The Amalgam Age of Comics: The Marvel Comics Collection

The Amalgam Age of Comics

by Karl Kesel, Gerard Jones, John Ostrander

Trade paperback.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1996

About the author

Karl Kesel (Victor, New York) is an American comics writer and inker whose works have primarily been under contract for DC Comics. He is a member of Periscope Studio. In 2017, he started Panic Button Press with Tom Grummett to publish the creator-owned graphic novel Section Zero.

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy merged comics, nuff’ said!


I bought this in its single comic books, but I chosen this TPB edition to make a better overall review.


Combining both TPBs (the one of DC and the one of Marvel) those TPBs include: Amazon, Assassins, Doctor StrangeFate, JLX, Legends of the Dark Claw, Super Soldier, Bruce Wayne Agent of SHIELD, Bullets and Bracelets, Magneto and the Magnetic Men, Speed Demon, Spider-Boy, X-Patrol.


COMICS ASSEMBLE!

The Amalgam Comics was an unique project developed by both comic book publishers, DC & Marvel, literally merging their character to conceive new characters.

Since both house had decades of existences, on this special single issues, each story was written in the sense that there was one heck of previous issues in history and not necessarilly there was a conclussion since it was supposed to continue being published, but of course that was not the case, since it was a special event for a month.

Anything was possible in this Amalgam event like having Ororo Monroe as Princess of Themyscira or Bruce Wayne as an Agent of SHIELD; but also you can enjoy more ambitious mergings like Superman and Captain America resulting into Super-Soldier or Batman and Wolverine becoming Dark Claw; but even it was possible to have impredictable fusions like Deathstroke, the Terminator and Daredevil into the female Dare the Terminator!

One of the best comic books in this event (even I would dare to say that one of the best including the following sequel event at the next year (1997)) is Assassins where Dare the Terminator team-ups with Catsai (Catwoman plus Elektra) and they have to battle zillions of goons to reach the penthouse of the crimelord The Big Question (Kingpin plus The Riddler) that it’s adrenaline in paper in its most awesome sense!

The coolest new character is obviously Dark Claw since if Batman and Wolverine are the most popular and best-selling characters of each comic book house, the confluence of both have to provoke the squared effect.

While the reason to name the comic “X-Patrol” is due its the fusion of the X-Men and Doom Patrol, it was amusing that result since in Spain, the X-Men are called “La Patrulla X”, which is the very same title, only in Spanish, of this Amalgam version.

And certainly, the most essential (and easily the second best issue) in this first year (of two) of the Amalgam event is the one of Doctor StrangeFate (the awesome and magical fusion of Dr. Strange and Dr. Fate) since not only this character have two of the coolest assistants: The Skulk (The Hulk plus Solomon Grundy) and Jade Nova (quadruple fusion: Nova, Jade, Fire & Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)), but also, it was the only comic book in the event where they were aware that something odd was happening and that this Amalgam universe wasn’t supposed to exist.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

In what might have been the ultimate gimmick of the 90s, Marvel and DC mashed up their characters to make Amalgam comics. The various one-shots had varying degrees of quality, but they all conveyed a sense of fun and imagination. There was a lot of joy in these, and some of them even had interesting ideas. For that reason, 4/5

[Kitap Yakıcı · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the Amalgam Comics collections, the two modern American comics giants, DC and Marvel, "mash-up" their characters, major and minor, for a whole mess o'fun. One of the most enjoyable aspects of reading these comics is trying to tease apart the original characters and references. Some of the more awesome characters in this volume include Nick Fury's right-hand man, Bruce Wayne; Thanoseid (Thanos meets Darkseid, duh); Speed Demon (Ghost Rider meets Etrigan—hell yeah!); and Spider-Boy.

[Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun collection of mashups, if you're a comic fan they are worth reading for the novelty and joy and silliness of it all.

[Devero · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il volume raccoglie i sei albi prodotti dalla Marvel per la Amalgam nel 1996.

Speed Demon #1, di Mackie e Felder, per i disegni di Larroca e Milgrom. A parte i disegni, perché io sono uno di quelli a cui Larroca non è mai piaciuto, la storia fa abbastanza pena. Certo, riesce nel far supporre che ci sia tutta una lunga storia alle spalle, ma lo fa con troppa sufficienza. 1 stella.

Bullets and Bracelets #1, di Ostrander per i disegni di Gary Frank e Cam Smith. Tra le storie di tutti i 12 one-shot questa è senza dubbio la migliore per i disegni, ma anche quella più incisiva a livello di storia. Si ha davvero il senso che ci sia una lunga, drammatica ed epica storia alle spalle dei due protagonisti e, nel complesso, l'albo funziona molto bene e merita le 4 stelle.

Magneto and the Magnetic Men #1 di G. Jones e Waid, per i disegni di Matsuda e chine varie. Veramente scadente e oramai quasi illeggibile come storia, è di quelle invecchiate veramente male. 1 stella.

Spider-Boy #1, scritta da Kesel e disegnata da Wieringo. Tra le storie di questo albo si difende bene, ancora oggi è una storia tutta azione e divertimento godibile, col solo difetto di presentare un pò troppi personaggi in un colpo solo. Diciamo che siamo sulle 2 stelle e mezza.

X-Patrol #1, scritta dai coniugi Kesel e disegnata da Roger Cruz, è una storia anche interessante, ma non fa altro che ripercorrere la Doom Patrol con protagonisti dei mutanti. Nel complesso è riuscita abbastanza male, oggi poi questi disegni molto anni '90 sono davvero invecchiati male. 1 stella e mezza.

Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1 di Chuck Dixon e Cary Nord è una storia dinamica e tutto sommato quasi godibile anche oggi, peccato per la colorazione che è decisamente pesante e nasconde la buona opera di Nord. Dicimo 2 stelle.

Nel complesso l'albo arriva alle 2 stelle e mezza.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Six stories from the Amalgam Universe starring Bruce Wayne, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Diana Prince, the Punisher, Magneto and the Magnetic Men, Speed Demon, Spider-Boy and X-Patrol.

The Amalgam Universe was created by the merging of the Marvel and DC Universes in the 1996 event story 'Marvel Versus DC/DC Versus Marvel' (reviewed here), leading to major characters from both publishers being amalgamated into new ones. For example here, DC's Etrigan the Demon and the Flash are mashed-up with Ghost Rider to become the Speed Demon.

This is definitely the worse of the two anthologies of 'The Amalgam Age of Comics', with largely weaker stories but also less interesting mash-up characters. Also, as with that other book, the conceit that these stories are pretending to be part of larger ongoing series once again leaves the offerings here feeling unfinished and unsatisfying.

It's not all bad and the first and last stories on offer here are definitely the highlights.
The first features Bruce Wayne, the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. going on the offensive against the Green Skull, with his mentors Nick Fury and Sgt. Rock rushing to back him up. With the mantle of sort-of-Batman taken by Logan in the Amalgam Universe, I felt that head of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a really appropriate role for Bruce's personality.
The last story in the book stars X-Patrol, a mash-up of X-Force and Doom Patrol. Both of those original teams are ones I'm a fan of, so I found the adventures of Niles Cable's team to be pretty engaging.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.com/ *

[Neyebur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este tomo no tiene historias tan malas como "JLX" o "Assasins", pero carece de alguna tan buena como "Amazon", lo que lo hace menos entretenido.
Sorprendentemente la más interesante es la que parece tener el concepto más absurdo: "Speed Demon", el cruce entre Flash, Etrigan y el Motorista Fantama; tiene un comienzo interesante, pero pierde energía al final, haciéndose, como muchos otros, excecivamente complicado.
"Bruce Wayne, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D" queda detrás, dándonos otro cruce con Batman tras "Dark Claw", que podría servir como un universo alternativo, con Bruce Wayne haciéndose agente secreto en lugar de superhéroe.
"Bullets and Bracelets" debería no haberme gustado, pero es que parece más una parodia de las historias super complicadas, exageradas y violentas de ese momento que una que se tome en serio.
"Spider-Boy" podría haber resultado interesante, pero nos lanza en mitad de una historia que ya está ocurriendo, la historia se basa más en "reconozco a este personaje" y carácter del héroe protagonista es demasiado chulo para mí. Quizás la parte de Superboy se ha comido la humildad de Peter Parker.
"Magneto & The Magnetic Men" y "X-Patrol" nos dan dos historias aburridas pese a la exagerada acción y constantes explicaciones del pasado de cada personaje. Parece que cualquier personaje de Amalgam que tuviera algo que ver con los X Men no consigue captar mi interés con sus fabricadas mitologías.

[Ezma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall not as strong as DC’s offering, but there’s still stuff to enjoy here. Spider-Boy is great fun, Bullets and Bracelets surprisingly works, and Bruce Wayne Agent of SHIELD is entertaining. On the bad side, X-Patrol and Magneto and His Magnetic Men are mostly boring. They never offend but they never do enough to put a smile on your face. The real stinker here is Speed Demon. Poor art, overcomplicated character combinations, bad word balloon placement. It’s the one book of Amalgam so far that we actively disliked reading.

[Daniel Ballard · Rating 3 out of 5]

One review for all four Amalgam collections since I kind of just read them all in short order:

Fun. Hit or miss for quality in writing and art, but overall it was just a lot of fun. I wish that we could do a new round or two with the current style of writing and art which I think could be amazing. Anyway, worth checking out if you are a fan of both worlds.

[Andre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once again this acts as if several years have passed for these titles and all and it's just a joke of the writers… it comes with the package.

However that is not the problem. The problem is that these could have been really good stories but it seems this possibility was sacrificed on the altar of cliché comic-book writing. How much that was in the sory differed from title to title.

"Bruce Wayne, Agent of Shield" had some good emergency moments with its premise but the pay-off was kind of underwhelming to me. Also there were several plotholes both in the story itself and regarding the wider released Amalgam comic titles.

"Bullets and Bracelets" had the problem that one of its main characters should be way older than he looks as he was a soldier in the Vietnam War. Not to mention that both come along as pretty shitty parents. And the story really did not need all this expository dialogue, some boxes introducing the characters would have been enough. And I can get behind the Diana recognizing her son even though he looks so different but why his heart would stop his hand from killing her although he last say her before he could even crawl makes this look pretty stupid.

"Magneto and the Magnetic Men" is of course based on made-up science, but with its artificial heroes, their development and in many ways their backgrounds and premise would make for very good stories and sometimes it really shines here. But we still have tons of expository dialogue and even some inconsistencies to the wider Amalgam universe.
Not to mention that while the stile makes sense for the robots, the artist did not really match the pictures to the given descrition. Also it's all in all rather goofy and that probably kept it from being a good story.

The basic story of "Speed Demon" has some holes, and makes the protagonist and his antagonist look like idiots. Which is really sad since especially Speed Demon's design is one of my favourites in this comic. You have to admit that this design looks pretty bad-ass:

And this would make for excellent gothic storytelling and parts of it you see here, but not enough. Plus the comic seems to contradict itself. In the end it left me with too many questions.

"Spiderboy" was a fun little story, it was obviously meant to be this goofy and so the stile of storytelling and the more comic-like artstyle fits very well. This is one of those crazy stories with made-up science ala "evil DNA" and constant elements thrown into it and it was really enjoyable. Except for the constant expository dialogues and thought bubbles. They were annoying.

Now with "X-Patrol" I had the same problems as with Speed-Demon. The plot has too many holes and the characters make no sense. Sure they all have very interesting backstories, except the leader, but they hop on the heroes-train petty quickly and for me that is part of the problem since the reasons for joining that we were given are really stupid. And speaking of this, the allegedly oh so powerful villain of this was beaten way to easy. In my eyes these would be better for personal stories and not comic book "good vs. evil" plots like this.
And as you can probably guess, there was too much godman expository dialogue.

So all in all, these could have been really good stories, but by making them such cliché comic books, that chance was missed.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's really difficult to rate this collection over all, because each story within is really different. Some are extremely clever and entertaining, and some don't quite hit the mark. A great concept, regardless, and would be especially fun for those with a more encyclopedic knowledge of the Marvel and DC superhero comics. Being only a casual reader, I found the wiki entry on Amalgam characters extremely helpful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Amalgam_Comics_characters

[Drew Perron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything I said about the DC collection goes for this one too. But this one gets extra points, because it has the best story of the whole event: Spider-Boy! It's fun, it actually works as a standalone story, and it has an origin which blends Marvel and DC elements in such a perfect way as to create what must be considered a pun of a secret identity.

[Mandy Galileo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this is a fun read (a continuation of the other volume which has the other half of the DC/Marvel collaboration). :) A delight for the child at heart comic fan who dreamed of mashing up things.

[Centauri · Rating 4 out of 5]

they did not fail to deliver the wit needed for any title with spider in it (that is spider, as in spider-man). the ending was perfect and can't wait to see insect queen with an issue of her own :-)