Was this ever referenced in the main DC books? "You know, that Doomsday is tough but did you see the Ali-Superman fight in 1978?"

Scratch Superman vs. Muhammad Ali off of my reading goals list for the year. Superman vs. Muhammad Ali was way better than it had any right to be. Four out of five stars.

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