Reviews 

Remembering Amalgam: Spider-Boy Team-Up

By | September 7th, 2020
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This review kicks off the second half our journey through Amalgam. I rather enjoyed the 1996 ”Spider-Boy” #1, so I had high hopes going into “Spider-Boy Team-Up”. It ended up being very different, but it didn’t disappoint.

The Mash Up
Obviously, we’re sticking with the Spider-Man and Superboy combo, but this issue introduces the Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099. You can probably guess from the name, but there’s a huge number of combinations introduced. Most of them are just identified in a roll-call fashion, and the guiding principle behind them appears to be fun, not matching teams to teams. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I really enjoyed Paste-Eater Pete and Timberwolf by Night.

This issue was co-written by Roger Stern and Karl Kesel (credited as the Amalgam writer R.K. Sternsel), and penciled by Jose Ladronn. It’s a Marvel production.

The plot
Try to keep up, because this is insane.

Spider-Boy’s in the middle of a fight with Scavulture, and he’s about to be shot in the face. Just then, time seems to freeze and our hero is transported to the year 2099 by the Legion of Galactic Guardians. They were all inspired by his legend, and they introduce him around as quickly as possible because the timestream will be damaged if he stays in the future for more than ten minutes. When Spider-Boy asks if the future will be in danger now that he knows about it, he’s told not to worry about it because they grabbed him from the moment right before his death. Naturally, some villains show up and destroy the time generator before he can be sent back.

During the fight, Spider-Boy is pulled further into the future, where the damage to the time stream has turned the world into an awful, rainy place. The surviving members of the Legion rebuilt the time generator and want to sent Spider-Boy back to 2099 so he can be sent back to 1997 in under ten minutes, thereby preventing the damage to the timestream from occurring.

He finds himself back in 2099, but he immediately notices differences – the Legion’s costumes, the architecture of their HQ, and their roster has all changed. Instead of drawing him in because he was their inspiration, this version of the Legion called him because they needed help with 1997 technology. Spider-Boy helps them, then hops back in the time device so he can return to his death.

Knowing he’s about to die gives Spider-Boy enough of an advantage to dodge the deadly blast from Scavulture. As their battle continues, a young bystander tries to aid the hero and gets shot by the villain for interfering. At that moment, the Legion (the second version) reveal they’ve been watching in disguises and lend a hand. Scavulture is apprehended and Spider-Boy receives his Legion Anti-Grav ring that lets him fly. Grabbing the wounded youngster, they fly to Fantastic Mountain in search of emergency care.

When there’s no ready cure for the “Nectron-Claw” the boy was hit with, Spider-Boy transports him to the Phantom Negative Zone to keep him alive while the Legion continues the search. As soon as the teleport happens, the Legion starts cheering. This whole issue has been an effort to make sure the boy gets put there, because a cure is found in about a hundred years and Mig-El returns to Earth as the heroic Spider-Boy 2099.

Just then, Kang the Time Conqueror shows up with plans to conquer the Omniverse. It turns out Spider-Boy is one of the strongest examples of a “living nexus”, and that by splitting him in two, Kang can use the amalgamated energies released to rule every Earth. Luckily, Spider-Boy 2099 shows up and they defeat the hero. Then all the time travelers go home.

What “Wizard” thought then
“Wizard” didn’t give the second Amalgam wave as much attention as it did the first. Don’t misunderstand, there was plenty of advance hype and it was a cover feature of issue 69. It’s just that after release, there was very little followup because this wave was not as big of a hit. All the books still placed in the top 100 for the month, but the top selling wave two title sold less than the worst selling wave one title. Back issue prices were low and stable, so “Wizard” just acknowledged that fans weren’t interested in one-shots like this – they wanted continuing stories or nothing.

Continued below

What I think now
Man, this was a fun comic. The first time I read it, I was overwhelmed by plot (in a good way). The second time, I was impressed by how well the time time travel plot was laid out and noticed all the subtle foreshadowing I missed the first time. The third time, I was able to really take in the way the Marvel and DC styles were amalgamated.

I thought “Spider Boy” #1 had been fast paced when it fit about 14 scenes into 22 pages, but Kesel and Stern outdid themselves. There’s enough material here for a modern writer to easily decompress into an eight or twelve part epic, double that if they felt the need. Shoot, I tried to be brief in my plot summary and it was still 500+ words. I left things out! Really!

Despite the constant forward momentum, the plot never loses itself. There’s some hand waving early on where Spider-Boy and the reader are told not to think about paradoxes, just to keep going. It’s only after you know where it’s going that you realize every scene is vital – they only seem like throwaways when you don’t know what’s coming.

The downside to the fast pace is a loss of characterization, but let’s face facts: there were 55 characters introduced in this one-shot (including multiple variations). Even limiting speaking roles to to a third of them wouldn’t allow for much development. The important thing is that we readers get a good feel fort the lead, and we do. Spider-Boy’s constant chatter tells us a lot about him, and hints at a lot more.

At first, I thought the different versions of the Legion were a waste, maybe a self aware joke about how needlessly complicated time travel stories could be. I later realized it was vital to closing the time loop for the story. Later still, I realized the creators used it to show the difference between the two companies. The initial version of the Legion is heavily influenced by DC in both costume and attitude. The second has more in common with Marvel sensibilities.

Jose Ladronn is described as a “superhero newcomer” by “Wizard”, and it’s not a name I recognize. Kesel described his work as a combination of Jack Kirby figures and European backgrounds. I don’t know about that, but my first impressions were comparisons to Geoff Darrow and Scott Collins. Ladronn’s storytelling ability is solid, and he packs a lot per page. His layouts use five to eight panels per page, and they’re mostly regular rectangles with no bleed. It’s basic, but clear and functional. I don’t know if it was entirely up to Ladronn, but there are some fun items hidden in backgrounds like this subtle reference to George Lucas:

All in all, this was a really fun comic. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys time travel plots, and I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up a second issue (or anything else by this creative team).


//TAGS | 2020 Summer Comics Binge

Drew Bradley

Drew Bradley is a long time comic reader whose past contributions to Multiversity include annotations for "MIND MGMT", the Small Press Spotlight, Lettering Week, and Variant Coverage. He currently writes about the history of comic comic industry. Feel free to email him about these things, or any other comic related topic.

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