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KC Carlson

A KC COLUMN by KC Carlson

1996 was an unusual time for comic book collecting, due to a new publisher hitting the stands. Well, it wasn’t a new publisher — it was two existing publishers coming together to produce something that was either pretty outstanding or really stupid, depending on your mindset of the time. (I fall into the “pretty amazing” camp, but I admit that it wasn’t all great, although the concept tried really hard.)

Lobo the Duck

I’m talking about Amalgam Comics, the publishing imprint shared by both DC Comics and marvel Comics, where they took most of their main characters and smooshed them up with characters from the other company. So we got things like Spider-Boy, Bruce Wayne: agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dr. Strangefate, and Lobo the Duck — among others. It was kinda fun, because they also created a fictional history of the nonexistent comic company going back to the golden Age of Comics. They didn’t forget to use retcons and reboots, making the whole experiment completely insane. I, of course, loved it.

Amalgam Comics ended in 1997 when one of the companies decided it wasn’t fun anymore, took their ball, and went back home.

AMALGAM VS. INFINITY WARPS! (What? Shouldn’t Marvel’s comic books fight each other like their characters do?)

Infinity Warps

Last November, marvel Comics introduced something called Infinity Warps. It’s a lot like Amalgam Comics, except marvel controls the entire project themselves. Fascinatingly, the concept is so new that Wikipedia doesn’t even have an Infinity Warps page yet — although there are brief mentions of it on pages for Carol Danvers, Harry Osborn, Moon Knight, Erik Killmonger, “Alternative versions of the green Goblin”, and several others. (Now that I’ve mentioned this, I suspect that an Infinity Warps Wikipedia page will be up by tomorrow.)

The Infinity Warps lineup back then was five two-issue miniseries starring Arachknight (Spider-Man and Moon Knight), Ghost Panther (Ghost Rider and Black Panther), Iron Hammer (Iron man and Thor), Soldier supreme (Captain America and Dr. Strange), and weapon Hex (X-23, Scarlet Witch).

Secret Warps: Ghost Panther annual #1

Apparently, those sold pretty well, so recently the Infinity Warps concept was reintroduced as secret Warps. We’re currently in the midst of five “Annuals” — five 36-page one-shots featuring the same five mash-ups. Creators include Al Ewing, Humberto Ramos, Gerry Duggan, mark Waid, Tim Seeley, and marvel Editor-In-Chief C.B. Cebulski. The first two have been terrific fun, and Ghost Panther #1 (by Al Ewing, Daniel Kibblesmith, Carlos Gomez, and Ig Guarais) is available today (July 17)!

Secret Warps: Iron Hammer annual #1

I’m enjoying seeing marvel doing something fun like this and expanding the marvel universe in strange and interesting ways. sometimes the marvel characters and storylines are a bit too serious, so it’s terrific to see that they haven’t forgotten to have some fun once in awhile. (Anyone up for a Wolverine/Forbush man secret Warps?!)

YOU’RE NUMBER ONE! YOU’RE NUMBER ONE!

Age of X-Man Omega #1

Also out today from marvel are several new first issues, including Age of X-Man Omega #1 (by Zac Thompson, Lonnie Nadler, Simone Buonfanitino), Loki #1 (by Daniel Kibblesmith, Oscar Bazaldua, and cover by Ozgur Yildirim), and Punisher annual #1 featuring the Punisher vs. Brood Queen (aka the most monstrous parasite in the galaxy.) It’s by Karla Pacheco and Adam Gorham, with a cover by Dustin Weaver.

Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen #1

Don’t tell Marvel, but DC’s also got some #1s this week, like wonder Woman: come back to Me #1 (of 6), written by Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti, with art by Chad Hardin and cover by Connor, and Collapser #1 (of 6), a new young animal mini written by Mikey way and Shaun Simon, with art and cover by Ilias Kyriazis. It’s about a a guy who receives a Black hole in the mail. (How does one get that out of their mailbox?) My pick hit to Click is Superman’s pal Jimmy Olsen #1 (of 12). You’d think that writer Matt fraction and artist (including the cover) Steve Leiber would have better things to do, but of course you’d be wrong about that. features death, destruction, and giant Turtles!

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KC CARLSON just had a birthday and has already forgotten how old he is now. somewhere between 1 and 100, he hopes.

WESTFIELD COMICS is not responsible for the stupid things that KC says. especially that thing that really irritated you. I just bought a remastered CD of something I already own, and it has fewer tracks than the one I had. Now, that’s annoying!!!