This file created by Jess Nevins, jjnevins@ix.netcom.com. Amalgam Annotations: Legends of the Dark Claw #1 (corrections/additions to my errors/omissions are welcome) What we've got here is a combination of DC's Batman - surely I don't have to explain him - and Marvel's Wolverine - another character who needs no explanation. The title of the book, though - die-hard Marvel fans may not be aware that there's a DC Comic out there called "Legends of the Dark Knight." This, obviously, is riffing on that. p 1 Dark Claw's costume, is obviously supposed to be a combination of Batman and Wolverine, but it just doesn't work for me. I don't mean the color scheme, garish though it is. I mean things like the helmet - ornamental, yes, but not functional at all, and far too easily snagged during combat. And Dark Claw's claws - you'd think that the Marvel Weapons Expert, Larry Hama, the writer of this book, would know this, but you _never_ _never_ _never_ put those sort of hooks on knives - at least, not the ones you intend to use on other people. Yes, they do rip the flesh more efficiently, but they also get caught on flesh and bone - far too easily and far too often, as a matter of fact. American sergeants in every war of this century have removed those sawtoothed knives that fresh GIs brought over and replaced them with the simple bayonet. Why? Because bayonets work, and sawtoothed knives get stuck in people's bodies. It's as simple as that. (End Lecture Here) p 2 "The Hyena" - as in _Dr. StrangeFate_, the writer here took the efficient route of combining the Marvel and DC's heroes' arch-enemies into one person. The Hyena has the face and the patter of the Joker - Batman's arch-enemy. The Marvel contribution is Marvel's Sabretooth - Wolverine's arch-enemy, a mutant mass-murderer (and mass-murdering mutant) and originally Wolverine's father (before they retconned that away). p 3 The "mutant healing factor" Dark Claw mentions here is an essential part of Wolverine's makeup. "Sparrow" - a combination of Batman's sidekick Robin - gotta have a Robin, after all, complete with a Robin uniform - and Marvel's Jubilee - a pal of Wolverine and a member of the X-Men. There is also a strong hint of the Robin from Frank Miller's _Dark Knight_ epic. (Paul O'Brian points out that this was deliberate on the creators' part) "Frolic Frags" - cute. Very Joker-ish. p 5 The "Comedy Channel?" I guess Amalgam Universe hasn't seen Comedy Central, then - the Comedy Channel was bought and superseded by Comedy Central in "real" life. p 6 The Joker's assistants here look a little too distinctive - as if they were meant to remind us of someone. They don't resemble any of the Joker's gangs that I've ever seen, and Sabretooth has never worked with flunkies. So I'm assuming that Hyena's "Pack" is new to the Amalgam Universe. Matt Richardson correctly points out, however, that the gang might also be the Amalgam version of the X-Men villains the Reavers. Although Sabretooth only worked with the Marauders, the Amalgam Hyena's Pack does somewhat look like the Marvel Continuity Reavers. Or they could be the Amalgam version of Marvel Continuity Silver Sable's gang of mercenary henchmen - the "Wild Pack." p 7 The Dark Claw Copter - a standard part of Batman's arsenal, of course, being the Batcopter. The "SHIELD Helicarrier" is the hovering headquarters, in both Marvel and Amalgam Continuity, of SHIELD, the international police organization. We learn more about them, and about the Helicarrier, in _Bruce Wayne: Agent of SHIELD_ #1. p 8 We'll get to know this figure in a few pages. But she's breaking into the apartment of "Logan, techno-wizard, painter, sportsman, and walking enigma." Logan is Wolverine's real name (we think - as much as any part of Wolverine's past can be certain). Painter? I don't remember Bruce Wayne or Logan painting. Same with being a techno-wizard or a sportsman. p 9 Okay....*deep breath*.... Logan, like Dark Claw, grew up in Canada. Batman, like Dark Claw, had parents in Gotham, and was a child of affluence. Logan, like Dark Claw, seems to have been a member of the Canadian armed forces. Logan was (at least, at one point in Marvel continuity) active during the second World War; Dark Claw was active in Vietnam. That Logan is pictued with "Creed" will become significant soon; in Marvel continuity Sabretooth's "real" last name is Creed. And, like Dark Claw, Logan knew Creed from long before. (confused yet? I am...) The blonde woman goes on to mention a "Mr. Creed H. Quinn" and a "Project." We'll learn more about the Project soon enough; Creed H. Quinn is an amalgamation (sorry) of Sabretooth's name and one of the Joker's aliases from the Golden Age - Harley Quinn (harlequin, get it?) There is (or, pre-Crisis, was) also a DC Continuity character called The Harlequin, who claimed to be the Joker's daughter - but she was a heroine, and I think the "Harley Quinn" reference is more toward the Golden Age pseudonym than anything else. p 10 "The Huntress - aka Carol Danvers." Carol Danvers is a Marvel character; she was originally Ms. Marvel until a lame storyline stripped her of her powers. Then Carol Danvers was given a spy/secret agent background and was made into a pal of Logan's. The Huntress was (pre-Crisis) the Batman's daughter on an alternate Earth and worked as a female version of the Batman. I haven't a clue about what the post-Crisis, post-Zero Hour Huntress is about. The line about the Huntress going rogue from some super-secret gvt agency is not a part of the background of Marvel Continuity Carol Danvers. (As David Henry pointed out, the "rogue" line is a _joke_ - in Marvel Continuity Rogue stripped Carol Danvers of her powers. I feel dumb for having missed this originally) John Jakala also muses that the Huntress here might be influenced by the Marvel Continuity heroine Mockingbird, who (like Amalgam's Huntress) was an agent of SHIELD before she went rogue. And Mikel Midnight helpfully adds that Mockingbird's original Marvel Continuity name, in the 1970s, was "the Huntress." Kevin Wong points out that in DC Continuity Batman and Robin both know the Huntress' civilian identity, just as the Amalgam Dark Claw knows the Amalgam Huntress' civilian id. p 11 Again the mysterious Project is mentioned. Keep reading. "Professor Carter Nicholls" - unless DC has used Professor Nichols recently, this is a prime piece of true DC arcana. Way, way back in the 1940s & 1950s, Professor Carter Nichols (only one "l") was the pet scientist of both Batman and Superman, and was always the one they called upon when they wanted or needed to get some cutting-edge technology or wanted/needed to go time-travelling. There might also be a Professor "Nicholls" in Wolverine's past, as well. "Professor Cornelius," in Marvel Continuity, was one of the men responsible for creating Wolverine at the Weapon X Project. "Hines" was a member of the Weapon X project in Marvel Continuity. (thanks to Randy Lander for confirming this) p 12 So the Canadian gvt project - which in Marvel Continuity was the Weapon X Project (I think) which created Logan and Sabretooth - here created Dark Claw and the Hyena. A logical extrapolation. In Marvel Continuity there were two Weapon X projects; the first used unwilling subjects and produced the characters Wolverine, Sabretooth, John Wraith, Mastodon, Anton Ferro, Silver Fox, and Marverick. The second project used willing volunteers anbd produced the characters Deadpool and Garrison Kane, the second Weapon X. (thanks to Kevin Wong and Paul O'Brian for clearing this up) p 13 The "Barrow," rather than the ClawCave? well...okay...I guess... The giant coin and the dinosaur in the case are straight out of Batman's past - the giant coin is a souvenir of the "Penny Plunderers" case - thanks to a person whose name I didn't get for correcting my original error about the Coin - and the T-Rex a souvenir of a battle with robot dinosaurs. Dark Claw's parents were shot by a burglar - just like the Batman's - and then he was sent to Canada and eventually raised by the state - just like Wolverine. p 18 Dark Claw mentions that his claws are made of "adamantium" - in the Marvel Universe Wolverine's claws are (or were, until he lost them) made out of adamantium, the hardest metal known. Thanks to David Henry, John Jakala, Randy Lander, Mikel Midnight, Paul O'Brian, Matt Richardson, Elayne Weschler-Chaput, Kevin Wong and everyone else whose name I didn't get for their comments and corrections. jess This file created by Jess Nevins, jjnevins@ix.netcom.com.