“Yesterday’s” Comic> JLX Unleashed

Saturday nights like this are why I don’t go clubbing these days.

JLX Unleashed

Amalgam (DC Comics; June, 1997)

After the event called the Armageddon Agenda, metamutants are declared dangerous and under government control. Mr. X, having been revealed to be a Skrull, is locked away. But that isn’t enough for the Hellfire League Of Injustice, who summons Fing Fang Flame to destroy all mutated humans, not realizing that this includes themselves as they’re immediately fried. The dragon then goes on a rampage and even the Justice League Avengers are no match for it. Believing their only hope lies with the JLX, Amazon breaks out the few members left: Mr. X, Chaos, a catatonic Apollo, Iceberg, Nightcreeper, and Runaway. Runaway’s being lost in her own problems screws up the plan and in the end it’s the sacrifice of Apollo, fighting his catatonic state to ram their ship and draw off the excess energy, that stops Flame. Instead of dying, however, Apollo further mutates into a being of life. Now the JLX is on the run and Amazon, a metamutant herself, decides to join them.

What they got right: I do like the idea, and Priest manages to bring in a lot of cameos from around the Amalgam universe.

What they got wrong: Folks, I’m not a fan of Priest’s writing style, which led to him ruining Steel for me (so I can’t deny a bit of bias here). Nightcreeper is a jerk. Runaway is too caught up in Wraith’s disappearance and nearly gets Iceberg killed, which might have worked if it didn’t feel forced. (Granted that’s also what keeps me away from the X-Titles And if this had been a real company, Priest just screwed things up for the writer of Amazon (which was a comic in the first set but didn’t get revived in this one).

Since we already looked at the JLX the last time they were here, we’ll focus on the new characters:

• Chaos (Havoc/Spitfire): I have no idea who Spitfire is in the DC universe. He’s angry at Mr. X for taking Apollo out of the orphanage the two brothers grew up in (and Havoc nearly destroyed because he can’t control his powers), and that’s pretty much it. Next?
• Iceberg (Iceman/Ice): Obligatory amalgamation, might have done something if Runaway wasn’t pining for her dead boyfriend, don’t really care.
• Amazon (Storm/Wonder Woman): I don’t know if I actually had the chance to review her. She’s not very interesting here. According to other stories, she grew up with Diana and won the contest (yes, for some reason they are separate characters despite being amalgamations–at least this isn’t Priest’s fault). I didn’t read her solo comic so I don’t know anything about her and all we get here is that she somehow thinks the JLX–made up of the very kind of human Fing Fang Flame is specifically targeting–can succeed where two groups of JLA can’t. I don’t get it, either.
• Fing Fang Flame (Fing Fang Foom/Brimstone): Outside of Lord Maxwell (the Hellfire League of Injustice make such a short appearance before being burned alive I have nothing to review) tossing the techno-seed into the burning spell cauldron, it’s all Fing Fang Foom in here, baby (with Lord Maxwell’s attitude) and even Priest can’t screw him up.

Would I buy the series: Even if Priest wasn’t writing it I probably wouldn’t. Like its predecessor, it still has too much of what bugs me about the X-Titles and the only reason I considered keeping it was all the Amalgam appearances (including the JLAvengers again, we have Bruce Wayne, Agent of SHIELD, and I do like that Super-Soldier is conflicted between upholding the law and knowing metamutants are not inherently evil). It’s just not enough to keep me interested, though. I’m also pretty sure this is the first time I’ve seen “metahuman” and “mutant” merged together as a term, when they’ve just been mutants previously. I think Priest had the right idea here. See, I can complement someone whose work I don’t like when they do a good thing.

Recommendation: Half of the original cast is dead, Amazon is ruined for her own comic if it existed (and the conceit should be that it is), and it’s one of my least favorite writers. I really can’t recommend this one.

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• A Lost History of Crossovers: The Amalgam Age