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- NARRATOR: We're so
used to seeing Marvel and DC dominate our pop culture
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00:00:03,228 --> 00:00:04,898
that we forget there was time
when this wasn't always the case.
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00:00:07,816 --> 00:00:10,576
Not long ago, comic books
were thought of as kids' stuff,
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00:00:10,569 --> 00:00:12,649
and anyone older than ten who
was still reading them was a freak.
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00:00:14,823 --> 00:00:17,663
But even as older fans found
ways to meet and support each other...
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00:00:17,659 --> 00:00:20,159
many remained divided by
which publisher had their allegiance,
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00:00:20,162 --> 00:00:21,952
DC or Marvel.
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- Who do you think would win
in a fist fight?
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00:00:25,375 --> 00:00:28,175
- NARRATOR: There was one fan
though, in the unlikeliest of places,
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00:00:28,170 --> 00:00:31,840
who helped inspire a
clandestine collaboration to unite Marvel and DC.
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00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:33,000
And this fan
did it all...
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- [softly] I'm Batman
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- NARRATOR: ...while
wearing tights.
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♪
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Tom Fagan was a
huge comic book fan.
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And every years he
threw a big superhero-themed Halloween parade
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00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:50,310
in Rutland,
Vermont.
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00:00:50,317 --> 00:00:53,237
He'd get people to dress up
as Spider-Man, and Joker, and Doctor Doom,
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and put them
all on floats.
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- To have a parade
that celebrated superheroes
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and allowed adults, of all
people, to dress up as them--
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That was unheard of.
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- I can't imagine that the
people in Rutland, Vermont
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00:01:04,873 --> 00:01:08,163
were less than bewildered
by what was going on.
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A low-scale comic book
Woodstock. [chuckles]
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00:01:11,379 --> 00:01:13,539
- NARRATOR: Tom was
always the grand marshal of the parade.
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- [knocking on door]
- Yeah.
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- Hey, Tom. All
ready when you are.
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- CONWAY: It may well be the
first real public appearance of cosplay.
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- In 1969, my wife Jean
and I went up there...
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and we wore the costumes--
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I was Spider-Man and
she was Invisible Girl.
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We just all had
a good time.
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And so I decided to write a
story that was set at the Rutland Parade.
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I wrote Tom Fagan in.
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The only problem was Tom
Fagan was always wearing a Batman costume.
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- NARRATOR: Since Roy
worked for Marvel...
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Tom's customary Batman
costume would have ruffled DC's feathers.
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So he got around the
problem by making Tom into Nighthawk.
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[gasps]
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- NARRATOR: Now
that Tom's superfandom
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had made it all the way
to the pages of the comics themselves,
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buzz about these
parties in Rutland began to spread amongst the comic
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- STARLIN: This
was just a chance for a bunch f geeks to come out of the
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00:02:10,397 --> 00:02:12,357
and have a good time
and party together.
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00:02:12,357 --> 00:02:15,407
It sort of became
legendary on that fact.
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00:02:15,402 --> 00:02:17,822
- Over the next couple of years,
just, more people started coming.
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00:02:17,821 --> 00:02:19,111
Plus, a number of professionals.
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00:02:20,740 --> 00:02:23,780
- ENGLEHART: One day, a
couple of people from Marvel ad DC
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00:02:23,785 --> 00:02:26,165
decided to go up there
and see this thing.
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- There was division, you know.
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00:02:27,789 --> 00:02:30,039
You were either a Marvel writer
or a DC writer.
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00:02:30,041 --> 00:02:31,621
But we all
partied together.
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00:02:31,626 --> 00:02:33,886
We all hung out together.
We were all friends.
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We were driving up in Steve
Englehart's car and halfway up...
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- [mimicking metallic scraping]
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- CONWAY: ...the
muffler fell off.
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Which did not bode well
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00:02:41,845 --> 00:02:45,515
when we were actually
fairly high on mescaline.
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00:02:45,515 --> 00:02:47,855
It was a continuous
party. [laughs]
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00:02:47,851 --> 00:02:49,891
I mean, there was a lot of
drinking, there was a lot of partying,
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00:02:49,895 --> 00:02:52,355
there was a lot of
illegal substances.
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00:02:52,355 --> 00:02:55,105
- ENGLEHART: I
distinctly remember how weird t was.
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00:02:55,108 --> 00:02:57,278
We went out to some
mansion that Fagan--
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Either he lived in
or he had rented for a party.
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00:02:59,905 --> 00:03:02,825
And everybody
was in a costume.
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00:03:02,824 --> 00:03:05,824
- STARLIN: Late into
the night, the beer kept coming.
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00:03:05,827 --> 00:03:09,207
Somebody, unfortunately,
found a bottle at one point...
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00:03:09,205 --> 00:03:11,335
that turned out to be urine.
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00:03:11,333 --> 00:03:14,173
- We were just saying, you know,
"This was such a weird experience.
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00:03:14,169 --> 00:03:16,539
We have to find some way
to memorialize it.
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00:03:16,546 --> 00:03:18,506
And wouldn't it be cool?"
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00:03:18,506 --> 00:03:22,176
And most of the dangerous things
that happen in comics start with...
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00:03:22,177 --> 00:03:23,267
"Wouldn't it be cool?"
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00:03:23,261 --> 00:03:26,641
♪
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00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:30,390
"Wouldn't it be cool if we
did a story that involved the three of us
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00:03:30,393 --> 00:03:33,523
across three different
books published by two differet companies?"
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00:03:33,521 --> 00:03:36,351
- Jerry wrote for Marvel
but Len wrote for DC.
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00:03:36,358 --> 00:03:38,158
But we said, "We can do this."
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00:03:38,151 --> 00:03:40,781
And so we worked out this plot.
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00:03:40,779 --> 00:03:44,399
Me and Gerry and Len
and Glynis in the car with no muffler...
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00:03:44,407 --> 00:03:46,457
[clanking, scraping]
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...wandering through
the background.
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00:03:48,578 --> 00:03:50,918
- NARRATOR: They
came up with a secret plan fora continuous story line
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00:03:50,914 --> 00:03:54,544
that would crossover
between both Marvel and DC titles.
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00:03:54,542 --> 00:03:57,502
Starting with The
Beast at Marvel, continuing in Marvel's Mighty Thor,
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00:03:57,504 --> 00:03:59,844
and then wrapping up
in DC's Justice League.
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00:03:59,839 --> 00:04:01,589
Without the greenlight
from their bosses,
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00:04:01,591 --> 00:04:03,551
the writers and artists
were taking a huge chance
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00:04:03,551 --> 00:04:06,051
trying to sneak these stories
throughout the three books.
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00:04:06,054 --> 00:04:09,104
- We didn't ell our
editors. [laughs]
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00:04:09,099 --> 00:04:11,559
- If you'd gotten the company
sued-- That would not have been a good thing.
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00:04:11,559 --> 00:04:14,639
- THOMAS: They just barely
somehow managed to do it...
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00:04:14,646 --> 00:04:18,026
so that DC didn't get too
offended, Marvel didn't get too offended.
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00:04:18,024 --> 00:04:19,484
- NARRATOR: Only
the savviest readers
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00:04:19,484 --> 00:04:21,904
were able to trace their
adventures across the books.
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00:04:21,903 --> 00:04:24,323
It was kind of just an inside
joke for the writers and artists.
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00:04:24,322 --> 00:04:26,612
But it was also
the first time ever
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00:04:26,616 --> 00:04:30,326
that fans got to see a
crossover between these iconic characters.
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00:04:30,328 --> 00:04:34,168
- There was a float that
had Superman, Batman, Spider-Man--
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00:04:34,165 --> 00:04:36,005
And, you know, Thor.
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- LE CLEAR: There's a
battle between Batman and Spider-Man.
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00:04:38,461 --> 00:04:40,501
And Spider-Man
and Green Lantern.
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00:04:40,505 --> 00:04:43,305
But you can see it's not
really-- It's just a guy in a Halloween costume.
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00:04:44,801 --> 00:04:48,011
One of the things that made
these parties so successful
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00:04:48,013 --> 00:04:49,973
is how welcome
everyone felt.
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00:04:49,973 --> 00:04:52,183
You walked into a world
where you could clearly see
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00:04:52,183 --> 00:04:55,063
that everyone felt the same
kind of passion as you did.
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00:04:55,061 --> 00:04:57,731
- One year, Tom actually had
a Nighthawk costume made.
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00:04:57,731 --> 00:05:00,151
And he wore that instead
of the Batman costume.
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00:05:00,150 --> 00:05:03,610
So it was life imitating art
imitating life, etc.
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00:05:03,611 --> 00:05:06,361
- NARRATOR: Tom's love of
superheroes was so pure and true
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00:05:06,364 --> 00:05:09,574
that his enthusiasm spread to
not only the people of Rutland...
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00:05:09,576 --> 00:05:12,166
but also to the comic
book creators themselves.
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00:05:12,162 --> 00:05:14,162
But every party
comes to an end.
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00:05:14,164 --> 00:05:16,624
Marvel and DC were
in fact rivals.
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00:05:16,624 --> 00:05:19,624
And the next few years saw a
tug of war between the two companies
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00:05:19,627 --> 00:05:22,847
until Marvel eventually
overtook DC in sales.
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00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:25,089
But just as Marvel got
used to being on top...
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00:05:25,091 --> 00:05:27,051
their foundations
started to crack,
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00:05:27,052 --> 00:05:29,552
and a legendary partnership
would fall apart.
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00:05:29,554 --> 00:05:30,724
- You're gonna love
this one, Stan.
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00:05:30,722 --> 00:05:32,762
♪
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00:05:32,812 --> 00:05:37,362
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