Unofficial cross-overs had happened before. In 1972 writers Steve Englehart (Marvel) and len Wein (DC) began a series of unofficial cross-overs when they intertwined a storyline in the pages of The Avengers, Justice League of America, Batman, Amazing Adventures and Thor. This crossover followed the misadventures of the real world writers as they appeared at the annual Rutland Halloween Parade, and also featured artist Neal Adams subtly inserting Marvel characters into DC books. Then in 1975 the two companies officially dipped their toes in the water by producing an adapation of The Wizard of Oz, written by Roy Thomas and drawn by John Buscema and Tony DeZungia. This went largely unnoticed, mainly due to the subject matter. The calls in fan circles for comics featuring the likes of Superman battling the Hulk, Batman and Spider-Man, the Avengers and the Justice League and more were too irresistible so the companies announced that, in 1976, Superman would officially meet The Amazing Spider-Man. After negotiation the creative team was settled and duly announced. The book would be created by people from both Marvel and DC in a fair split. Writing the book was DC employee Gerry Conway (at that stage the only man to have written both Superman and Spider-Man for any length of time), the penciller would be Marvel artist Ross Andru (the only man to have drawn both characters at that stage) and the book would be inked by freelancer, but then working for DC, artist Dick Giordano (pretty much the pre-eminent inker of any era). The rest of the duties would also be split between the companies, with the whole thing overseen by editors Stan Lee (Marvel) and Carmine Infantino (DC). Infantino would also lay-out and pencil the cover for Andru to follow. As the contracts were being finalised, Ross asked for the inker to be his partner, Mike Esposito. It made sense, Ross had pencilled both Superman and Spider-Man, and Mike had inked him on both characters, as well as inking others such as Curt Swan (Superman) and John Romita (Spider-Man). This would upset the balance though, but Ross was insistent. Unfortunately other people would push their agendas into play.