The artwork in the comics was great, I really liked the way all the different images moulded together to make a coherent story and that effect over all of them reminded me a lot of the work of Alex Maleev on Daredevil with Bendis about a year back. The dialogue was fairly good, and the idea of Superman/Venom is a fascinating and brilliant one.
However I felt the way the story played out was completely out of character for all of the 3. The idea that Spider-man would kill The Joker (accidentally or not) was ridiculous, and then it was completely absolutely out of character for him to feel it was the right move and justified. If he did kill someone, Spider-man would instantly turn himself in.
Then Spider-Man went on the run from Superman (who despite being portrayed as 'the villain' in the story, was doing the right thing) and came up with a way to defeat Superman by unleashing (as he later calls) "one of the most powerful beings in the universe" Again, completely out of character -- he's acting like a villain.
Then on to Batman. Even more so than Superman, a fundamental part of the character is his hate of murder/ers. There is absolutely no way the true Batman would side with one or even act 'nicely' to one. Then smaller things like Batman quite instantly revealing his identify to Spider-Man, which I could never see happening.
When Spider-man wakes up in the Batcave was really got me though. He pulls this whole "Oh no something terrible has happened, we have to rescue Superman from the Symbiote!" When the only reason either of them were near the thing was so Spider-Man could release it and kill Superman and get away with murder! I get the feeling you didn't think the story through, unless you wanted Spider-Man to come off like a real a**hole and your going to reveal Batman was manipulated and have Spider-Man come through as the real villain at the end?
Your story concept is fantastic. The idea of an even more powerful, rage fuelled Superman turned bad is probably the best idea I've heard for a S/B/S cross-over ever. Batman having to use his wits to beat a legitimately evil Superman, and Spider-Man being involved because Venom is his villain is a sensible way to link them all together. It makes more sense than the usual "someone turns evil for no reason" that is used in cross-overs most of the time.
But the way your story came together was poorly planned and untrue to all of the characters (besides Superman, who although being portrayed as 'the baddie' or 'killjoy' was the only one acting like a hero.) A simpler solution would have been to have Superman come in contact with the symbiote naturally, and then have Batman try and defeat him and recruit Spider-Man because of his past experience with the alien.
It was entertaining and I liked the art, but the story was a mess, sorry man.
hey (sorry it's been so long, but I haven't checked this thread at all), thanks for the comments. it's actually extremely refreshing to get someone else's point of view on the story, and your problems with the story are absolutely justified. thanks so much for your comments, and for the most part, i agree with you. the first few chapters were made up as I went, but despite your annoyance that Superman, by doing the right thing, is revered as the "bad guy", that couldn't be more wrong.
the reason why i think the story works is that Spider-Man is the most human out of the heroes (that's why he's my favorite). after everything he's been through, he's torn up by this situation (the Joker/hostage situation). after he sees an innocent murdered in front of him, which to my knowledge hasn't happened before, he is so filled with unreasonable anger, that he goes a little nuts, and, understandably, abuses his super human strength and throws the Joker around a little and his neck breaks or something along those lines. it's not like he reached into Joker's chest and ripped out his heart or anything. it was a reasonable mistake, that i don't think comic writers utilize often enough. i mean, when you have a super human like spider-man pounding on someone, say, like Doc Ock (who is human with no powers, his face would be mush after a punch or two from spidey. but it doesn't work out that way.
and lastly, just to set things right, Spider-Man is the "villain" and the "bad guy" by killing the Joker. I never skirted that issue, but merely told it from Spidey's point of view, where his mindset is trying to process this information and it's a little overwhelming on him since he's never killed before. Superman is, of course, doing the right thing, and is never portrayed as a villain until he gets influenced by the symbiote. i see what you mean by "spiderman would never do that", yada yada yada, but this is a little more realistic than previous comic series, in that after the matter (the killing of the joker) Spiderman has to think of what to do, and i promise you, you won't be disappointed by the ending, if i indeed ever get to finish it.
but keep the comments coming. i love it.
