DC x AEW Delivers Tag Team Action Across Space and Time

To us wrestling fans, the talent are superheroes. Every week they not only lay their bodies on the line to entertain us but they perform feats of strength, agility and speed that appear superhuman to mere mortals sitting on the couch.

Therefore, it just makes sense to combine both worlds and that is what DC Comics has done. In DC x AEW, the superstars of AEW tag team with heroes from the DC universe. Like the current Spider-Man & Wolverine from Marvel or Batman / Superman: World’s Finest or Batman and Robin from DC, DC x AEW is a team-up book.

A proverbial fecal fiesta breaks out when the Wrestling Across The Multiverse Intergalactic Championship is destroyed by defeated champion Starshame. She rather bash it to bits than hand it over to Mercedes Mone, apparently. The broken pieces are scattered around the universe and as the investigating Justice League discovers, those pieces in the wrong hands could rewrite history as we know it.

Since AEW was hosting the W.A.M. event their superstars, led by Mone, demand to be part of the recovery effort across space and time. With Booster Gold and Excalibur on commentary, the teams do their best Repo Man impressions, tracking down the shards while battling villains or obstacles in their way. Orange Cassidy and Harley Quinn take on The Royal Flush Gang. Zatanna and Toni Storm outwit Johnny Sorrow, and yes, Storm’s infamous shoe comes into play. Batman and Darby Allin match wits with The Joker, etc.

The team-ups brainstormed by writer Steve Orlando, who has written everything from Wonder Woman to Justice League United, are a lot of fun. The clashing or fusing of the personalities is entertaining for a variety of reasons. I enjoyed Green Lantern John Stewart and Swerve Strickland’s segment as they both have military backgrounds and relied on those skills to defeat Demios and his dinosaurs. John Moxley and Green Lantern Guy Gardner were a good fit as, well, they are both roughnecks and bloody jerks at times. Wonder Woman and Willow Nightingale were so good you kind of wish they had their own series. Maybe? One day?

The best moment though is this back and forth:

Batman: Stay alert, Mr. Allin. Once it starts, they’ll be at our throats.
Darby Allin: Good. And save your pep talk. I only take advice from one man and he’s not here.

Like any wrestling angle though, there is a big twist at the end setting up what could be a massive confrontation when The Justice League Elite is back next issue! Whomever the Justice League Elite is. The Young Bucks and The Wonder Twins? Who knows?

The art by Travis Mercer and the coloring by Andrew Dalhouse is surprising good and what I mean by that is usually these kinds of miscellaneous, limited series don’t always receive the time and attention they deserve. Those special projects are rushed and pushed out the door as quickly as possible. However, everything about DC x AEW is the same or even better quality than you would see in a monthly title especially the page design and action sequences by Mercer who is an up‑and‑coming artist. This could very well be his best work to date.

What does drag the book down a bit though is that because there are so many duos, each team only has a few pages devoted to their adventure. A lot happens in those few panels but it would have been more satisfying if those segments were given more time to breath and shine.

DC X AEW defies expectations on every level. Like a Minoru Suzuki match, it is sudden, sharp and full of action.

It is on sale now at your local or online comic shop.