KANG versus SPIDER-BOYToo Many Heroes -- Too Little Time! (Marvel/DC)
Where: Spider-Boy Team-Up #1 When: June 1997
Why: RK Sternsel How: Ladronn
The Story So Far...
When twin primordial entities recollected their dissipated conscious energies and regained each other's notice -- they turned to pit the warriors of their respective universes against one another in a battle to the death!
In an effort to contravene these dire circumstances, beings from both worlds -- The Living Tribunal and The Spectre -- clasp hands to forge a new universe comprised of elements of both.
Thus, for a fleeting instant, all of history unfolds to tell the tale of a new existence in The Amalgam Age! In this reality: General Thunderbolt Ross leads efforts to bioengineer a successor to the World War II super-hero known as Super-Soldier. Under ill-fated scientist, Peter Parker, Project Cadmus successfully creates a prematurely woken clone who becomes the sensational Spider-Boy!
Where: Spider-Boy Team-Up #1 When: June 1997
Why: RK Sternsel How: Ladronn
The Story So Far...
When twin primordial entities recollected their dissipated conscious energies and regained each other's notice -- they turned to pit the warriors of their respective universes against one another in a battle to the death!
In an effort to contravene these dire circumstances, beings from both worlds -- The Living Tribunal and The Spectre -- clasp hands to forge a new universe comprised of elements of both.
Thus, for a fleeting instant, all of history unfolds to tell the tale of a new existence in The Amalgam Age! In this reality: General Thunderbolt Ross leads efforts to bioengineer a successor to the World War II super-hero known as Super-Soldier. Under ill-fated scientist, Peter Parker, Project Cadmus successfully creates a prematurely woken clone who becomes the sensational Spider-Boy!
Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Kang 5 (Super-Human)Intelligence: Kang 6 (Genius)
Speed: Spider-Boy 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Kang 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Spider-Boy 2099 5 (Cat-Like)
Fighting: Spider-Boy 3 (Street Wise)
Energy: Kang 5 (Lasers)
Total: Kang The Time Conqueror 29 (Metahuman)
Spider-Boy is the Amalgam Comics synthesis of Marvel's Spider-Man of the time, Ben Reilly, and the half-kryptonian DC Comics clone, Superboy!
Named Pete Ross for the Project Cadmus scientist who led his creation, Peter Parker, and his adopted guardian, General Ross; Spider-Boy uses his innate powers to manipulate gravity to walk on walls and fight crime.
He also possesses enhanced strength, speed, and agility, and a Cadmus designed gun that shoots adhesive webs -- complimenting his swinging style as Spider-Boy.
Before his "Uncle Gen" was gunned down in the street by a mugger, he bestowed upon the young clone wise words Super-Soldier once told him. A mantra Spider-Boy lives by, albeit with his own twist of tabloid chasing antics: "With great power does come great responsibility... and way too much fun!"
Before his "Uncle Gen" was gunned down in the street by a mugger, he bestowed upon the young clone wise words Super-Soldier once told him. A mantra Spider-Boy lives by, albeit with his own twist of tabloid chasing antics: "With great power does come great responsibility... and way too much fun!"
Spider-Man and Superboy fought during the Marvel versus DC crossover event, but combined they are one of the Amalgam Universe's greatest heroes -- inspiring following generations as far as the in-fiction future of 2099!
Of course, time is of no consequence to the mysterious cloaked spectre that is Kang, The Time Conqueror!
He is the combination of Marvel's Kang and DC's Time Trapper -- and his reach is just as grandiose as each of his two halves! As we'll soon see: The Time Conqueror is aware of the omniverse beyond his composite reality, and aims to access the nexus of powers inherent within the Amalgam hero.
He is the combination of Marvel's Kang and DC's Time Trapper -- and his reach is just as grandiose as each of his two halves! As we'll soon see: The Time Conqueror is aware of the omniverse beyond his composite reality, and aims to access the nexus of powers inherent within the Amalgam hero.
The Tape: Kang The Time Conqueror Ranking: Draw (Not Ranked)
What Went Down...
As Spider-Boy successfully sends a mortally wounded samaritan to the relative safety of the Phantom-Negative Zone, he's shocked to learn from Vance Cosmic, and the future Legion of Galactic Guardians, that the young man will not emerge until the year 2099 -- a century from the present!
Shocked and baffled by their cavalier attitude towards the grim fate, Spider-Boy becomes even more perplexed as his 2099 allies appear to become frozen like statues. A sign that the grim spectre chasing him through time has arrived!
As the looming figure sizzles into view, its cloak hood falls to reveal the green & purple helmeted visage of Kang The Time Conqueror!
Having dragged Spider-Boy into the non-space of Limbo -- Kang now takes control of his target, wrapping massive gauntleted hands around his forearms, with a mad scheme to use the young hero to conqueror the very omniverse!
Kang reveals that Spider-Boy is a vital, primal living nexus of realities!
Powerful energies begin to glow like a seam down Spider-Boy's center as The Time Conqueror attempts to pull him apart, separating his amalgamated life energies to gain access to all realities through time and space!
As the process takes hold -- Spider-Boy begins to split into two separate beings: the confounded Spider-Man of the Marvel Universe and an equally confused Superboy from the DC Universe!
Despite Kang's seemingly imminent success -- a time square opens in the Limbo dimension -- producing yet another, fully masked Spider-Boy!
The mystery Spider-Boy uses the two heads of his splitting counterpart to vault out of the temporal transport and deliver a devastating two-footed kick to Kang's face!
The violent blow sends Kang reeling and frees his grip on the original Spider-Boy!
The masked version swings around the falling Time Conqueror, calling for his predecessor to lend a hand to quickly put the time-fiend on ice.
Having pulled himself back together, Spider-Boy produces his web gun and unleashes a steady stream of webbing in unison with his mysterious counterpart, who sprays organic webbing from his two forefingers!
With the villain successfully subdued in a bodily cocoon of webbing -- the twin heroes aim to at last unmask the scourge of time!
Spider-Boy rips the helmet from his head, unmasking Kang's true face as Chronos-Tut, The Time Pharoah! An enemy once defeated by the Challengers of the Fantastic when he attempted to turn Washington DC into ancient Egypt!
Unbeknownst to the heroes, in unmasking Kang they damaged his masks circuitry -- shattering his ability to control the omniversal forces that maintain Limbo!
A spectacular building of energies signals the collapse of Chronos-Tut's scheme!
He radiates with power until at last it explodes -- consuming Chronos-Tut and blasting both Spider-Boys back to the Project Cadmus laboratory found deep within the subterranean corridors of Fantastic Mountain!
Now mere moments after triggering the Phantom-Negative Zone device, Spider-Boy learns of the true significance of his unexpected ally: He is Mig-El Gand -- the injured boy who will spend a century in the pocket dimension, before emerging to receive the life-saving spider DNA serum that turns him into Spider-Boy 2099!
The Hammer...For a fleeting moment I thought we had a fourth wall breaking appearance by Marvel's bona fide Kang The Conqueror, but the unmasking of Chronos-Tut confirms this is an Amalgam combination of Kang and DC's elusive Time Trapper.
I'm basically repeating thoughts from Kang's Heroes Reborn entry, but an intrusion into the Amalgam Universe really could've worked!
There are a variety of explanations for how he might've escaped the combination of universes. From his frequent visitations to the Limbo realm, to his existence as a time-displaced traveler from a distant future; the means for Kang to step beyond the consequences of causality -- and a present day that merged Marvel and DC -- were there to be exploited.
There are a variety of explanations for how he might've escaped the combination of universes. From his frequent visitations to the Limbo realm, to his existence as a time-displaced traveler from a distant future; the means for Kang to step beyond the consequences of causality -- and a present day that merged Marvel and DC -- were there to be exploited.
Kang The Time Conqueror, aka; Chronos-Tut, The Time Pharoah, might not exist beyond Amalgam Comics, but nevertheless possesses an awareness of its unique composite reality, as we saw in his efforts to divide Spider-Boy back into his original components of Spider-Man and Superboy.
As a matter of note: The great Ladronn draws what looks like a fairly classic Spider-Man, which seems to suggest Spider-Boy owes his Marvel side to Peter Parker, even though it was Ben Reilly in the webs when the two universes clashed, and first produced the combined reality of the Amalgam Universe in 1996.
As a matter of note: The great Ladronn draws what looks like a fairly classic Spider-Man, which seems to suggest Spider-Boy owes his Marvel side to Peter Parker, even though it was Ben Reilly in the webs when the two universes clashed, and first produced the combined reality of the Amalgam Universe in 1996.
By this point it had been revealed Peter Parker wasn't the clone that everybody was led to believe he was. This shouldn't have any real consequence for Spider-Boy, and should probably be regarded as a mistake, but we're hardly going to hold against the artist. Ladronn's Kirby-infused pencils are always an absolute treat!
Spider-Boy Team-Up #1 is an all-around tour de force, with Roger Stern and Karl Kesel (credited as the Amalgamated "RK Sternsel") cramming every single page chock full of ideas brought to life with Jose Ladronn's masterful touch. It's really hard to believe it's only a 22-page comic! There's just so much!
Twin rollcalls for the Legion of Galactic Guardians 2099 playfully poke fun at DC's unstable Legion of Super-Heroes, while also casually tossing off a couple dozen awesome new Amalgam characters, including personal favourites: 'Lectron (Electro & Lightning Lad), Timberwolf By Night (Werewolf By Night & Timber Wolf), Cannonfire (Cannonball & Wildfire), Multiple Maid (Multiple Man & Triplicate Girl), and Sparkler (Dazzler & Spark).
It's an absolute smorgasbord of sparklingly brilliant ideas before you even reach the punctuating piece de resistance of Spider-Boy 2099, whose origin is actually told before your very eyes throughout the entire issue, using the reality & time bending plotlines to trick you into thinking it's a B-story, fusing elements of Mon-El, and the recently cancelled Spider-Man 2099, to create Mig-El Gand!
Perhaps the only criticism of this issue, like many of the best Amalgam one-shots, is that it really makes you want to continue reading more of these characters!
DC and Marvel collaborated on two complete waves of Amalgam Comics across 1996 and 1997, along with a sprawling catalogue of stand-alone crossovers, such as Green Lantern/Silver Surfer, but more consequential storytelling was limited to the original DC versus Marvel/Marvel versus DC mini-series, and two four issue spin-offs starring a joint-owned hero: DC/Marvel: All Access and Unlimited Access.
Those books gave us even more fun crossovers between the two companies, but Spider-Boy Team-Up might've been a fantastic series to continue, allowing them to introduce even more brilliant mash-up concepts, while doing more to showcase the heroes & villains introduced across in the earlier Amalgam Comics wave.
Those books gave us even more fun crossovers between the two companies, but Spider-Boy Team-Up might've been a fantastic series to continue, allowing them to introduce even more brilliant mash-up concepts, while doing more to showcase the heroes & villains introduced across in the earlier Amalgam Comics wave.
Alas, these kinds of crossovers appear to be in the distant past, and Spider-Boy will be one of the few variations of Spider-Man that will not be appearing in the upcoming animated theatrical blockbuster: Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse.
I guess that just makes it all the more perfect that we can talk about it here!
Sometimes I kind of view Amalgam characters as a little bit of time wasted given that their existence is limited and they'll rarely advance beyond one or two entries on the site, but here revisiting Spider-Boy, I'm reminded of just how much fun the whole experiment was. It literally had me running to the stands back in 1996!
There's actually quite a few Spider-Boy battles we can return to, and if you'd like to help make that possible, consider becoming a supporter on Patreon! As a thank you you'll unlock access to additional updates and a new Discord server, while also helping to make everything that appears here possible!
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Winners: Spider-Boy & Spider-Boy 2099
#360 (new) Spider-Boy (Peter Ross)
#361 (new) Spider-Boy (Mig-El Gand)
#1007 (new) Kang The Time Conqueror (Chronos-Tut)
#360 (new) Spider-Boy (Peter Ross)
#361 (new) Spider-Boy (Mig-El Gand)
#1007 (new) Kang The Time Conqueror (Chronos-Tut)
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