The old combining Marvel and DC thread got me thinking-- as JR mentioned there's only so many superheroes that can be in one universe before it seems as though EVERYONE has powers.

So what about this-- let's say there was a Secret Wars on Infinite Earths and all Earths merged into one. All heroes died except for 8 solo heroes and 2 superhero teams, with an upper limit of 6 members surviving (this doesn't allow for the JLA or the Avengers, as they're teams composed of solo heroes).

What are you picks?

And if you're inclined, who are the creative teams that would work on them?

I figure that the "Secret Wars on Infinite Earths" must involve a little time-twisting, so let's make this interesting.

The Doom Patrol- Robotman, The Chief, Elasti-Girl, Negative Man
The Power Pack- Alex, Jack, Julie and Katie Power

Batgirl (Barbara Gordon)
Supergirl (Kara Zor-El aka "Linda Danvers")
Captain Marvel (Billy Batson)
Green Lantern (John Stewart)
Captain America (Steve Rogers)
The Thing (Ben Grimm)
Spider-Girl (May Parker)
Phoenix (Jean Grey)

In rough order of primacy, first individuals, then groups:

Superman -- the first superhero
Batman -- the first regular human to don a superhero costumre and assume a secret identity
Spider-man -- the prototypical "teenage werewolf" hero -- young and limited in power.
Green Lantern -- space ranger, protector of earth sector
Captain America -- symbol of our country
Iron Man -- need a Shieldy technology guy
The Vision -- need an android in there, to constantly question readers about what it really means to be human
Captain Marvel (Billy Batson) -- there needs to be another Superman with the magical angle, and with young Billy
Hulk -- got to have the force of nature, uncontrollable, maybe a good guy
She-Flash -- in the morphing of realities, the Scarlet Speedster survives, but as the Most Powerful Woman Superhero -- this "speed" counterpart to Superman has always been a better opportunity, in my view, to have a graspable female counterpart to Superman. Make him more powerful and stronger, but she's faster. And zippy speed is something that fits well with the female archetype, better than blunt force.


Fantastic Four -- the "family" team with the most brilliant scientist, strong hulk type, flier, force fields.
Doom Patrol -- the "weird" group serves a purpose.

Now I'll go--

Superman, natch. -Morrison/Allred

Batman -Bendis/Sale

Spider-Man -Busiek/Rude

Iron Man -Ellis/Jim Lee

Supergirl -Johns/Campbell

Batgirl -Burns/Cho

Hulk -Millar/Timm

Dr. Strange -Mignola

Fantastic Four -Darwyn Cooke

Captain Marvel Family -Moore/Sprouse

Superman - Grant Morrison/Steve Rude

Powerful, but not uber-powerful. Super-smart. Social conscience/gangbuster type.

Batman - Warren Ellis/John Cassaday

Gothic horror crime fighter. Low-tech, high theatricality.

Spider-Man - Jeff Smith/Mike Allred

Teenage superhero. Off-beat and funny + superhero romance

Green Lantern - Darwyn Cooke/JH Williams III

Sci-fi cop in space. On Earth he's the "every man".

Doctor Strange - Neil Gaiman/David Mack

Vertigo-esque superhero fantasy.

Hulk - Ed Brubaker/JR jr

The Banner stuff is the man on the run/Fugitive thing with a bit of a noir twist. The Hulk stuff is big monster smashing bad stuff.

Black Widow - Brian Michael Bendis/Alex Maleev

Spy book.

Wonder Woman - JMS/Ryan Sook

Big political action book (think The Authority) plus Greek mythology

Teams -

Fantastic Four - Matt Fraction/Frank Quitely

Weird, imaginative, fun super-explorers book.

Outsiders - Brian K. Vaughan/Stuart Immonen

X-Men meets Doom Patrol meets Outsiders. Strange and freakish superheroes who don't fit in with everyone else. (Angel, Red Tornado, Wolfsbane, Nightcrawler, Aquaman, Cyborg)

Here are my picks -

Superman, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Hulk, Batman, Dr. Strange, the Flash - all these are my picks for solo heroes, just because I happen to really like them (let's not get too particular about the Hulk being on my list, eh? ).

The Fantastic Four, and the Teen Titans would be my picks for the two teams. Just because I really love the FF (when they're written well), and because I think some good stories could be told with the Titans.

I wouldn't mind about who wrote and/or drew what, as long as they were good.

Although some folks I'd like to suggest, to work on any of these comics, would be - JMS, Mike Mignola, Steve Rude, Ron Frenz, Bendis, Uncle Rog, Paul Smith, PAD, Rick Leonardi, Romita Jnr., Millar, Erik Larsen, John Byrne, Bruce Timm, Frank Quitely, Dave Gibbons, Rick Veitch and Fred Hembeck.

Those are my picks.

1 Superman
2 Batman
3 Spider-Man
4 Green Lantern
5-8 FF (Reed, Sue, Johnny, Ben)
9 Doom Patrol (Niles Caulder, Cyclops, Wolverine, Beast Boy, Elasti-girl, Iceman)
10 Heroes for Hire (Oracle, Black Canary, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold)

10 is a tight limit. I counted FF as single heroes but put them in a team book.

Would love an Avengers/Defenders Book for Cap, Iron Man, Flash, and any other great team player

Two Teams?

Fantastic Four is required. In many ways, the best team as a team ever. Stan Lee/Jack Kirby
It might come as a surprise (heh) to some, but I'd take the first ever superteam, the Justice Society of America. None of the characters from the original team would need their own book, and they would be the established progenitors of the modern superheroes. Gardner Fox/Joe Kubert

Superman, natch! Mort Weisinger/Swan/Anderson
Batman Dennis O'Neil/Marshall Rogers
Captain America Roger Stern/John Byrne
Spider-Man Stan Lee/John Romita
Iron Man Dave Michelinie/John Romita, Jr./Bob Layton
Black Widow Steve Gerber/Gil Kane
Batgirl Gardner Fox/Infantino/Anderson
Zatanna Gardner Fox/Murphy Anderson

That's a interesting choice for creative teams. Anyone past 1980 that you like creatively, Mark?

Spider-Man
Writer: Sean McKeever
Artist: Zander Cannon and Humberto Ramos (each does 6 issues per year)

Hulk
Writer: Peter David
Artist: John Romita Jr. and Adam Kubert (each does 6 issues per year)

Daredevil
Writers: Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker
Artist: David Aja and Whilce Portacio (each does 6 issues per year)

Wonder Woman
Writer: Gail Simone
Artists: Adam Hughes, Art Adams, Frank Cho (each does 4 issues per year)

Superman
Writer: Mark Waid
Artists: Ed McGuiness, Pasqual Ferry (each does 6 issues per year)

Plastic Man
Writer: Dan Slott
Artist: Hilary Barta, Sergio Aragones (each does 6 issues per year)

Green Lantern
Writer: Chris Claremont
Artist: Chris Bachalo, Marc Silvestri (each does 6 issues per year)

The Flash
Writer: Peter David
Artist: Chris Cross, Ivan Reiss (each does 6 issues per year)

Fantastic Four
Writer: Peter Hogan
Artist: Chris Sprouse (w/Karl Story) and Gary Frank (w/Cam Smith) (each does
6 issues per year)

Agents of Atlas
Writer: Jeff Parker
Artist: Leonard Kirk

Aquaman
Ant-Man
Elastic Lad
Quicksilver
Vibe
Squirel Girl
Matter Eater Lad
She Thing

Inferior Five
Great Lakes Avengers

(Somebody had to give the "complete asshole answer"

You did see everyone's love artist, JRjr, right?

Most of them post 1980 aren't reliable enough. I love Frank Cho's, Bill Willingham's, Mark Buckingham's, Ethan Van Sciver's, Greg Horn's, and some other's art, but most of the more recent artists depend on good colorists. For writers, Dan Slott, Jeff Parker, Bill Willingham, Neil Gaimen, Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, Bill Messner, and a few others.

No, I like some of the more recent creators, but their stuff doesn't have the energy that the old artists had.

Damn! THAT'S GREAT!

Replace Doom Patrol with Teen Titans, and I like Jay's choices very much.

Ocean did a very smart and realistic thing by having artist who aren't reliable band together to get out 12 issues a year. I'll modify by own list then--

Spider-Man will be drawn by Steve Rude, Joe Madureira and Steve McNiven.

Superman will be drawn by both Mike Allred and Frank Quitely.

Iron Man will be by Jim Lee and the current Invincible Iron Man artist (can't think of his name).

Supergirl will be by J. Scott Campbell and Adam Warren

Batgirl will be by Frank Cho, Adam Hughes and the artist who drew Kevin Smith's Black Cat mini (drawing another blank).

And replace Tim Sale on Batman with John Romita JR. (can't believe I forgot my favorite Marvel artist!).

Tim Sale will alternate with Sprouse on the Captain Marvel Family.

Invincible Iron Man artist is Sal Larocca.

Black Cat artist was Terry Dodson.

Ooh... Steve Rude is awesome. Terry Dodson did the Spider-Man/Black Cat miniseries, as well as Wonder Woman and is a current artist on X-Men. J. Scott Campbell's art is awesome, when we get it. He just doesn't come out with much at a time.

Oh, and Chris Sprouse has an awesome history of art, so I would love to see his take on the Marvel Family.