Back in the 90s, a crazy thing happened. DC and Marvel got along to the point where they actually teamed-up for some crazy, kick-ass comics. For those of you who aren't old enough to remember or for some reason weren't reading comics at the time, DC Versus Marvel was HUGE! I mean, it was the thing that every comic book fan had been clamoring for and would debate about ad nauseam. Finally, we would get to see which heroes would win against another property's heroes and then we got pissed because there was no winner between Batman and Captain America. Anyway, for some fun one-shots, both companies put out comics under the Amalgam Comics banner and featured the combinations of characters from both Marvel and DC. It was a good time and my boy brain could barely handle the excitement. So for this installment of Top 5 Fridays, I figured I'd look back and list the Amalgam Comics that made me shake uncontrollably with glee. Let's check it out and remember the 90's fondly...
5. Lobo The Duck
I didn't expect a ton out of this one...Lobo and Howard the Duck?!? Just give me an action-packed good time with lots of cussin' and fightin' You know what? That's what we got! You really don't have to know much about Lobo or Howard to like this one, but if you do (and are a fan of both), this is a no-brainer. The worst part about this one is when it's over, you want more and more! Unfortunately, that just isn't going to happen anytime soon, but you can always crack it open now and again just to laugh at the craziest cigar smoking alien duck ever.
4. Bruce Wayne Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
It really made sense to me that if Bruce Wayne existed in a more Marvel-like Universe that he would become an agent of Shield and avenge his parent's deaths using a government agency. I told you that I complained about Grayson but that was before the comic actually came out and before I fell in love with it. Fanboys are the worst, aren't they? Just a really fun spy title, that combined characters from both universes...like every other comic in this line but for some reason felt the need to tell you again and now I want to go back and reread it. It also doesn't hurt that Tony Stark is the Q to Bruce Wayne's Bond. So cool. If you read Tom King and Tim Seeley's run on Grayson, this book will make perfect sense to you!
3. Magneto and The Magnetic Men
This one was a no-brainer for me as a kid because Magneto was one of the coolest badasses around back then and teaming him up with robots he controlled, just brilliant...plus when I was a kid, I always read the title as Magneto and The Metal Men. Maybe I was just seeing what I wanted to see or maybe I was just a shit reader but it didn't matter because that's essentially what we got by combining the Metal Men with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Magneto and his team would go out and fight for the meta-mutant cause and man it was a good time. Come on DC and Marvel, bring back The Amalgam Universe!
2. JLX
During the time of the Amalgam Universe, I was a huge Marvel fan and loved me the hell out of Uncanny X-Men. The only DC books I would pick up would be the Justice League of America and Green Lantern, so when JLX came out, I damn near had a heart attack. Combining two of my favorite things from both companies and shoving it down my throat. Not only did we get an origin to a team with this but we saw the members leave their previous team to start JLX and then we saw the JLA (Judgement League Avengers) have to fight against their former allies the new Justice League X-Men. I know a lot of people complain about the over saturation of comics in the 90's leading to the market crash, but man was it a good time to be a comic book fan. Unless you're the cynical sort that only remembers the bad times. Knock that shit off.
1. Spider-Boy
Look at that costume! That's the 90's right there and man is it badass! Okay, I promise I won't talk about the 90's anymore. More than anything else that the Amalgam Universe offered us, Spider-Boy was the thing that I NEEDED to have. My entire life I've been a huge Spider-Man fan and seeing this cloned boy with gravity powers that allowed him to jump high and walk up walls and sporting an actual web shooter was just what I needed when these one-shots came out. As it was back when Amalgam Comics first came out, Spider-Boy is my favorite comic from the line, I also think that it's because of this comic that I became interested in Superboy and for that alone; I owe this comic a lot. Honestly, though, there isn't much to this story except for actually just combining Spider-Man and Superboy. He's a clone that was created using half of Super Soldier's DNA and a half from a researcher named Peter Parker and he decided to avenge his adopted father's murder by putting on a costume and he made a living by selling pictures of Spider-Boy. It's that simple and somehow it's awesome. Hell, the tagline alone sells the comic in my mind. "With Great Power Comes Great Possibilities!"
This is what I was looking for and lucky enough to drop here. I want to let you know about my opinion and how it will impact the brand.
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