Amalgam Comics: Super-Soldier #1 (1996)
“The Secret of the K-Bombs”
Writer: Mark Waid
Pencils: Dave Gibbons
A coordinated joint effort by DC and marvel, Amalgam Comics was a comic collector’s dream. Spinning out of the “Marvel vs. DC” series and produced in 1996 and 1997, Amalgam encompassed a total of 24 comics. However, each issue was a FIRST ISSUE! Yes, that’s correct: every single Amalagam Comic was a #1 FIRST ISSUE. That’s all they did: FIRST ISSUES!
Secondly, all 24 comics were part of a big cross-over. An inter-company crossover, even! Each issue was a big ol’ comic book jam that feaured multiple characters mashed up, then teaming up, as part of a big (somewhat connected) story arc.
Finally, Amalgam was nothing but ALTERNATE REALITY versions of established characters. One of the easiest hooks for comic readers. “Whoa, his name is GENERAL America? He has a SQUARE shield and it’s red white and GREEN?! Whoa! When can I buy the action figure?!” See? It’s very easy to cook these up, avoid a plot, and send comic readers into a tizzy. That’s what Amalgam did. First issue, crossover-laden, alternate reality comics. They may have been THE most 90’s comics, ever! What’s not for a comic fan to love?
Marvel vs. DC/DC vs. Marvel
Yet digging deeper into that, Amalgam was more of a celebration of DC and Marvel Comics’ respective histories. The mini-series “Marvel vs. DC/DC vs. Marvel” featured a gigantic cosmic contest, spearheaded by two ultra-powerful “Brothers”. Held in check, since the dawn of time by the Spectre and the Living Tribunal, respectively– these un-named Bros were the stewards of each separate universe.
Anyways, the Bros spent their entire existence apart, until they somehow each became aware of the other, living in a separate reality. Their curiousity spurred the big “DC vs. Marvel” event, as characters from each univierse crossed over and competed in contests; the brutality of which had not been since Hanna-Barbera’s Laff-a-Lympics was canceled in 1978! Billed as “The Showdown of the Century”, Marvel and DC both hyped up the contest, by leting fans determine who would win, via popular vote in the “real world”. While several background conflicts went on in the 4 issue “DC vs. Marvel/Mavel vs. DC” books, the “main events” were:
- Batman vs. Captain America (Batman won)
- Superman vs. Huk (Superman won)
- Wolverine vs. Lobo (Wolverine won)
- Wonder Woman vs. Storm (Storm won)
- Spider-Man vs. Superboy (Spider-Man)
The winners of each vote were about what you expected (surprisingly, Lex Luthor didn’t protest the results and start a “Stop the Steal” campaign). Yes, it wasn’t odd for STORM to trounce Wonder Woman in 1995. In modern times (2023 as I write this), that’s the only popularity vote that’s flipped. Well… maybe Cap over Batman.
I believe I voted via a snail mail postcard. I think there was an voting card insert in “Wizard” magazine that dropped off at my local comic store.
There was then a pretty big surprse in the middle of the DC vs. Marvel event. The two cosmic Brothers and their worlds MERGED for a brief period of time! That’s where Amalgam came in, as we had all kinds of crazy DC/Marvel mash-ups, with 12 one-shot issues. Logistically, I believe Marvel and DC split the duties down the middle, as each published 6 issues. They totally indulged in the fun, and acted as if Amalgam had existed as this crazy merged company, all along. The editorial asterisks and letters column talked about the supposed rich history of Amalgam, dating back to the 1940’s. It was complete fun, full of Easter eggs and nods to each company’s full catalog.
Superman and Captain America Multiverse Mash-up
There was no better place to start the Amalgam mash-ups than with two of the oldest, most iconic, characters on each company’s roster: Superman and Captain America. Mix ’em up literally, and you get “Super America” or “Captain Man”…or think about the actual characters and you get “Super Solider”. Super Soldier’s origin begins way back in 1938 when an alien spaceship crashed in the middle of the US. Yet, as the caption tells us: “nothing in it”. Whoa. You can talk about modern comics trying to be a dark and “mature”, but this one just led off with a frickin’ DEAD BABY.
What follows is a fun origin recap of how the US Army backwards-engineered the alien spacecraft and created a “Super Soldier Formula” that was given to a young volunteer named Clark Kent (although he’s blonde; not the usual blue, err, dark brown hair). Kent then became the Super-Soldier and almost single-handedly ended World War II in a few months! Yet instead of Bucky, he had Jimmy Olsen alongside him. Olsen photographed and reported all of Super-Soldier’s adventures and eventually carved out a successful journalism career for himself. Eventually, the Axis sent the giant robotic timebomb known as “Ultra-Metallo” to the White House. Super-Soldier intercepted the robot over the North Atlantic, defeated it, but seemingly plunged to his death in the icy waters below. Olsen was there, but didn’t want to harm Allied morale, so he reported that Super-Soldier had saved the day, won the war, and retired to anonymity. Lex Luthor then used something known as “K-Bombs” to help seal the Allied victory and win the admiration of the public.
Jump to present day, where we find out that Super-Soldier spent 50 years in ice, until he was discovered and thawed out by the JLA… that’s “Judgement League Avengers”. Clark Kent now works at Olsen’s Daily Planet, alongside Sharon Carter, who’s filling the traditional Lois Lane role. Lex Luthor is still around, but made the mistake of injecting himself with the “Kansas Lode” Green K… so now he looks like a green version of Al Davis or the Cryptkeeper and is sometimes called the Green Skull.
Luthor, the secret leader of HYDRA, then hatches his dastardly plot: he’s recovered Ultra-Metallo and re-sent him on his original mission to blow-up the White House. Olsen was kdnapped by HYDRA, but allowed to escape to draw Super-Soldier out. Olsen’s in bad shape, but instead of telling Super-Soldier where to go, he makes a fairly huge of faith by telling him “Washington… four o’clock”.
Luckily, Super-Soldier figures it out.. by guessing he meant the Washington monument…and the fact that it acts like a sundial at 4 o’ clock to point to HYDRA’s headquarters. Ehh… Indiana Jones in the map room it ain’t, but let’s just go with it.
Of course, Super-Soldier and Ultra-Metallo go at it, picking right up where they left off, 50 years ago. Yet Ultra-Metallo is powered by Luthor’s “Green K” and Super-Soldier notices that he feels weak every time he’s near the big robot.
Randomly, Super-Soldier is tossed into some lead pipes and discovers that LEAD can shield him from the effects of the Green K. Supes then grabs a big ol’ lead pipe, destroys Ultra-Metallo with it, punches some HYDRA goons, and exposes Lex Luthor as an all-around EVIL dude. Jimmy Olsen breaks the expose on Luthor, thereby redeeming himself for fudging the story about Super-Soldier’s disappearance in 1942. Yet there’s a handy sub-plot wrinkle that lingers: Luthor’s K-Bombs released Kryptonite into Earth’s atmosphere back in the 40’s… so it’s still floating around and can prove harmful or chaotic to Super-Soldier. Thus, DC’s wacky Kryptonite stories from the 50’s and 60’s could eventually find their way into the Amalgam world. But for now, the struggle continues for Super-Soldier…
Like we said, this is more of a celebration of all things DC and Marvel, rather than trying to create an ongoing story or characters. It’s fun to go through and pick up all the different references. Superman and Captain America are logical mash-up candidates and this story performs a fairly seamless origin and introduction. Mark Waid is a comics historian, so I’m sure this was a blast for him to write… and he probably could’ve cooked up 50-60 more stories that merged the combined histories of both characters.
After all 12 FIRST ISSUES of Amalgam, the “DC vs. Marvel/Marvel vs. DC” series wrapped up. Predictably, the heroes joined up, defeating the cosmic menaces, and restored things to the way they were. The somewhat surprising popularity of the Amalgam characters led to their return, one year later, with 12 more FIRST ISSUES. These weren’t tied into an event, rather they were just there…yet still had the same spirit of celebration. I actually thought/hoped that Amalgam would be an annual thing, like the big summer crossovers of old, but that was not to be the case.
DC and Marvel did run a short-lived “All Access” series from 1996 to 1997 that jumped between universes. It focused on a guy named “Access”, who wore a vest with POCKETS (because: 90’s) and would hop between each world. I have those laying around, somewhere, but the series never grabbed me the way the Amalgam FIRST ISSUES did. That must’ve been a common opinion, because the series soon faded away.
Maybe there were other “real world” issues that ended the DC/Marvel “team-ups”. Yet for 24 FIRST ISSUES, it was a blast.
Summary:
Super-Soldier origin recap; fights big robot; Lex Luthor is green and wearing a bathrobe
Cover Price: $.195
Rating: $1.95
