Optimus Prime as a Green Lantern? A “Bat-Former”? The mind boggles….

The history of comics, much like film, television, and literature, is littered with the remains of projects that either failed to get off the ground or were halted at the legal negotiation stage. One such project is a Justice League/Transformers crossover that was to be drawn by celebrated artist Phil Jimenez (Infinite Crisis, The Invisibles), who also pitched the project. Ultimate Spider-Man scribe Brian Michael Bendis first mentioned the mighty comics crossover that never was on his Tumblr page recently, posting an epic conception by Jimenez of what the project would have looked like had it come to fruition.

You can check that art out here below.

Following the Tumblr post by Bendis, Jimenez revealed a few tantalizing details about the unrealized crossover on his Twitter feed.

Star Trek – Legion of Super-Heroes #2
Written by Chris Roberson
Pencils by Jeffrey Moy
Inks by Philip Moy
Colors by Romulo Fajardo, Jr.
Covers by Phil Jimenez, Steve Lightle, Gabriel Rodriguez
IDW Publishing
Release Date: November 9th, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

In this second issue of Star Trek Legion of Super-Heroes, the story is primarily the characters figuring out just WHAT is wrong with their situations. While the first issue was mostly setting up the characters — who they were, where they come from, what there motivation is — this issue delves deeper into the story about just why things are the was they are.

Writer Chris Roberson does a fantastic job on characterization again in this issue. I’m a bigger Star Trek fan than Legion fan, but he doesn’t make the Legion characters seem at all foreign to me. He moves the story along at a good pace, lots of action, lots of reveals, and manages to make the whole thing NOT boring like so many crossover comics are. This is not a “wait for them to fight” book, it tells a valid story that is completely believable in both universes.

Star Trek–Legion of Super-Heroes #1
Written by Chris Roberson
Pencils by Jeffery Moy
Inks by Philip Moy
Colors by Romulo Fajardo, Jr.
Letters by Robbie Robbins
Covers by Phil Jimenez, Keith Giffen, Gabriel Rodriguez
IDW Publishing
Release Date: October 19, 2011
Cover Price: $3.99

OK, I’ll be honest with you, my audience. This is by FAR the hardest review that I’ve had to write for Geeks of Doom to date, for two simple reasons. One, admittedly, my knowledge of the Legion of Super-Heroes is somewhat limited. And two, the way this comic is written, it’s going to be almost impossible for me not to go into spoiler territory. But, I’ll do my best.

First, my hat’s off to writer Chris Roberson. He’s done a great job of taking two mega popular franchises and made them blend seamlessly into one cohesive, fast-paced, entertaining story.

After finding out how much of a fan Barack Obama was of comic books and specifically, Spider-Man, Marvel made sure that they got to work on an issue where the two meet up.

In conjunction with the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama, Marvel is teaming up the President-Elect with the everyone’s favorite webslinging superhero in Amazing Spider-Man #583, “Spidey Meets the President!”

The story, written by Zeb Wells with art by Todd Nauck and Frank D’Armata, occurs in Washington, D.C. on Inauguration Day, where an old Spidey nemesis will try to thwart the swearing in ceremony of the 44th President of the United States.

The issue #583 will be on sale at comic shops on January 14, 2009, and will also have a special variant cover featuring Obama and Spidey by artist Phil Jimenez.