In "Our Lives Together," I spotlight some of the more interesting examples of shared comic book universes. You know, crossovers that aren't exactly crossovers.

Today, we look at the 1989 Superman/Flash race!

The original Superman/Flash race was one of the earliest examples of comic book fandom seeing their debates make it into the comic books themselves. Jim Shooter was just 16 years old when he wrote the first race between Superman and Flash in Superman #199. "Who is faster - Superman and Flash?" was the sort of thing fans cared about but probably never really occurred to John Broome, Jerry Siegel or the other longtime DC Comics writers of the era.

After the death of Barry Allen in Crisis on Infinite Earths, the former Kid Flash, Wally West, took on his uncle's legacy and became the Flash. Thus, it was only natural that eventually he and Superman would follow in the rather speedy footsteps of Barry's uncle and Superman (Superman and Barry Allen raced a couple of other times after that original Superman issue).

Their race took place in late 1989 in Adventures of Superman #463 by Dan Jurgens and Art Thibert...

As you might imagine, such a race would be a BIG deal, even in the DC Universe, so in a cool tie-in, that month's issue of Hawk and Dove showed Hank Hall, Dawn Granger and their friends Kyle Spenser and Donna Cabot and Hank's girlfriend, Ren Takamori, attending the race at Georgetown University. Writers Barbara and Karl Kesel (along with artists Greg Guler and Scott Hanna) use this opportunity for some character work with Hank's girlfriend, Ren, showing how out of control she could be at times...

Hawk and Dove editor Michael Eury used to work with then-Superman editor Mike Carlin, so that's likely what led to this cute tie-in.

If YOU have a suggestion for an interesting piece of shared continuity, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!