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Comics 411: Speculation On A Return of the Amalgam Universe

December 16, 2022 | Posted by Steve Gustafson
Amalgam Comics Image Credit: Marvel & DC Comics

Welcome back! I’m Steve Gustafson and if you enjoy discussing anything comic book related, you’ve come to the right place. Each week we cover something in the industry and I always enjoy your input in the comment section below.

Previously on…


 
Last time we discussed our Favorite Comic Books from the 90s. Here’s what some of you had to say:

Madness74: “Lobo came into his own with all those goofy mini-series, but i read them all! X-Men & Spidey were kings. Image took off. I liked Wild Cats, Shadowhawk, Spawn. Ultraverse Nightman was a favorite as well.”

Prez Gar: “DC’s two big non-crossover events, The Death of Superman and Knightfall.
Jim Lee’s X-Men, the biggest selling comic of all time.
Amazing Spider-Man 361-363, the debut of Carnage.
The X-Men storyline Fatal Attraction. The revelation of Wolverine’s bone claws and the set-up for Onslaught.”

Chad Kuhns: “Kingdom Come is seminal reading if you are a comic book fan. It goes a little astray at certain points, but it’s still damn near the apex of DC storytelling and art on a page.”

JJ McClure: “Alan Moore’s output in the late 90’s was ridiculous. Along with the aforementioned League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, he also started work on Top 10, Tom Strong and Promethea. Hell, he did 1963 in the early 90’s and that’s a great book as well.

I’d also like to give a shout out to Adrian Tomine’s Optic Nerve, as it’s the book that got me into Indy comics, which I’m still a fan of today.”

D2Kvirus:Well of course I’m going to say Preacher…

After that, I’d add Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, Uzumaki, The Invisibles, Lenore, Tomie, Shi”

Cruel Angel: “Dont forget the rise of the ‘bad girls’ in the 90s as well: Razor, Lady Death, Shi, Kabuki, Witchblade, Vengeance of Vampirella, etc

The main thing the 90s did for me was to finally give up on X-Men. Too many X titles, limited series, and event crossovers.

My top favorites of the decade:
Kingdom Come and Kabuki”

Peter: “I always hoped someone would turn Marvels into a movie, or into a miniseries. I would prefer a movie. And tried to recapture the vibe the comic-book had, the kind of nostalgia, or melancholy. I always thought that if any comic-book adaptation has Academy Award potential, it’s this one – the juxtaposition of the photographer Phil Sheldon’s normal life and on the background all the iconic moments from Marvel history now seen through a completely different lens.

There was a certain sense of poignancy almost to it, helped by Alex Ross’ really beautiful artwork. All the superhero battles and happenings seemed so alien, almost pointless from the perspective of normal people just trying to live their lives in a world like this, you felt how powerless the people are towards what these superbeings do, but how they’re still so affected by it.

If someone really able directed it and decided not to make it just another comic-book movie, it could be really special (someone who can ground it but keep it still interesting like Nolan, Coen brothers, Guillermo del Toro, or Denis Villeneuve or IDK James Gray).”

Spacecowboy: “Long Halloween
Legends of the Dark Knight
Justice League Tower of babel
Thunderbolts vol 1
Not as big a fan of Kingdom Come as others but the art is fantastic.”

Too many great comments to list! Thank you to everyone who commented last week!

This week we ask…

Is the Amalgam Universe Coming Back?

You remember the Amalgam Universe right? The Amalgam Universe made its debut in 1996 and is Marvel and DC’s shared universe where the characters are fusions of heroes from both companies. Superman plus Captain America gives us Super-Soldier. We got others like Darkclaw, Amazon, Speed Demon, and Iron Lantern. 

Marvel and DC haven’t crossed over in a while but that seems like it could be changing as DC’s Dark Crisis: Big Bang #1 gives us a little clue that we’ll be returning to that Universe.

In Dark Crisis: Big Bang #1 by Mark Waid Dan Jurgens, the Flash and Kid Flash are looking for the Anti-Monitor, who Barry Allen fears is out to destroy the recently resurrected infinite universes. They journey across several worlds in the reconstructed multiverse, noting the new worlds and their relation to Barry and Wallace’s home of Earth-0. The heroes find the Anti-Monitor, but thanks to the combined efforts of the heroes of DC’s Multiverse, they successfully contain him in a negative cosmos. At the end of Barry’s journey, he documents the strange worlds he’s come across. 

Here’s where it gets interesting. One is designated as Earth-1996, a home to “mysterious “amalgamated” heroes” that needs to be investigated.

What does this mean? Not much right now but I, for one, would love a real crossover between the two. While the first go around was nice, I felt they left a lot of meat on the bone and I hope they explore more of the possibilities of mixing the two. I’d especially be interested if they mixed together previous events DC and Marvel did and give us storylines like ‘Crisis on Days of Future Past’, ‘Secret Wars: Whatever Happened to the Heroes of Tomorrow?’, and ‘House of Flash’. Something like that. 

What do you think? 

That’s all the time I have. See you next week!