Man of Steel Week: Superman vs. Muhammad Ali!

Continuing our look back at Superman history:

Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali was one of those great tabloid size "collectors editions" published by DC Comics in the 1970s (Marvel had its similarly sized "treasury editions') and teamed up two of the 20th century's most-iconic figures.

Published in 1978 and written and illustrated by Neal Adams with some story help from Dennis O'Neill, the comic features the two heavyweights in a boxing match arranged by an alien who wants to identify Earth's greatest champion. To make sure it's a fair fight, Superman's powers are deactivated. It's the ultimate "could so-and-so beat up so-and-so in a fight?" story!

The art is great, and the comic is especially well-remembered for its cover, which portrayed a crowd of celebrities watching the big match, including Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, the Beatles, Johnny Carson, various DC Comics heroes and staffers, the, um, Jackson Five and the cast of Welcome Back Kotter among many others. Hey! It was the 70s!

Here's that great cover along with some other great images related to the book (including some pages from a Spanish edition). Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali is now available as a hardcover reprint.






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