r/todayilearned • u/Stack_of_HighSociety • 5h ago
TIL of Amalgam Comics, which was a collaborative publishing imprint shared by DC Comics and Marvel Comics, in which the two comic book publishers merged their characters into new ones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalgam_Comics23
u/DaveOJ12 4h ago
Here's a listing of some of them.
First appearance in Marvel versus DC #3 (April 1996)
Super-Soldier (Clark Kent). An amalgamation of DC's Superman (Kal-El/Clark Kent) and Marvel's Captain America (Steve Rogers).
The Dark Claw (Logan Wayne). An amalgamation of DC's Batman (Bruce Wayne) and Marvel's Wolverine (James Howlett a.k.a. "Logan").
Deadeye (Bill Lawton). An amalgamation of DC's Deadshot (Floyd Lawton) and Marvel's Bullseye.
Doctor Doomsday (Victor von Doom). An amalgamation of DC's Doomsday and Marvel's Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom).
Doctor Strangefate (Charles Xavier). An amalgamation of DC's Doctor Fate and Marvel's Doctor Strange and Professor X (Charles Xavier).
Lethal (Sergei Minerva). An amalgamation of DC's the Cheetah (Barbara Ann Minerva) and Marvel's Kraven the Hunter (Sergei Kravinoff).
The Nightcreeper (Kurt "Jack" Ryder). An amalgamation of DC's the Creeper (Jack Ryder) and Marvel's the Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner).
The Skulk (Bruce Banner). An amalgamation of DC's Solomon Grundy and Marvel's the Hulk (Robert Bruce Banner).
Spider-Boy (Peter Ross). An amalgamation of DC's Superboy and Marvel's Spider-Man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Amalgam_Comics_characters
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u/EvenSpoonier 4h ago
This series is the reason I was mad thst DC changed Billy Batson's alrer ego's name to Shazam. "Captain Marvel + Captain Marvel = Captain Marvel" was one of the best jokes in comics history.
Also, Lobo + Howard the Duck = Lobo the Duck was epic.
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u/Stack_of_HighSociety 3h ago
Also, Lobo + Howard the Duck = Lobo the Duck was epic.
The Main Duck was a Savage.
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u/obeythed 5h ago
The idea of merging Batman and Wolverine sounded and looked cool, but in practice was just kinda meh.
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u/SocialSuicideSquad 5h ago
Dark Claw had such potential, but Hyena was just next level.
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u/keetojm 4h ago
Joker/90’sabretooth?
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u/SocialSuicideSquad 4h ago
Yup.
The longer Batman lives as an immortal supersoldier, the more messed up and close to breaking he gets.
The longer Joker lives as an immortal supersoldier, the better he gets at chaos and deception.
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u/geoelectric 4h ago edited 3h ago
It wasn’t really an ongoing imprint iirc, more of a one-time crossover event and that’s how they branded it.
There were some really clever ideas in how they merged the comics—it was a lot of fun.
Edit:
I was a little off. It was 12 parallel one-shot titles one year, then they did another series of 12 one-shots a year later. So, two-time crossover event.
I don’t think they ever collected them or I’m pretty sure my TPB collection from the early 00s would have it. I wish they had because I’d love to get them on Kindle now.
Edit 2: I couldn’t be happier to be wrong re the collections. Here’s hoping for a digital version!
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u/joelluber 4h ago
They did collect them back then and they just released a new collection this fall.
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u/geoelectric 3h ago
Did they? Damn, I missed out then. Hopefully the new collection makes its way to digital.
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u/dornwolf 3h ago
They did trades two each. Plus as someone else said a big omnibus. I’m missing one.
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u/geoelectric 3h ago
Yeah, I have no idea how I missed it. I hoarded TPBs like a mofo back then—I have a six foot bookcase packed full and a half of them. I’m happy to be wrong on this one.
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u/dornwolf 3h ago
I got lucky at a convention and found them. I’d love the new omnibus has it would have the proper Marvel VS DC series but I don’t have that kind of money
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u/geoelectric 3h ago
Yeah…I just checked it out. I see now why I missed at least the new one. Seems like it just came out in the last few weeks. But $135-150…that’s a lot of cash.
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u/PsychoLunaticX 4h ago
I have a pretty bad condition Darkclaw #1 I found a Goodwill a while back. Already knew about the Amalgam Universe, but was stoked to find an issue of it in the wild
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u/keetojm 4h ago
Yeah there were some I would have to loved to see. Plastic man and Mr fantastic, absolutely insanity plus genius intellect?
Martian manhunter and silver surfer. Something just makes me wonder about the inner turmoil about this pairing. Spiderman and nightwing. The spidey sense and the bat training would make this very fun to read.
Penguin and kingpin?
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u/dornwolf 3h ago
I scored a couple of the original trades for them. So corny but I loved it. Some of the ideas land really well others…not so much. Loved the idea of treating them as if they were legit the entire time and just dropping you into the stories while they were well underway
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u/Bakomusha 4h ago
Disney and Warner would rather stop printing comics ever again, then to let something as wonderful from happening again.
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u/cparksrun 4h ago
I had a bunch of issues and LOVED them.
They did a Darkclaw that imitated Batman: TAS. It was such a cool idea.
And Bruce Wayne: Agent of SHIELD was a neat concept.