Justice League of America + X-Men = JLX

JLX #1
Writers: Gerard Jones and Mark Waid
Penciller: Howard Porter
Inker: John Dell
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos
Colorist and separations: Gloria Vasquez & Heroic Age
Cover: Porter
Assistant editor: Ali Morales
Editors: Brian Augustyn & Ruben Diaz
Special thank to: Chris Duffy
Published by: DC
Released: Feb. 29, 1996

Before we dive into the mash-up of the X-Men and the Justice League of America, let's deal with the convicted felon in the room.*

Gerard Jones wrote a ton of comics in the 90s, more that I’ve read than I probably realize, and a number of books about comics as well. I don't know that he was ever a superstar but I’d say he was pretty well regarded until being arrested for and ultimately convicted of possession of child pornography in 2018.

Which makes it hard to write a lighthearted blog post about a comic he co-wrote with the ever-awesome Mark Waid. Which sounds kind of stupid to write, given the crime of which Jones was convicted.

I thought about skipping it - as Marvel and DC are doing with this issue and “Magneto and the Magnetic Men” #1 in their upcoming Amalgam omnibus. But I am something of a completionist, and it's not like this post is going to line Jones' pockets any. The book does exist, and if you don't want to read it - a perfectly understandable position to take - then this summary can fill you in on what happened.

It opens with the Judgment League Avengers, who don't have their own title in this or the 1997 round of Amalgam releases. It was a different time, folks, one in which the X-Men ruled the roost at Marvel and the Avengers were sometimes allowed to avenge in their shadows.

The roll call on the splash page and my best guesses at their Amalgam ingredients are, clockwise from bottom left: Hawkeye (Green Arrow + Hawkeye), Angelhawk (Angel + Hawkman), Captain Marvel (Captain Marvel + Captain Marvel, aka Shazam + Mar-Vell), Canary (Black Canary + Mockingbird), Goliath (Hank Pym + … a codename he used before that costume?), Dark Claw (Wolverine + Batman) and Super-Soldier (Superman + Captain America).

They’re facing off against their suddenly former teammates, who you’ve already seen on the cover above. They are, clockwise from center: Mariner (Aquaman + Sub-Mariner … and maybe Beast's feet?), Apollo (Cyclops + Ray), Firebird (Fire + Phoenix), Runaway (Rogue + I’m gonna say… Gypsy?), Wraith (Obsidian + Gambit), Nightcreeper (Nightcrawler + Creeper, though you probably didn't need my help on that) and Mercury (Impulse + Iceman?).

The latter group consists of mutant Leaguers who have broken from the rest of the team to free the Mariner, who’s accused of attacking Roxxon oil tankers.** If you’re wondering why confirmed-in-his-own-book mutant Dark Claw and presumed-mutant Angelhawk didn't go with them, me too. But we learn Angelhawk’s status is a secret and Dark Claw is… maybe foreshadowing Wolverine’s decision to go Team Avengers in Avengers vs. X-Men 16 years in the future? Conspicuously absent is another confirmed mutant and, I thought, JLA member Wonder Woman/Amazon. But she might have been fighting in another ocean.

The JLXers are on the open water because they're trying to get back to Atlantis, “the ancestral home of mutantkind.” They don't want their former teammates to know that, circumstances avoided thanks to a telepathic assist from Mr. X (Professor X + somebody from DC?). He has Angelhawk, covertly loyal to his fellow mutants, fake a broken back with a telepathic infusion of real pain, and Super-Soldier calls off the fracas for the time being.

The X-folks clamber back inside their waivecruiser, where Mr. X telepathically probes Mariner's mind to recover information on the Serpent Crown he lost in a Sentinel attack in the fictional “Adventures to Astonish” #67. It's enough to point them to Atlantis, and the ship, damaged in the fight with the JLA, starts to take on water. The teammates band together to keep it from breaking apart, and we get some character moments shedding light on the romance between Firebird and Apollo, the demons haunting Nightcreeper and Mercury and the dark undertone to Runaway and Obsidian's romance. She asks if he can save the two of them if the vessel stays under, since he's the only man she can touch without draining his lifeforce.

Keeping it together at a level that would do Kit Ramsey*** proud, the wavecruiser makes it to the domed and deserted city of Atlantis. Instead of underwater-dwelling mutants, the team finds Will Magnus and a pack of Sentinels waiting for them. He's hunting the original mutants too, wanting to kill them all since his brother, Magneto, is a mutant. The JLX does battle with the Sentinels, including Magnus' ladybot, Jocasta (Marvel's Jocasta + a Sentinel + Platinum), with whom he seems to have a romantic attachment. When an enraged Runaway – who Obsidian figures is being tainted by the darkness she absorbs when she touches him – gets blasted by a Sentinel and is in danger of being crushed by falling debris, it's Mr. X who saves her after he shifts into Martian Manhunter with a Skrull chin and Bishop's M tattoo.

As Magnus and his Sentinels retreat, Mr. X confesses he's not a mutant, but J'onn J'onzz, last survivor of a Martian race known as the Skrulls. He identified with the mutants' plight and wanted to help them. Apollo is suspicious of this non-mutant but Mariner tells the others he trusts X. With that, the heroes pose for a parting splash page and vow to continue their search.

I'll delay talking about the writing by praising the art of Porter, who was less than a year away from penciling Grant Morrison's seminal run of JLA. That association is the most appealing part of his work here, although it is a vibrant and distinctive melding of Marvel and DC heroes.

The overall story is fairly straightforward, fitting the classic Marvel mutant themes into this brave, amalgamated world. There are a host of details to flesh it out, but the main attraction here is simply the rapid-fire amalgams and figuring out who's who.

Best Amalgam: Even without knowing who Professor X was merged with, I give the nod to Mr. X (bottom right). The reveal of his true nature not only pushed this character to the highest-volume amalgam I've seen so far, it excellently wove the stories of Martian Manhunter and mutantdom together. The Skrull stuff seemed unnecessary, but then again, how are you going to have a shapeshifting green alien in a universe that's 50% Marvel and not have it be a Skrull?

After writing my initial impressions, I fired up Google and learned that Mr. X is an amalgam of Professor X, Bishop, a Skrull, Martian Manhunter and... that's it? OK, well, four characters instead of five – or is it three-and-a-half? – that's still some heavier than usual amalgamath.

Most Confusing Amalgam: Goliath. It seems to be Hank Pym merged with Hank Pym. But further online searching revealed he's an amalgam of... Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow, and Hawkeye from his Goliath era. So that makes Hawkeye an amalgam of... Hawkeye and Green Arrow as well? So does that make Hawkeye the most confusing amalgam?

And while we're on the subject of things I got wrong, Mercury is a combination of Impulse and Quicksilver, not Iceman. I thought Mercury, temperature, ice... but that one was on me. I should have gone for the simpler interpretation. The others I appear to have gotten right, although it seems like I really need that Amalgam trading card set to be sure.

* - I would have said elephant but I don't want to associate innocent elephants with this.

** - Marvel Comics, MCU, Amalgam… Roxxon is always the bad corporation.
Although I guess here they could just be the generic corporation.

*** - From “Bowfinger.”