Because publishers want you to buy their product every month, comics are typically serial in nature. However, occasionally (and more often nowadays than ever before) publishers launch a comic title that is only meant to last for one issue. While ongoing series often have multiple chances to hook in new readers, the comics highlighted in this ongoing investigations only had One-Shot At Greatness!
Publisher: Amalgam Comics
Cover Date: June 1997
Cover Price: $1.95
Writer: Karl Kesel
Artist: Tom Grummett
When the DC and Marvel Universes merged in Marvel vs DC, a new one was created: the Amalgam Universe. This one-shot combined Man-Bat with Man-Thing.
Four adventurers who survived a space shuttle crash landing decided to band together to be the world’s great death-cheaters, the Challengers of the Fantastic! Now, a crisis threatens their world and Uatu, the Guardian has approached them to warn them of their impending doom. The Silver Racer heralds the coming of Galactiac, who is preparing to consume all of the life forces of planet Earth. Only the Challengers of the Fantastic will be able to stop the world-eater … but his defeat will come with a steep price: the death of a Challenger!
In this issue, Kesel puts a different, DC spin on one of the Fantastic Four’s most classic storylines. There are plenty of similar story elements incorporated with a new element. For example, Galactiac mutates Ben Grimm into his Thing form and there’s a Punisher reference worked in (a nod to one of Galactus’ enforcers). Again, John Storm is called away by Uatu with a fun word play that mentions the Ultimate Nullifier. Doctor Doomsday is seen posessing the power of the Silver Racer and, so on and so forth. Grummett’s art is in classic-FF style … and to be honest, with all this said, it doesn’t seem like there’s much left to be taken from the Challengers mythos. Which is fine with me, as I’m a Marvel fan through and through.
On Ebay: Amalgam | Karl Kesel | Tom Grummett
On AtomicAvenue: Amalgam Comics