Muhammad Ali: 1942-2016.
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If you were not alive in 1978 — or old enough to remember — it’s hard to put into perspective just how huge a personality Muhammad Ali was. He wasn’t just a sports star, he was an everything star.
So in its way, it made perfect sense that DC Comics would land The Greatest to fight the greatest superhero in a tabloid edition for the ages.
Neal Adams, as comics’ biggest star, provided the pencils and adapted Denny O’Neil’s original story. Dick Giordano and Terry Austin inked it.
The highlight was the cover itself, which featured dozens of luminaries, real and imagined. The scope was clear: If this fight actually happened, everyone who was anyone would be there — including the President of the United States.
The winner? (SPOILER ALERT) Ali, by knockout. (There’s a red sun involved and aliens and, oh, just go read it.)
Muhammad Ali has died. There will never be another quite like him.
Here are 13 images related to his battle with Superman, culled from the internet:
A poster of the cover, with some of the trade dress removed. Check out those caricatures… Brilliant. Click for a Supersize version.
Joe Kubert’s original
It was translated in many other countries, including the Netherlands.
In Sweden, they even swapped in other luminaries.
Adams’ ESPN: The Magazine re-do from 2000
DC Direct statue
June 4, 2016
The Comic book ever for got this comic when it first came out
June 5, 2016
EXCELLENT image selection, Dan G! For more on the BG of the project, check out my 1999 interview with Neal about Supes-Ali: http://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/spali.html