After the popularity of THE AMALGAM AGE OF COMICS (1996) titles that were released as a part of MARVEL VERSUS DC (1995-1996), Marvel Comics and DC Comics combined forces again one year later to produce another twelve one-shots taking place in the Amalgam Universe (Earth-9602 or Earth 1996, depending on which original universe you align with). Some are complete stories and others are left on cliffhangers which we’ll never see resolved.
This time, readers would see combined versions of Generation X + Jonah Hex as Generation Hex, Man-Thing + Man-Bat as Bat-Thing, Howard the Duck + Lobo as Lobo the Duck, Thor + Orion as Thorion, and Iron Man + Green Lantern as Iron Lantern, as well as a whole host of amalgamated supporting characters and villains.
We’d also see more tales starring amalgamated characters we’d already met, such as Super-Soldier (Captain America + Superman), Spider-Boy (Spider-Man + Superboy), X-Patrol (X-Force & X-Men + Teen Titans & Doom Patrol), Dark Claw (Wolverine + Batman), the Magnetic Men (X-Men + Metal Men) and the JLX (X-Men & Avengers + Justice League).
And the Challengers of the Fantastic (Fantastic Four + Challengers of the Unknown) would also get their very own one-shot, after their previous cameo in Spider-Boy #1.
SCROLL DOWN to the bottom for the KEY COLLECTED EDITIONS for this event!
Themed Event: The ‘Return to the Amalgam Age of Comics’ one-shots all take place in the Amalgam Universe, but none of them cross over directly.
Must Reads: Story arcs marked with a ✔are must-read stories from this time period, along with any key related stories and often-forgotten tales that are worth a read.
Reality: The Amalgam Universe was originally referred to as Earth-962 in 2004’s Marvel Encyclopaedia 2004, though it was later referred to Earth-9602 in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005; from DC’s perspective, 2010’s Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia gave Earth-496 as the Amalgam Universe’s designation, but the more-recent Dark Crisis: Big Bang #1 (2023) refers to it as Earth 1996.
Previous events that directly impact this story:
- DC VERSUS MARVEL – The Marvel and DC Universes combine!
Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers:
- ✔ Generation Hex #1
- ✔ Super-Soldier: Man of War #1
- ✔ Bat-Thing #1
- ✔ Lobo the Duck #1
- ✔ Spider-Boy Team-Up #1
- ✔ Challengers of the Fantastic #1
- ✔ Exciting X-Patrol #1
- ✔ Dark Claw Adventures #1
- ✔ Thorion of the New Asgods #1
- ✔ Iron Lantern #1
- ✔ Magnetic Men featuring Magneto #1
- ✔ JLX Unleashed #1
| Must Reads | Title, Issue Number & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Generation Hex #1 In the Old West, Jono Hex recalls how his mother died in childbirth and his father was killed by the children of the town of Humanity’s Last Stand when he was believed to be a ‘malform’. The shock kicked Jono’s powers in and, years later, he finds himself allied with the malforms of Generation Hex on the run from Marshall ‘Bat’ Trask‘s robotic Razormen. Jono chases a group of outlaw malforms out of Humanity’s Last Stand, convincing the townspeople who made him an orphan to dress as malforms in celebration. Generation Hex lead the Razormen to Humanity’s Last Stand, tricking them into killing the townspeople and allowing the group’s escape. 1st appearance: Generation Hex, Razormen, Bat Trask |
| ✔ | Super Soldier: Man of War #1 It’s World War II. Super Soldier and Jimmy Olsen are sent on a secret mission to stop Major Zemo from stealing the Allies’ experimental weapons. With help from Sgt Rock and his Howling Commandos and the sacrifice of under cover agent Mademoiselle Peggy, Super Soldier destroys Zemo’s War Wheel. But Major Zemo and his secret ally, Lex Luthor, escape with the means to create an Ultra-Metallo. 1st appearance: All-Star Winners Squadron, Major Zemo |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue Number & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Bat-Thing #1 Detectives Clark Bullock and Christine Montoya try to protect the wife of Kirk Sallis from her husband who seems to have transformed back into the Bat-Thing and started killing gang bosses. But the real killers turn out to be criminals sent by gang boss Fat Freddy, who wants Bullock dead and are using Francie-Ellen Sallis to lure him into a trap. The Bat-Thing arrives and kills the gang members, saving his family and Detective Bullock. 1st appearance: Bat-Thing |
| ✔ | Lobo the Duck #1 Manhattan is in ruins and the heroes are all dead after the war against Thanoseid and the Green Skull. Only Lobo the Duck and the Impossible Dawg are left standing and head to Al Forbush‘s diner to find out the identity of the real villain. Lobo beats fellow bounty hunter Ambush the Lunatik, then his girlfriend, Bervarlene, beats Lobo for cheating on her. Twice. Doctor Bongface sends his lackeys to gather up the bodies of dead heroes. Lobo the Duck tracks the true villain, the Gold Kidney-Lady, to her hideout and shoots her, but her falling body activates the Gravitoninoutometer that will remove all the Earth’s kidneys… 1st appearance: Lobo the Duck, Doctor Bongface, Gold Kidney-Lady, Impossible Dawg |
| ✔ | Spider-Boy Team-Up #1 The Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099 pluck Spider-Boy from time and take him to the future, just before Scavulture can deliver a kill shot. But the Frightful Five attack and the timeline is disrupted by Spider-Boy’s presence. After bouncing into a dark future and back to 2099, Spider-Boy meets a different version of the Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099, returns to the present and saves the life of Mig-El Gand of the Yancy Legion who goes on to become Spider-Boy 2099. Both Spidey’s defeat Kang the Time-Conqueror and return to their timelines. Over at Project Cadmus, the Silver Racer arrives and prepares to witness a hero’s fall… 1st appearance: Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099, Kang the Time-Conqueror, Silver Racer/William Lincoln, Spider-Boy/Mig-El Gand |
| ✔ | Challengers of the Fantastic #1 Years ago, a team of adventurers avoided cosmic mutation on a mission in space and survived Victor Von Doom‘s attempt to make their shuttle crash. Now, as the Challengers of the Fantastic, they face overwhelming odds when Galactiac tries to consume Earth, saving only a remnant for his collection. Galactiac transforms Ben ‘Rocky’ Grimm into a four-armed monster. Johnny ‘Red’ Storm – with assistance from June Masters and the Silver Racer – destroys Galatiac’s Terra-Matrix, forcing him to flee. ‘Rocky’ Grimm changes back, but the diminutive Johnny Stormtrooper dies in the final battle. And Doctor Doomsday (Von Doom) steals the power of the Silver Racer… 1st appearance: Galactiac/Galan Dox |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue Number & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Exciting X-Patrol #1 Shatterstarfire and Elasti-Girl lead the X-Patrol to the lair of Brother Brood where Niles Cable is a prisoner. The team fight their way past Terra-X, but are defeated by the Brood-infected Cable. New member Jericho reveals himself to be Niles Dayspring – Niles Cable’s younger self – and kills Brother Brood. Niles Cable is healed by the ghost of his wife, Raveniya Dayspring. 1st appearance: Brother Brood/Sebastian Brood, Jericho/Niles Cable/Niles Dayspring, Terra-X/Terra Murdock |
| ✔ | Dark Claw Adventures #1 Lady Talia attacks Dark Claw in his own Danger Cave, wanting to kill him for blowing up her father, Ra’s A-Pocalypse, with a bazooka. Talia runs her cybernetic claws through Dark Claw’s chest and immediately regrets killing the man she loved. Dark Claw’s healing powers kick in and he reveals he allowed her to think he was dead so that she would realise her mistake. 1st appearance: Lady Talia |
| ✔ | Thorion of the New Asgods #1 Thanoseid appoints L’ok D’saad with the task of using the Mother Cube to free the Promethian Giants who attempted to bring about Ragnarok years earlier. Thorion sacrifices himself to end L’ok’s threat and destroy the Mother Cube. But, instead of dying, Thorion is reborn as the Celestial. 1st appearance: Thorion/Celestial, L’ok D’saad |
| ✔ | Iron Lantern #1 After dropping the defeated HECTOR off at Oa the Living Planet, the Iron Lantern (Hal Stark) returns to Earth too late to stop the test flight of his new jet being sabotaged. The Star Sapphire transforms Pepper Ferris into Madame Sapphire. She resurrects the giant robotic Great White and kidnaps her father, Harrington Ferris. Former Green Guardsman, Kyle O’Brien, breaks into the Stark Aircraft plant, takes out Happy Kalmaku and Stewart Rhodes and disconnects the lantern that powers Hal’s armour. Meanwhile, the real mastermind behind all of these events, Mandarinestro, watches as Iron Lantern hurtles towards his death… 1st appearance: Iron Lantern/Hal Stark, HECTOR, Madame Sapphire/Peper Ferris, Mandarinestro |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue Number & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Magnetic Men featuring Magneto #1 Magneto rebuilds his sentient Metal Men and tries to give them normal lives while he continues to fight his never-ending war against his mutant-hating brother, Will Magnus. But he ends up rushing to the Metal Men’s rescue when they’re captured Quasimodox and Chemodam‘s Sinister Society. Magneto ultimately realises the robotic Sinister Society share the same oppressive enemy and everyone joins forces against Will Magnus. 1st appearance: Sinister Society (Vance Cosmic, Black Vulture, Chemodam, Deathborg, Kultron, Quasimodox, Soniklaw) |
| ✔ | JLX Unleashed #1 The Hellfire League of Injustice summon Fin Fang Flame to wipe out all metamutants, and he starts with the Hellfire League of Injustice themselves. The Judgement League Avengers are stretched too thin to protect all of America from Fin Fang Flame’s attacks, so Amazon breaks the metamutant Justice League X-Men out of jail, including their Skrull leader, Mister X. Ultimately, Apollo crashes the Wavecruiser into Fin Fang Flame and absorbs all his magical power. Apollo becomes an energy being and Amazon joins the JLX. 1st appearance: Fin Fang Flame, Hellfire League of Injustice |
| Must Reads | Issue & Fallout | Event/Crossover |
| ✔ | Super Soldier #1 (1996) Super Soldier destroys the Ultra Mentallo in the present day. | THE AMALGAM AGE OF COMICS |
| ✔ | DC Versus Marvel #4 (1996) The Marvel Universe and DC Universe are separated, essentially ending the existence of the Amalgam Universe. | DC VERSUS MARVEL |
| ✔ | Unlimited Access #1-4 (1997-1998) Access uses his powers to create more Amalgams when the Marvel and DC Universes begin to merge again. | UNLIMITED ACCESS |
| Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 (2005) In the Marvel Multiverse, the Amalgam Universe is designated as Earth-9602. | ||
| Spider-Verse #2 (2015) Spider-Boy makes a cameo appearance as two alternate versions of Spider-Man compare their lives while the Spider-Army (consisting of numerous alternate Spider-Men) face the Inheritors. | SPIDER-VERSE | |
| Spider-Man #2 (2022) Morlun finds Spider-Boy’s severed arm and uses his portal device to jump to Earth-001. | END OF THE SPIDER-VERSE | |
| Dark Crisis: Big Bang #1 (2023) In the DC Multiverse, the Amalgam Universe is designated as Earth 1996. | DARK CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS | |
| Deadpool/Batman #1 (2025) Logo – an amalgam of Lobo and Wolverine – makes his debut. |
| Collected Edition Title | Includes… |
| Return to the Amalgam Age of Comics: The DC Comics Collection | Bat Thing #1 Dark Claw Adventures #1 Generation Hex #1 JLX Unleashed #1 Lobo the Duck #1 Super Soldier: Man of War #1 |
| Return to the Amalgam Age of Comics: The Marvel Comics Collection | Challengers of the Fantastic #1 Exciting X-Patrol #1 Iron Lantern #1 Magnetic Men featuring Magneto #1 Spider-Boy Team-Up #1 Thorion of New Asgods #1 |
Reading Order ©OmniverseComicsGuide 2023
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