What was the first multi issue multi hero arc?

I am reading a lot of the older comics. And I am seeing heroes/characters appear in each other titles. Spiderman and Torch in Strange Tales, Doctor Doom in Spiderman 5, Ant Man in an issue of Fantastic Four, Hulk in Fantastic Four, Daredevil in Spiderman 16 etc.. But what was the first arc that had heroes from one book continue the story in the book of another hero? Like Daredevil having a story start in his book but carry over to Fantastic Four?

I at first thought the crossover where The Fantastic Four and Avengers battle the Hulk but that was a two parter in FF 25 and 26.

So please my friends help me out :)

I don't know if you specifically are referring to Marvel, but Fawcett had a 1941 story of Captain Marvel vs Spy Smasher which went through several issues. DC also had Zatanna search for her father through a few various issues of Silver Age DC superhero books. As for Marvel itself, I'm leaning towards Avengers Vs Defenders which was early seventies, but I wouldn't bet on it being the actual first from Marvel. There is also the Subby vs. Torch story from way back which could only be a two parter as well.

[QUOTE=CaptCleghorn;5319735]I don't know if you specifically are referring to Marvel, but Fawcett had a 1941 story of Captain Marvel vs Spy Smasher which went through several issues. DC also had Zatanna search for her father through a few various issues of Silver Age DC superhero books. As for Marvel itself, I'm leaning towards Avengers Vs Defenders which was early seventies, but I wouldn't bet on it being the actual first from Marvel. There is also the Subby vs. Torch story from way back which could only be a two parter as well.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. I do remember those issues and have read them. I thought the Captain Marvel Spy Smasher really dragged on.


I was thinking mostly silver age and beyond Marvel. Sorry I should have been more clear.

You have a couple of candidates.

There was a short Namor storyline in 1966 involving Iron Man and Warlord Krang that crossed between Tales to Astonish & Tales of Suspense. But that's really more of a brief guest appearance as part of the storyline:

Tales to Astonish #79–87, Tales of Suspense #79–80

A more traditional crossover was between Daredevil & the FF in 1968 when Doom swapped bodies with Matt Murdock:

Daredevil #37–38, Fantastic Four #73

[QUOTE=DigiCom;5320095]You have a couple of candidates.

[B]There was a short Namor storyline in 1966 involving Iron Man and Warlord Krang that crossed between Tales to Astonish & Tales of Suspense. But that's really more of a brief guest appearance as part of the storyline:

Tales to Astonish #79–87, Tales of Suspense #79–80[/B]

A more traditional crossover was between Daredevil & the FF in 1968 when Doom swapped bodies with Matt Murdock:

Daredevil #37–38, Fantastic Four #73[/QUOTE]

For Marvel, this is correct. It's a fairly even bet that Namor did it first when it comes to Marvel. ;p

For comics in general, however, it's a non-Marvel Golden Age story appeared in Pep Comics and Top Notch Comics in 1940... Brian Cronin did an article about it here.

[url]https://www.cbr.com/first-cross-title-comic-book-crossover/[/url]

This thread makes me want to go re-read all of the old Marvel Two-in-One stories. They were basically self-contained crossovers where the Thing would team up with one character in one issue, followed by another character in the following issue, followed by another character still in subsequent issues until the story arc culminated. And usually in that final issue of the arc, you'd have all of the heroes assembled to take down the bad guy(s). Ahhh, the good ol' days.

[QUOTE=JudicatorPrime;5323654]This thread makes me want to go re-read all of the old Marvel Two-in-One stories. They were basically self-contained crossovers where the Thing would team up with one character in one issue, followed by another character in the following issue, followed by another character still in subsequent issues until the story arc culminated. And usually in that final issue of the arc, you'd have all of the heroes assembled to take down the bad guy(s). Ahhh, the good ol' days.[/QUOTE]

The Marvel Two-In-One Annual with Spider-Man was where the Avengers and Adam Warlock beat Thanos for the first time.
Good stuff.

[QUOTE=JudicatorPrime;5323654]This thread makes me want to go re-read all of the old Marvel Two-in-One stories. They were basically self-contained crossovers where the Thing would team up with one character in one issue, followed by another character in the following issue, followed by another character still in subsequent issues until the story arc culminated. And usually in that final issue of the arc, you'd have all of the heroes assembled to take down the bad guy(s). Ahhh, the good ol' days.[/QUOTE]

I loved that book when I was a kid. It had the ever entertaining Ben Grimm, and then all these different characters! It was a great introduction to the MU. I also bought Marvel Team-Up for similar reasons, though I wasn't a big fan of Spidey.

I think they are issuing Epic Collections on Two in One. I should try to pic those up.