From: dvandom@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (David VanDomelen)
Subject: Best Indignity War Crossover
Organization: The Ohio State University
Distribution: na
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 04:17:12 GMT

Okay, this may seem like "Most honest politician" or "Daxam's Best Leadsmith" 
but IMO there were a few well done crossovers from this season.
     The criteria for a good IW crossover are as follows:
     1) Should advance the main plot of the title or contribute to character
          development at least as much as the average noncrossover issue
     2) Should stand well on its own.  This doesn't mean it cannot have
          references to the crossover event, but you should be able to enjoy
          the issue without reading the other books (issues that are all
          'fight the doubles' don't pass this test)
     3) Should be well written (of course)
In general, it must be able to justify its existence separate from the other 
books.
     Stories I feel meet the criteria are:
     Quasar (the ones with the Nullfier): had significant character development 
and the other plotlines progressed well.  Lasting impact on the title resulted 
from these issues.
     Moon Knight (Moon Shade issues): The fact that the threat in these issues 
acted rather independently of Magus's wishes was good.  Moon Knight got to see 
a great deal of "there but for the grace of..." situations, and just being 
involved in the crossover may have sealed his fate.  However, the issue right 
after the Moon Shade ones was throwaway...it sucked.
     New Warriors (Blackball&Enraged):  Rage and Speedball both underwent major
development here.  Rage 'grew up' in terms of accepting his 'darker side'.  
Speedball's father found out his ID and we see some heavy denial from SB.  
Future issues should be impacted by this crossover.
     Doctor Strange (this week): okay, it was off-timing, coming out a few 
weeks too late.  But having the double actually be his Counter-Earth 
counterpart was a masterful stroke!  Sure, there was the obligatory appearance 
by the Magus-created double, but he got taken out almost instantly each time he
showed.  Another good "There but for the grace..." issue, we see how Strange 
could quite easily turned out.  A previous issue with Cyttorak was also a 
pretty good crossover, as was the one with Death (lots of insight into 
Strange's past).  Last month's issue was a bit weaker, mostly fight scenes, but
three issue of the crossover were quite good.

     It seems that a common thread in three of these titles was the fact that 
the doubles were individuals.  They had, in NW and MK, their own names, and in 
all cases were treated better, posing serious psychological threats.  Of 
course, the twist of using Counter-Strange helped here, since this was a real 
being who has independent existence and may even return someday.  They had 
personalities and agendas of their own (Moon Shade being the most ambitious).
     In Quasar, we had no double, which I found odd.  But then, Marvel Boy I 
showed up and is a double in the same sense that Counter-Strange is, and will 
definitely cause problems later.
     Of course, I didn't read all of the crossover issues (I gave up hope on FF
this month...it's been so bad, even tho it seems to fulfill the first and 
second criteria).  Anyone out there see this kind of thing happening in any of 
the other crossovers?  To summarize, the current candidates for best IW 
crossover are:
     Quasar
     New Warriors
     Moon Knight
     Dr. Strange
My vote goes to Dr. Strange among these four.
     Dave Van Domelen, missed the Suicide Squid crossover issues, tho
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