This file created by Jess Nevins, jjnevins@ix.netcom.com. Amalgam Annotations: JLX #1 (corrections/additions to my errors/omissions are welcome) p. 1 From left to right: "Angelhawk" - a combination of the Marvel character the Angel, who is a mutant with wings and a member of the X-Men, and the DC character Hawkman, who flies via a "ninth-metal belt" and who, in both is GA and SA incarnations, has a thing for old weapons. "Hawkeye" - a merger of the Marvel character Hawkeye, a super-archer, and the DC character Green Arrow, also a super- archer. "Super-Soldier" - a merging of Superman and Captain America (see _Super-Soldier #1_ for more details on him). "Dark Claw" - a merging of Batman and Wolverine (see _Legends of the Dark Claw #1_ for more details on him). "Captain Marvel" - a combination of the Marvel character Captain Marvel, who is an alien soldier who came to Earth and ended up fighting crime - the green and white aspect of Amalgam's Captain Marvel is from the original uniform of Marvel's Captain Marvel - and the Fawcett/DC character Captain Marvel, who changes from Billy Batson to Captain Marvel by uttering the magic word "Shazam!" - the cut of Amalgam Captain Marvel's uniform, and the lightning bolt down the front, are from the Fawcett/DC Captain Marvel. "Goliath" - His Marvel half is Giant Man, one of the earliest members of the Avengers; he was originally Hank Pym, but we've seen in _Spider-Boy_ that Hank Pym is now working with the Cadmus Project. Goliath's DC half is Oliver Queen, who in DC Continuity was Green Arrow; this is, as Mark Waid says in the _CBG_, "a nod to the days when Hawkeye gave up archery for size-changing powers." Dean Velasco also adds that there is some of the the Global Guardian and JLE member Tasmanian Devil, who can also grow to giant size and who, like Amalgam Goliath, has a giant T on his chest. "Canary" - visually she's a copy for Marvel's character Mockingbird, who was an ex-SHIELD agent who was a member of the Avengers for a while and ended up marrying Hawkeye. She then got killed. Her DC half is from Black Canary, the female crimefighter who was a member of the Justice League for a long time, and more recently Green Arrow's partner and lover. Note that many of the source heroes here - Batman, Superman, Hawkman, Captain America, Hawkeye, Green Arrow, Black Canary, and Giant Man - were all either founding members or among the earliest heroes to join the Avengers and the Justice League. p 2/3Cue slugfest, and....rolling. The JLA is going up against their former teammates here. They are (and in no particular order): "Firebird" - a combination of the DC character Fire, who is a flame-throwing member of the Justice League, and Jean Grey, Marvel's Marvel Girl/Phoenix, a mutant telepath and member of the X-Men. Doug Limmer adds that another source of Firebird is Marvel's Rachel Summers, a mutant telepath and pyrokinetic; Firebird's costume is quite similar to one Rachel Summers wore for a while. "Runaway" - she looks like the Marvel character Rogue, a power- absorbing member of the X-Men. She also has Rogue's southern accent and powers. Other influences on Runaway will become clear later on. Dean Velasco suggests that her DC half might be the former JLA member Gypsy, whose hair and earrings Rogue has. "Mercury" - visually he looks like the DC character Impulse, a descendant of the modern day Flash with his superspeed. His other, Marvel half, will become clear in a few pages. "Mariner" - a merging of the DC character Aquaman, the king of undersea Atlantis, and the Marvel character Namor, the Sub-Mariner, the Marvel king of Atlantis. He's got Aquaman's looks and Namor's attitude. John Polojac points out that he also seems to be influenced by the DC Continuity character Lobo, especially in the Mariner's attitude, facial hair, chain belt, and the hook/anchor weapon he uses. I'd like to think that any similarity of any hero anywhere with Lobo is purely coincidental. Note that Canary calls Hawkeye "Ollie" - Green Arrow's first name. Mercury calls Hawkeye "Mr. Barton" - the Marvel Continuity Hawkeye's full name is "Clint Barton." Technically the Mariner is correct about being "first among mutants" - he was born, in Marvel continuity, with winged feet - this, back in 1939. That would make him the first Marvel mutant. The guy in black with the overcoat is "Wraith." He's a combination of the DC character Obsidian, who has shadowpowers and is the son of the Golden Age Green Lantern, and a member of the current Justice League, and the Marvel character Gambit, the mysteriously-popular Cajun mutant who is a member of the X-Men. p 4 "Nightcreeper" - a combination of the Marvel character Nightcrawler, a mutant teleporter and member of the X-Men, and the DC character the Creeper, who is a crime-fighter who acts like the Joker. His alter-ego, though, is news reporter Jack Ryder, who we got a glimpse of in _Spider-Boy #1_ "Apollo"/"Ray" - a combination of the Marvel character Cyclops (among the most tedious, dreary, and self-pitying characters ever created), a mutant member of the X-Men, and the DC character the Ray, who is the son of the Golden Age Ray and is now a member of the Justice League. Apollo's eyeblasts are taken from Cyclops, and his costume from the Ray; Dean Velasco adds that Apollo's eyeblasts are like the DC Ray's powers, rather Marvel Cyclops' eyeblasts. As in _Legends of the Dark Claw_ #1 Dark Claw's claws having ridges or teeth that no _real_ knife or sword has. We'll learn more of the mysterious "Mr. X" in a bit. p 7 Super-Soldier refers to Captain Marvel as "Mar-Vell" - the Marvel Continuity Captain Marvel's real name. "Roxxon" - Mariner has apparently been framed for "torching those Roxxon tankers." In Marvel continuity Roxxon (a pretty obvious Exxon copy) is a heartless multinational corporation who have been polluting and exploiting the environment for decades. They are exactly the type of enemy who Aquaman, Namor, and the Amalgam Mariner would fight. p 9 "The Serpent Crown" - in Marvel Continuity the Serpent Crown was a mystic object left over from eons ago when the Serpent God ruled Earth; when someone wears it, she or he gains mystic powers but turns evil. The Marvel Continuity Serpent Crown was created by Atlantean alchemists, so the Atlantis link in Amalgam Universe is a carry-over from the Marvel Serpent Crown. And although the Amalgam Serpent Crown doesn't look much like the Marvel Serpent Crown, John Jakala points out, the Marvel Serpent Crown can change appearances. Note that "Mr. X" is apparently short for "Xavier," which is supposed to ring our bells that he is somehow related to, or an analogue for, Marvel's Professor Xavier, the leader of the X-Men. However, we already know that Charles Xavier, in Amalgam Universe, became Dr. StrangeFate. Mr. X also looks like Marvel's Tony Stark (Iron Man) - but this, too, is likely a red herring. "Bea" - Firebird's real name in Amalgam Universe is also the first name of DC's character Fire. p 10 "Flash" - again, it seems like the Amalgam authors, or at the very least their editors, could and should have conferred before publishing these stories. In DC Continuity there is a superspeedster named The Flash. In _Speed Demon_ we saw all three of the DC Continuity Flashes - Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, and Wally West. None of them were "the Flash." As the name of the comic to which editor "Battlin'" Brian Augustyn refers is "Flash and the Scarlet Witch," we might logically conclude that the Marvel Continuity character Quicksilver (another superspeedster) is the Amalgam Flash. But Mercury, in _JLX_, is obviously what happened to Quicksilver (more on this below). Which means there must be a third Flash somewhere around. The DC Continuity Johnny Quick? The DC Continuity Quicksilver/Max Mercury? Your guess is as good as mine. Doug Limmer also points out that Amalgam Mercury's costume has a color scheme quite similar Marvel Quicksilver's. "Professor Kang" - a merging of the DC Character Professor Zoom, aka the Reverse Flash, one of the deadliest of Flash's enemies (and also the man responsible for killing Iris West, the Flash's wife), and of the Marvel Character Kang, a superscientist bad guy from the future who seeks to conquer the world. Note, also, that since Mercury's source character, DC's Impulse, comes from the future, that it makes a certain amount of sense for "Professor Kang" to become involved. "Flash and the Scarlet Witch" - we already saw the Amalgam version of the Scarlet Witch over in _Dr. StrangeFate_, but I prefer the implication here, that where Marvel continuity has the brother-and-sister mutants Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch (both of whom were originally members of Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but later became good and joined the Avengers), Amalgam continuity has the superspeedster Flash joined, somehow, with the Scarlet Witch. Note also that Mercury has the white hair of Marvel's Quicksilver. Mr. X is called "Marco Xavier" here - which seems like a red herring, as we know Charles Xavier is Dr. StrangeFate, but as David Oakes pointed out, "Marco Xavier" was the pseudonym of J'onn J'onzz, DC's Manhunter from Mars, in his run in _House of Mystery_. p 11 "Psychokinetic fire" - Firebird's powers are a combination of Marvel's Jean Grey's telekinesis, the pyrokinesis of Marvel's Rahcel Summers, and DC's Fire's flame powers. Here, in the Amalgam Universe, Runaway and Wraith are close - although whether as brother and sister or as lovers is unsure. In DC Universe Obsidian's sister is Jade; in Marvel Universe Gambit is in love with Rogue. Moreover, in the Marvel Universe Rogue, because she absorbs the powers of anybody she comes in contact with, can't touch anybody, which complicates her relationship with Gambit and makes her a depressingly one-note character. The Amalgam Universe Runaway seems to have the same problem - but not with Wraith. Lovers? Siblings? Either one seems a possibility. p 13 Amalgam Atlantis is deserted, which is a change from the Atlantis of Marvel or DC, as is the idea of the Atlanteans being on the run. p 14 Enter Will Magnus and the Sentinels. In Marvel Continuity the Sentinels - giant mutant-hunting robots who the Amalgam analogues closely resemble - were created by an evil scientist named Steven Lang, who wanted to use the Sentinels to wipe out the "mutant threat." (Actually, he modified the original versions of the Sentinels, but that's too long a story to be told here). In DC Continuity the robot Metal Men were created by superscientist Will Magnus to fight crime. In Amalgam, Will Magnus did both, sorta. For more on him, see _Magneto and the Magnetic Men_ #1. John Jakala points out that the Sentinels here seem to be merged, at least in color scheme, with the DC Continuity androids the Manhunters, who were the robot enforcers of the Guardians of the Universe. p 15 Note that, like Marvel's Namor, Amalgam's Mariner has winged feet - his mutation. "Jocasta" - in Marvel Continuity the evil robot Ultron imitated his creator, Hank Pym, by creating a female robot and giving that robot - Jocasta - the personality of Hank Pym's wife, Janet Van Dyne. Jocasta, though, turned against Ultron and became a heroine; she got romantically involved with the hero Machine Man and was eventually destroyed by Ultron. Here, obviously, Will Magnus invented her. And she's in love with her creator in Amalgam Universe, or at least devoted to him. This is an interesting, if possibly coincidental, inversion of Amalgam Magneto/Erik Magnus, who is vainly in love with Antimony. Doug Limmer also points out that, in Marvel Continuity, Jocasta had a crush on Hank Pym for a time. p 21 Another deep breath is required for this one. "Mr. X" is actually "J'onn J'onzz." Which means he is a combination of: the DC character J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, the last survivor of the green shapeshifting Martian race - his costume and general appearance are much the same as Amalgam's J'onn J'onzz; the Marvel alien race the Skrulls, who are also green shapeshifters - note the gnarled lower lip, typical of the Skrulls; and also the Marvel character Bishop, a time-travelling mutant from the future who came back to help the mutants - note the distinctive M tattoo over J'onn's right eye, as well as his obvious mutant sympathies. Doug Limmer brings up the fact that, in Marvel Continuity, the Squadron Supreme's J'onn J'onzz analogue was a Skrull; the Squadron Supreme, in Marvel Continuity, was an other-dimensional analogue of the DC Continuity Justice League of America. So it makes a sort of twisted sense that the Amalgam J'onn J'onzz is a Skrull; there is precedent for it. As well, Doug Limmer reminds me to note that, in Marvel Continuity, the Flash analogue on the Squadron Sinister (the evil analogues of the Squadron Supreme) was named the Whizzer, but when he emigrated to the Marvel Universe he took the name of Speed Demon - the same name as the Amalgam Universe Flash analogue. (confused yet?) Thanks for the corrections and additions to Mark Coale, John Jakala, H Jameel al Khafiz, Doug Limmer, David Oakes, John Polojac, Dean Velasco, and everyone else whose name I didn't get. jess This file created by Jess Nevins, jjnevins@ix.netcom.com.