Amalgam: Why on Earth-2 or 616 Not?!?

 Anything is possible in the medium of comics, and Amalgam is a fantastic and terrific example of that.

I'd like to say I'm starting my read-through now because it's a leap year and Marvel and DC have somehow agreed to finally reprint these comics. But that's taking credit for far more organizational ability than I usually demonstrate.

I'm reading and writing about these once-in-a-lifetime* mash-ups of DC and Marvel's most famous, obscure and everything-in-between characters because I've wanted to for a while, and I just wrapped up NFL SuperPro (a natural amalgam with Booster Gold). The fact that I have a couple of present-day reasons for them to be relevant is icing on the cake.

The Amalgam comics were born out of 1996's Marvel vs. DC – or DC vs. Marvel, depending on which issue of the series you're looking at – which seemed to be a natural culmination of increasingly frequent crossovers between the two companies. With fans voting on some of the main battles, which appeared to have been mostly scripted and drawn in advance of the results, the product didn't always live up to the hype, but it was a monumental comics moment, nevertheless.

I got three of the main crossover issues, but never did track down #1. I did not buy the Amalgam issues when they came out, probably hesitant to deviate from what I was regularly collecting (mostly a whole lot of X-stuff). I borrowed a few from friends and read some more here and there over the years.

Eventually, I decided to track down the lot of them, because why on Earth-2 or 616 wouldn't I? As Marvel and DC stopped crossing over, and the prospect of reprints like the ones coming later this year seemed bleak, the event became even more special.

I got issues here and there at shows and shops and finally tracked down the remainder in a local comic store, in a longbox filled with nothing but Amalgam issues.

Most didn't cost me more than $1, for which I was grateful but also confused. Sure, the quality of those I have read varies, but this is a seminal set of comics and, honestly, quality is secondary to the novelty. Here we have the greatest comic multiverses merging together, with the top talent of the day riffing on their similarities and history.

I'm glad they're being reprinted, and maybe one day some of the concepts can be revisited, but I hope it doesn't happen often. Too much of a good thing might make it a little less special, although I also realize I'm lamenting their scarcity and hoping they don't become less scarce in the same space. What can I say? I'm complicated.

I'm still thinking about the format for this, but I'd like to not only recap and review the issues but give my thoughts on the combinations selected. Some of them are naturals; others are downright bizarre.

The order is going to be pretty subjective. All 24 Amalgam comics came out on two days across two years. The original 12 dropped on Feb. 29, 1996, between the third and fourth issues of Marvel vs. DC/DC vs. Marvel. The second round all came out on April 2, 1997.

Each time, Marvel published six and DC published six. I have seen a few suggested reading orders, but I'm probably just going to jump back and forth between each publisher. I won't be covering the crossover itself, yet, because I still haven't gotten my hands on that first issue.**

We'll start out tomorrow with a combination of the inspirational leaders of both pantheons of heroes: Superman and Captain America.

* - Well, twice in a lifetime.

** - Future #MissingLinks