Amalgam Comics Month: Legends of the Dark Claw #1 - Atop the Fourth Wall
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- Опубликовано: 16 сен 2024
- NOTE: Viga got commissioned for a huge project throughout August and September, so during this time the title cards will be provided by J-Maner!
Welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where bad comics burn. We continue Amalgam Comics Month with the fusion of Batman and Wolverine!
Check out more AT4W shirts at Shark Robot: sharkrobot.com...
Title Card Art by J-Maner: / jmaneranimation
atopthefourthwa...
/ at4w
Originally released August 14th, 2023
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: Legends of the Pointy Avenger!
#at4w #AmalgamComics
For all the design issue...cannot deny that as a name for those two villains combined...Hyena is actually a very good choice, keeps the animal theme while also factoring in that one thing hyenas are most known for is their 'laugh'.
Agreed.
It's definitely a cool concept.
An animal that represents both Joker's madness and Sabertooth's savagery.
The name is easily the best part of the fusion.
@@JLT0087 Unfortunately it's the only good part of the fusion. Did anyone else get the sense that "Hyena" felt more like the Riddler than the Joker with those terrible clues?
The concept is strong, fusing the maniacal genius and insanity of the Joker with the raw savagery and brutality of Sabretooth making Hyena an all around much greater threat than either individual characters would have been alone. However, the execution is terrible.
Come now, Liknara, this combo makes a lot of sense! After all, what is Wolverine if not two Batmen kissing.
I don’t get it.
I understood that reference
@@jamescook5783 Optical illusion. There is a picture that is either Wolverine or two Batmen face to face.
@@ramirezthesilvitesame
Perfect comment.
Conclusion: This was a bet to make the most 90s character ever. And they succeeded.
DDDUUUUUUDDDEEE!!!
"We sought to create the most 90s character ever. And we succeeded."
No guns or pouches.
NOOO you're supposed to say "we were instructed to created to most 90s character...and we succeeded."
Carol Danvers, worked for the Air Force and is clearly associated with planes, was exposed to alien technology and energy which have her powers of energy projection and flight.
So she should be merged with Hal- what’s that?
[Checks notes]
Huntress?
Oh, and if Hal was dead at the time, then slap her with any green lantern.
Carol Danvers & Hal Jordan make perfect sense. Much more so than “Iron Lantern”. For the most part, these people suck at combo names. At least Super Soldier makes sense
Seriously, Carol and Hal are basically the same person, just merge Mar Vell with Abin Sur, put Sinestro in charge of the Kree and the story writes itself. You just need to decide if "Captain Lantern" or "Green Marvel" is a boy or a girl.
@@jeremyborder6794 none quite as bad as “Spider-boy”
Like c’mon, you’re not even trying
Carol Jordan AKA The Green Marvel!
6:56 You have to admit the name for the Sabertooth-Joker hybrid is perfect
From the name, I assumed he'd look like Woof from Batman Beyond.
@@lexofexcel886 That’d make sense, but I think Batman Beyond was a few years away from existing at that point
Indeed!
i liked the Look of him
Dark claw "punk is nothing but death and crime and the ADAMANTIUM RAGE of a beast"
I really miss Linkara shouting ADAMANTIUM RAGE!!!
Another missed opportunity: Carol Danvers went rogue? "Actually, it was Rogue who went Carol Danvers, but that's not important right now."
In the Amalgam universe, Marville got merged with Countdown to become…"COUNTDOWN TO FINAL MARVILLE"!
NOOOOOOOO!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!! NOOOOOOOO!! PLEASE NOOOOOOO!! AHHHHHHHH!!!
Why did you have to subject us to this?
@@iankopeski2831 Oh, you think that’s the worst of it? Think on this: If there’s a Countdown to Final Marville, then that also implies the existence of a Final Marville too. Not to mention a Marville on Infinite Earths, Zero Hour: Marville in Time, Infinite Marville, Identity Marville, Heroes in Marville, Dark Marville, etc…
Excuse me while I have a mental breakdown set to Combine Harvester.
With that in mind. I wonder what event would be combined with Heroes In Crisis.
I think nowadays if they did Amalgam, Batman would have been fused with Iron Man.
Makes perfect sense to me.
Meh, again, it fits superficially, but not beyond that. Really, Iron Man should be combined with Ted Kord.
@@RabblesTheBinxi liked what he was mashed up with in amalgam.
Green lantern. Iron lantern. Basically he gets the shrapnel while flying a plane and uses the green lantern as a battery for the life support and the suit
@@SuperHothead14OK, that actually really works.
@@SuperHothead14 I mean, Iron Lantern wasn't bad, but it wasn't the most fitting combination.
"Are ya dense, bub? I'm the god-damned Dark Claw!"
Jubilee age 12
Sabertooths!
My God, sabertooths! 😮
I find it kinda funny that the Jubilee/Robin amalgam is basically just an alt colored Carrie Kelley
their teenage sidekicks do have a lot of interesting comparisons and similarities.
Kitty Pryde and Dick Grayson- the original iconic sidekick that has been allowed to grow up
Jubilee and Tim Drake-sidekicks that were popular in the 90s & fallen into hard times in the 21set century.
X-23 and Damian- biological offsprings made from eugenics programs
Jason Todd and Deadpool: Gun toting lunatics who have both died in gruesome ways in one way or another.
(Yeah I know, not a teenager, but still.)
@@Nightwing9597I was gonna say Red Dead but it’s already taken so… Dead-Hood I guess 🤷♂️
@@mycontentcreation5264I know it doesn't sound cool but "red pool" was right there
90s dude would have a beer with this guy, along with Bloodgun, Cable, Deadpool, and the entire team of Youngblood
And without getting bored or losing his enthusiasm, no less.
90's dude really needs his own series!
@@sebastianevangelista4921 That was tried before with the LInkara Lost Storyline and look how that turned out XD
@@Pikachu2Ash Honestly I actually enjoyed the Freak Force episode, the only real problem was the abandoned gaming series that was teased at the end. As long as it isn't gaming centric we could get something fun.
@@sebastianevangelista4921 I was being facetious, cause in the context of the storyline the characters found it groan-inducing. This was before 90 Dude got his huge character development. I'm not completely saying that the idea shouldn't be tried again.
Clearly Dark Claw is a reference to the fact that Wolverine's mask is two Batmans (Batmen?) Making out.
I read the BTAS inspired one and it was MUCH more interesting. Logan trains in a danger room against some of his foes to show them off, and we also get a great story with Lady Talia(Talia+Lady Deathstrike) trying to get vengance for her father, Ra's Al-Pocalypse.
That does sound better.
Ra's Al-Pocalypse? That is certainly a name-choice...
Can you tell me what the comic is called?
@darksideapoc The Dark Claw Adventures #1
I read that story too. It was pretty cool.
Batman and Wolverine have always been the loners of their respective teams...
Batman is not a loner he has robin nightwing red hood red robin spoiler batgirl batwoman
@@theflashthefastreviewerali8319
& yet he denies it so often.
I'm pretty sure any similarities between Batman and Wolverine is superficial.
Vesper might have been a better name because Vespertilionidae are small brown bats that eat insects
@@theflashthefastreviewerali8319 And Wolverine was a member of 4 Avengers teams at the same time...
I also thought they merged Batman and Wolverine because they were dark loners with pointy ears.
Batman and Wolverine fusing is an interesting premise that could work so long as they were balanced more. Heck, just imagine if Dark Claw really is a great detective, but his violent tendencies end up causing him to make mistakes at times in his deductions or something.
The artist waiting for the reference material that he was supposed to draw himself is pretty damn hilarious.
Honestly Hyena just reminds me of a more restrained version of Titan Joker from the end of the first Arkham Asylum game. Oh and "Death urge Overdrive" is at least less of a mouthful than Negasonic Teenage Warhead.
"You thought I was going by the name sparrow, But it was me, Duo!"
0:21 Ironically, later stories telling wolverine's origin, funny enough, show they had more in common than you would think of
8:07 The other most likely reason why they merged Wolverine and Batman: their tendency to have many proteges, apprentices and sidekicks
EDIT: did they fused together because of the meme of "to draw wolverine's mask (the eyes especially), just imagine drawing 2 batmans kissing?"
Yes, they are both from an old aristocrat family of North America and both saw their respective fathers being killed with guns.
Sparrow feels a lot more like Carrie Kelley than she does a combination of Jubilee and Tim, she even looks like Carrie with the costume and the big glasses instead of a mask.
Oooh Spider-Boy is next! Amalgam character I've always been the most curious about.
That one, I think, was the one I wanted to be a regular series the most.
I honestly would have preferred Peter to be fused with Dick Grayson instead of Ben and Connor but I’m curious about this character nevertheless
Same.
that's what I'm thinking too, I grew up with that comic even before I got into Legion of superheroes, it's gonna be interesting.
Think Linkara will like him better?
I like Clawpter better as a name for the claw copter.
Honestly out of All the Amalgam characters dark claw was probably the most 90’s character of them all and super weird at least in my opinion.
u forgot LOBO THE DUCK 🤪
@@DasKame oh yeah I forgot about Lobo the duck was a thing but honestly not just him but also we had doombreaker who was a combination of doctor doom and doomsday.
@@TevyaSmolka Wasnt the Name just "Dr. Doomsday?"
@@DasKame I think so yeah
5:08 "My costume is officially sponsored by Cuisinart!"
11:53 "ARTISTIC BARRAGE"
Makes me wonder who The Riddler would merge with. Arcade?
I'm just going to assume that "Barrow" was either a typo or a bad attempt to combine the words "Batcave" and "Burrow" because you know Wolverine.
Also did I get this right Darkclaw stores his costumes *outside* his lair in a normal closet? It's a wonder it took so long for someone to stumble upon that.😂
If they were going for "burrow", then we get...
BECAUSE POOR LITERACY IS KEWL
They they updated the Anagram Universe, you know that they’ll combine Batman with Iron Man since the whole Marvel/Fox Mutant spat caused Wolverine’s popularity to decline while Iron Man moved to A-List status.
To be fair it’s also a much stronger mix
It's a more fitting pair anyway so I am all for it.
If we'd go only by popularity, Spiderman is the most popular Marvel character, not Iron Man ^^
He's probably the most popular superhero with Batman XD
Aw man, i liked Iron Lantern
The Iron Knight
Makes sense that the severely overexposed DC character and the severely overexposed Marvel character fuse.
Better than an "ARACH-KNIGHT" i guess
@@DasKame That's Spider-Man combined with Moon Knight.
I think "Creed H. Quinn" is due to the Joker having no civilian name. Otherwise Hyena would be needlessly standing on tiptoes all the time.
The funniest thing is that blonde huntress ends up looking more like Stephanie Brown as the spoiler in the new 52!
I remember buying this comic during one of my first visits to a comic store as a kid. I didn't even know what Amalgam was, I just thought the mix of Batman and Wolverine was awesome.
The "static electricity discharge wire" is just a grounding wire. I don't know why they felt the need to make it needlessly wordy.
Dark Claw is sharper than the Shredder
I think the combination character of Batman and Wolverine should have been a detective prone to violence who swore an oath to protect people from crime but he does not remember why he swore the oath in the first place.
I actually like how a lot of the Amalgam characters weren't just one character fused with their "counter part". It opened up the possibles more. Heck, some were even three or four characters merged into one.
I am actually surprised that none of Batmans many sidekicks isn't named Sparrow.
1. In defense of Sparrow’s word choices, it was this weird thing Jubilee was doing a lot at the time during her time as Wolverine’s sidekick. I remember in one X-men issue (think the story was called Madripoor Nights) with the two of them as well as Psylocke and Black Widow (and Captain America in the flashbacks), when the two older women were in sexy dresses to infiltrate a place, she basically was the same way as here (I think the implication was she didn’t like getting sidelined just for being a lot younger).
2. The Dark Claw Adventures comic in the style of Batman the animated series is a lot better than this one. I hope you check it out the next time you do this month.
4:17 Nice use of combining the AT4W theme with the MCU Avengers theme.
"Other times they're squirrels with laser guns attached to their tails."
The squirrel-girl comic took a dark turn.
Hyena, the mix of Joker, Sabertooh, Harley Quinn, and a Chia Pet.
...also, it's weird that Jim Balant has done two comics in which someone accidentally discovers the secret lair of the main hero. Batman found Catwoman's lair in Guardian of Gotham and here with Huntress with Dark Claw's closet.
4:17 DUDE! The 90's dude is on a title card, Let's go play 'Smells like Team Spirit!' LOL.
If memory serves, between the time she was depowered by Rogue and became Binary, Carol was a supporting character in Wolverine's solo book as a powerless adventurer in Madripoor. So taking her at that moment and mixing with Huntress isn't as wonky as it seems.
10:37 Considering current comic ownership, wouldn’t the Amalgam Looney Tunes feature Bugs Mouse?
Piffle Pika
Here's another obvious idea to replace Lobo The Duck. Daffy The Duck. Though seriously. I like to imagine that the Loonatics from Loonatics Unleashed exist in the Amalgam universe.
"It looks like this page was meant to be in 3D."
That sounds like a dangerous idea with this character.
While I’m sure this was a radical gnarly concept during that time, I think looking at it from a modern perspective, the most obvious fusion partner for Batman would be Iron Man.
Everyone says that because they're both bilionaires whose only power are their gadgets, but aside from their powerset, I don't think they're that similar ^^'
I don't think there's really a good analog to Batman in the Marvel Universe, aside from Moon Knight, but thematically, I think Spiderman is a lot like Batman, they're both tormented by their path as a vigilantee, are doing it because of a traumatic backstory involcing the death of a parental figure (well two for Batman ^^), Spiderman do have gadgets and is a science genius, even though it's not the most well-known aspect of his powerset, even their nemesis looks alike, the Green Goblin ressemble a lot a Joker on a glider ^^
It doesn't fit perfectly because Batman is usually more broody and dark, while Spiderman is snarky and colourful, but still ^^
Or Black Panther. Or Moon Knight. If you want to get fancy, you can have Daredevil, because some of their villains would kinda fit the batman merge.
Merge Kingpin with Penguin, Joker with Bullseye, Elektra with either Catwoman or Talia, The Hand with the Court of Owls, Maybe Stilt-Man with Kite-Man, etc.
@@ianr.navahuber2195 I didn't thought about Daredevil, I honestly never think about him, he would be a good fit, a blind rich heir doing vigilante work at night, and no one suspects him of being Devilman XD
And they're so close Frank Millar wrote them both :p
@@ianr.navahuber2195 the hand would be a better fit with the league of Assassins
@@krankarvolund7771 Batman and Ironman also have the fact that they're founding members of their teams and the fact that they're both known for preplanning. They both even had a period when that aspect was taken to borderline villainous extremes.
Congratulations on the maintained schedule!
I really like Amalgam comics... and ADORE Sparrow XD Jubes is one of my favorite Marvel characters and 90's Tim Drake is the best Robin. How can I resist ?
I always saw Dark Claw's name as being twofold. The first is the obvious Dark Claw. The second is in the pronunciation which can come out as Dark Law.
I can't tell if Dark Claw's unironic _"I ain't no puddy tat"_ quip is suppose to be stupid or brilliant, all I know is that someone got paid to write that line and I wish I had that job XD
At least Dark Claw doesn't seem to have an issue with bees.
Dark Claw is the most 90's 90's character that ever ever 90'd in the 90's. I don't even know how you DO 90's, because normally numbers aren't really verbs, but if anyone could figure it out, it'd be Dark Claw. Half this video could have just been 90's dude reactions and would not have complained.
My favorite Amalgam character!
One of the more memorable ones alongside Spider-Boy, Doctor Strangefate who was a mix of THREE characters (Professor X, Doctor Strange, and Doctor Fate), and Amazon (Storm + Wonder Woman)
uhm...LOBO THE DUCK?
@@DasKame Nope, he's not my favorite... Lol
Carol Danvers going *rogue* is almost certainly a direct reference to Carol's powers and psyche being absorbed by Rogue in the 80s. So she'd be connected to the X-Men in that sense, which is actually kind of clever. Though I do think the Dark Claw character works better in Dark Claw Adventures, because the BTAS art style works to the advantage of the character design.
The Hyena's backstory as a remorseless soldier remained me of the Comedian from Watchmen.
Batman and Daredevil or Batman & Moon Knight would have been great fusion superheroes in the Amalgam
I remember Professor Thorgi did a pitch for a new spin on Amalgam back on his old channel, and he combined John Constantine with Moon Knight, while Daredevil was mixed with Green Arrow.
For the Constantine/Moon Knight one, he turned Konshu into a demon that had essentially cursed Constantine with the Moon Knight powers as part of a deal, but at the cost of being haunted by those he failed to save.
Both actually work way better than Batman-Wolverine. Daredevil works well cos of his “radar sense” which is more like echolocation
Moon Bat!
@@TrueZero2 I like the fusion idea, but I don't know. I feel Constantine could be merged with someone else. Maybe with Punisher when you think about it.
There weren't two Dark Claw and two Super Soldier issues at the same time... they just did the event twice! The first round was in April 1996 and the second in June 1997. The "animated series" one came in the second batch.
The second time they did the crossover event it got even weirder because among other things, Robin and Jubilee sort of kind of started dating? Nevermind that they were fused together.
Wolverine, like Batman, also comes from a patrician (aristocrat) family of North America and saw his father being murdered in front of him.
So.... they both should be drink a Beer with Kraven the Hunter?
This sounds like it’s as fun as the Super Soldier comic. Bring it on! 👍🏻😎👍🏻
Say what you will about the look they absolutely nailed the name of a fusion of Sabretooth and Joker.
Wolverine and Batman are also in the same genre; throwbacks to two-fisted tale pulp heroes
Amalgam is one of my favorite, if a bit silly, moments in comics! I’m glad you are covering some of them. I look forward to Spider-Boy!
4:17 Avengers assembling to review some comic books.
10:55 Now I'm wondering if Dark Claw hates Rock and Roll and that's why he rejected that name.
They definitely missed their opportunity to have a scene where he is doing detective work with Wolverine's sense of smell
I'm sure someone else already mentioned this in the comments, but "Darkclaw" literally feels and (somewhat) looks like a carbon copy of FAUST. I hope Tim Vigil brought legal action. 😆
Hyena looks and feels like a garish heel wrestler persona
HOT TAKE: Dark Claw as one of the coolest and most underrated superhero designs ever, it is a bit much, but somehow it together well
He’s the best at what he does, and what he does is “detective”.
Maybe Sparrow is the child of Tim and Jubilee.
That makes no sense but it's better than the chrush-struck teens fusing together
I mean, it you think about it, the yellow in Dark Claw's outfit still makes sense. It still fits the function of drawing fire towards the most protected part of his body.
As long as we assume this version of Logan also has a skull encased in adamantium, I mean.
I mean he still has eyes. And I assume the concussion issue that occasionally springs up for Wolverine.
Imagine how dangerous a mixture of Joker and Sabertooth could’ve been
3:12 So that Batman art from earlier WASN'T Dark Claw?! Man, I forgot a LOT of this as a kid!
7:37 The fiend! He'll turn the newspaper into social media!
10:58 Still not as cool a codename as "Negasonic Teenage Warhead".
And I hope you do Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
I work with electronics and can confirm that you should be wearing a grounding wire like the Hyena is assuming one end of the wire can be detached and clipped onto something to ground him and that the black parts of his arms are skin and not gloves. Whatever the metal components on the outside of the bracelet is isn't a thing though.
Our bodies generate electricity basically with everything we do, albeit really small amounts but, enough to mess up delicate circuitry if you're not grounded. For the grounding wire all you need is a wrist strap with a metal plate on the underside pressed onto your skin to direct that static from you through the wire and into your ground.
Batman & Pete Wisdom would be another great fusion in the Amalgam as well as Marvel's Slapstick and the Joker would be great too in the Amalgam universe
Merging Huntress with Black Widow would have made a lot more sense.
Wouldn't it have made more sense for Huntress to be amalgamed with Black Widow? They could've called her the Arachtress.
Here was my main problem: Hyena. I think he was trying to represent the ENTIRE Batman Rogue's gallery. It's the writer said, "Combine Sabertooth with Joker (& Bane & Riddler & Penguin & Harley Quinn)."
I wouldn't have Carol Danvers/Huntress, you could do Black Widow/Huntress. You know, make her a hunter/spy for S.H.I.E.L.D. Or, if you want to borrow more street level characters, Black Cat/Catwoman.
In retrospect. I wonder if it would make sense to mix Batman with Spider-Man. Given the hardships Peter Parker has endured. That I'm sure he doesn't want other people to go through (Plus there's a couple DCAU episodes where Batman interacts with Etrigan. So yes. The dark knight has interacted with demons in at least one continuity. Update. Realized this idea is stupid. And I hate it)
and there's the added layer of Carnage and Black Cat being labeled a Joker and Catwoman rip off respectively.
@@Carlitonsp1 True.
This might be late, but I think a Burrow is what Wolverine dens are sometimes called, so it is actually a logical name... One of the few things that actually make sense in this comic
The grounding wire is a real tool for fixing electronics. If you don’t use it, you run the risk of any static charge that has built up in you jumping to whatever it is you’re fixing.
I used to fix cell phones and had to use it.
Hyena's design aside, the basic concept has potential for him to be a good villain. When I long ago read about mixing together Joker and Sabertooth, my mind imagined him as a more feral-looking were-hyena, with a white face and green mane. I also imagined him wearing a purple variation of Sabretoot's outfit.
Thanks, Linkara! Now i'm imagining Batclaw in high heels ... ok, maybe that would have made this better.
Ah, the face of the amalgam comics.
Really, the connection between Batman and Wolverine at the time is that they were the often the very vanguard of super '90s grimdark nonsense for their respective companies.
The aliens from Toy Story squee in delight
I *kinda* understand merging Carol with Huntress here. It doesn't come up much anymore, but back when this was written Carol's friendship with Logan was a much bigger deal. Back before she got her powers, Carol was a spy for the USAF, and worked with Logan on secret agent missions back when he was working for Department H in Canada.
So they wanted a spy character with a connection to Logan to merge with a vigilante with a connection to Bruce.... Carol Danvers the Huntress was born.
12:57 I mean, considering this is Wolverine it’s probably impressive his suits aren’t just in a balls on the floor
Dark Claw, who has the mutant power of walking like he's wearing high heels even when he's in boots.
Makes sense, Wolverine is just two Batmen kissing
If they did Dark Claw nowadays, they'd probably have X-23 be fused to either Batgirl or Nightwing
Edit they also should've mixed Joker with Deadpool, my purposed name for this supposed fusion would be......
KILLING JOKE (I know it's a little predictable, but I mean come-on it makes sense)
Dark Claw made no sense in the 90s, but if they did it again these days, merging Cassandra Cain and Laura Kinney would make a ton of sense. They're both girls raised from birth to be weapons, who rebelled against their abusers and became superheroes.
5:46 I think the best way to balance it, would make Darkclaw look like he is weairng a more edgy male version of Cassandra Cain's Orphan outfit
8:12 So in another universe, Sparrow would be the equivalent of Jubillee and Robin Tim having a child together?
13:04 Wait what?! Why they chose this characters to get fused together?
ALTHOUGH Funny enough, if Amalgam happened in the present, I wouldn't be surprised if they had Carol Danvers be merged but with Say Billy Batson (so his superhero alterego kept his identity EXTRA hidden by having him transform into a different gender), or Mary Marvel (So Billy would get merged with the original Mar-Vell and have him die in a flashback)
Holy cow, Dark Claw is a Techno-Wizard? I guess Rifts must be pretty popular in this universe.
The main reason I could see for Amalgam to fuse Batman and Wolverine is that both are "the best at what they do" and what they do is not always pretty
How Dark Claw's cape is still intact after catching on all those blades: It's made of kevlar. Not for it's bulletproof qualities, but just because kevlar is slash and stab resistant, and he really needs something durable with his aesthetic preferences.
17:35 with an angle like this the mask actually looks pretty cool
A missed opportunity to have the plane headed for Logan International Airport.
What’s strange but interesting is that some characters within the Amalgam universe were amalgamated twice. Besides Wolverine, Batman/Bruce Wayne was also combined with Nick Fury (see ‘Bruce Wayne, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.’). Other examples I could give are Daredevil with Deadman, and then again with Deathstroke AND Rose Wilson! Another one worth mentioning would be Apocalypse with Ra’s Al Ghul and then again with Eclipso… the latter of which we never got to see on paper and such a missed opportunity for a badass villain!