Crossovers that may never happen, but should

I'm a collector, not of comic books (I'd rather read 'em than preserve 'em), but of superheroes who are no longer in the spotlight. I have books starring characters whose names would make some of the most rabid comics fans say, 'Who?'

Some of thses heroes would make for excellent crossover stories with Marvel heroes. While I realize this may never happen (partly because some of them came from comic companies that are now defunct), I've composed a list of the ones I'd like to see paying a visit to the MU:

THUNDERBUNNY: This creation of Martin L. Greim looks like a long-eared parody of the original Captain Marvel, but he's actually a lot more 'human' and the stories a little more down to earth

<< T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS: These members of The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves would be a natural to work alongside the Avengers. >>

DC recently released an Archives of their early issues. Several attempts have been made since the early 80s to revive them with little success. The best was by a short-lived company called Deluxe Comics who recruited a number of big names to write and draw the characters including Steve Englehart, George Perez, Keith Giffen, Steve Ditko, Dave Cockrum, and Jerry Ordway. Between the fact that DC is reprinting the original Tower Comics books, and the problems in dealing with the supposed current rights owner about new material, Marvel probably wouldn't touch them.

<< THE SHIELD: This MLJ character may look like an imitation of Captain America, but in fact Joe Higgins was fighting crooks and saboteurs *before* Steve Rogers got started (PEP COMICS #1, Jan. 1940). Still active today (as a result of being 'preserved' after WW2, just like CA) and a member of the Mighty Crusaders, the Shield could fit easily into the Marvel Universe. >>

Actually, there are TWO Shields from MLJ, one of which is a Simon/Kirby version. Considering the lawsuit currently going on with Joe Simon, don't hold your breath.

My personal hope would be to see Doc Savage (who Marvel already integrated into the Marvelverse in the 70s) and The Shadow (maybe appearing with The Invaders in 30s-40s stories), but Conde Nast/Advance wants so much money for rights that it wouldn't happen.

[SNIP INTERESTING LIST.]

Assuming that you are excluding any characters from DC from the list, I would recommend:

Arizona Aztec Ace Eliza Maza Fly-Girl Jaguar God Laura Moonsong Pike Luba Ms. Tree NoMan Rainmaker Raven (THUNDER Agent) Renegade Spawn Ripclaw Silverback Snowman The Jaguar (Ralph Hardy) The Shield (Lance Strong) Tishominga Twelvetrees Tongue & Lash Turok (Son Of Stone) Victorio Santana Xel & Xoc

- - - - Todd Tamanend Clark Poet/Composer/Multi-Instrumentalist/Reverse Anthropologist Primal Pulse (Label-Publisher-Studio) The Monongahela River, Turtle Island

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Owls In Obsidian (CD: Instrumental, 2000) http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ttc

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I'd like to see Cap'n America team up with Next Man from Comico...