“Yesterday’s” Comic> Spider-Boy Team-Up

Heading to the premiere of the Justice League Avengers movie.

Spider-Boy Team-Up

Amalgam (Marvel; June, 1997)

This is going to be a pain to summarize because it makes so little sense, which I think was the intention. During a fight with Scavulture, Spider-Boy loses his web gun, which gets grabbed by a kid hoping it would get him into the Yancy Legion. But before Scavulture blasts Spider-Boy with his eye beam he is teleported into the future by the Legion Of Galactic Guardians 2099. And here’s where things go, to quote another fictional time traveler, a little ca-ca.

Some guy in a robe orders the Frightful Five to destroy the time machine, knowing that if Spider-Boy is there too long time will be screwed up, as demonstrated when people from further in the future rescue him and show him what the future has become. They send him back only find that the line-up of the superhero team is changed and instead of trying to meet their hero before he died this new version wants his help to get the Phantom-Negative Zone portal working before sending him back.

Now in the present he instinctively avoids Scavenger’s blast but is still in danger until the boy from earlier tries to help with the web-shooter he stole earlier. The kid is hurt by Scavenger’s Neuron Claw and the only way to save him is to send him into the Phantom-Negative Zone. Then the robed man shows up again to kidnap Spider-Boy. He plans to pull him back into Spider-Man and Superboy and absorb the amalgamated energies until the Spider-Boy of 2099, Mig-El Gand, is able to travel to the robed villain’s dimension. First calling himself Kang The Conqueror, the enemy is revealed as Chronos-Tut, the Time Pharoah, a mutual enemy of Spider-Boy and the Legion. By destroying his mask, the limbo falls apart and everyone returns home as Spider-Boy prepares for his marriage to Insect Queen.

Did I mention this is a normal-length comic for the 90s?

What they got right: If they wanted nuts, they got it. I’m guessing there’s some parody to the various reboots of the Legion Of Superheroes over the years in how the team line up (and the amalgamations that form them) changes as the time stream is messed up. There’s also a tie to the Challengers Of The Fantastic comic since they and Spider-Boy’s Project Cadmus pals hang out together, as Silver Racer cameos and captions point to the comic. It also keeps Reed away when they need him to save Mig-El.

What they got wrong: There’s another Deathlok amalgamation. Seriously, what is it about this guy that so many writers had to fit him in there somehow? As for the Amalgamation reviews, we already met the Spider-Boy cast last time, but there are a few amalgamations to cover.

• Spider-Boy 2099 (Spider-Man 2099/Mon-El): Mon-El is tied to Superman and stood in for him. He has the more traditional wrist-worn web-shooters but it still shoots out lots-o-webbing like the present day Spider-Boy’s gun version. It’s an interesting origin but much like the rest of the time-travel aspects convoluted.
• Legion Of Galactic Guardians 2099 (Legion Of Superheroes/Guardians Of The Galaxy): As mentioned in the past, there was a team of Guardians prior to the ones from the movie, who operated in the future. I’m not going to go over the individual amalgamations because there are too many members, many of whom change when the timeline does. They’re a bit too cheerful even for my taste and Spider-Boy always seems to show up when they’re ready to choose a new leader, leading to the roll call. There’s no real thought to most of the amalgamations, either. How does Electro and Deathlok (I’m serious, I don’t want to see Deathlok amalgamated again) get into this? One is a Spider-Man villain and the other has no connection to anything tied to this story like most of the amalgamations.
• Scavulture (Vulture/Scavenger): A means to an end, having looked into Scavenger’s history it seems like the best new amalgamation as both are enemies of their respective counterparts even if the only thing they have in common are the gadgets they use working well together.

Would I buy the series: Not if every issue was as confusing as this one. It’s only through repeated readings that I’m not as confused about what’s going on as I was when I first picked this up when it first came out. I like things they do here, like the continuity and the origin, but it’s hard to follow after one reading.

Recommendation: And based on that it’s hard to recommend this issue. Maybe you’ll get into it easier than I did, but while I wouldn’t chase anyone away from this comic I wouldn’t suggest getting it, either.