For reasons, I recently wanted to see what dog-themed superheroes there were. My search lead me to Stray, published by Action Lab Comics. Loving what I saw of his look, I gave it a read and loved the concept, writing and artwork(for those who want to check it out, it can be found on comixology and the website is at https://incogvito.com/stray). I thought it would be cool to start a thread where everyone can give their own finds like this: lesser known comics they've found and liked outside of the big two(or even just bigger) comic companies.
The Digital Comic Museum hosts a ton of golden age comic books which are in the public domain. https://digitalcomicmuseum.com Skyward was a comic company from the 1970's which was started by former Marvel/DC talent. All of their books are now in the public domain and are part of the Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/skywald-comics
Young Heroes in Love Major Bummer The Elementals Justice Machine Hero Alliance the Brat Pack The Authority (originl run) The Legion of Super Heroes 5 year gap Enigma
For fans of underground comics I would search out "Naughty Bits" by cartoonist Roberta Gregory. Haven't seen anything from her in years, decades even but in the 90's her main character of "Midge" also referred to as "*itchy *itch" was raucous. A disgruntled, sexually frustrated low level office worker you will never look at a cucumber the same way again. Gregory also penned a mini series called "Artistic Licentiousness" which while never completed is worth a look as its a very honest portrayal of relationships. This brings me t the more recent Image comic "I Hate Fairy Land". Just read it. You won't regret it.
Elementals got caught in the Comico implosion, back in the mid 90's. Supposedly, the rights reverted to Bill Willingham, but he wasn't going to fight the bankruptcy court for them, so who knows? Along that vein, Dynamo Joe D.N.Agents The Badger American Flagg Grimjack Normalman (from the planet Levram!) Afterlife with Archie And for current comics, Monstress (won 2 Hugos!) Papergirls (now completed?)
One which I always liked and in this day and age very doable if it was on HBO... Baker Street (1989-1991) - Source WIKI: "It features an alternative Sherlock Holmes world where the values and class system of Victorian era England carried over into a late 20th Century where World War II never occurred. The story mainly concerns a group of punks attempting to solve a series of murders reminiscent of the Jack the Ripper killings of the late 19th century."
I've always had a soft spot for Grendel comics. Because of the timeline and redefinition of what/who Grendel represented, the storyline always seemed to keep me interested. I was also a fan of the dark nature of most of the content. Just a nod to a piece of my childhood.
A free I always liked for the art if nothing else. The first from Neal Adams which started as Pacific Comics and turned into his own company Continuity Comics: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuity_Comics Another are the original Champions comics from Hero / Heroic Publishing (based on the table top role playing game and later becoming an MMO): https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=121851 And while many remember the Malibu ultraverse with Prime, Mantra, Hardcase, etc - it’s often forgotten what came before with The Protectors: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectors_(comics)
Continuity comics was fun. I was partial to Megalith. All two issues. Another one I loved as a teenager were the faze One: Fazers Only remember a couple of issues. I also had a copy of their who's who. You have to love a character named "girl-bot".
I'm interested in checking out Brat Pack first. Sounds interesting and coincidentally the creator of the comic that made me start this thread listed it as a major influence on Stray. Couldn't find it on comixology, sadly, so going to have to wait a bit.
I guess a mod deleted my "Captain Carrot and the Amazing Zoo Crew" post. I'd hope that in the future I'd at LEAST get a message if I made a mistake or something. A bit rude to just zap my post like that. I rarely criticize this game or forums.
Brat Pack is wicked. I would suggest trying to find it in its original five issue printing. If you like the Boys you should find this entertaining. Its nasty. Basically a very dark satirical look at the lives of a bunch of sidekicks. The ending was changed for the trade paperback. I think the original has a stronger finish but I also don't want to spoil anything if you've never read it. This makes me want to look deeper into Stray. Its offshoot title "the Maximortal" could only be described as "very Brightburn". It never really went anywhere. I only remember the first two issues. The series creator Rick Vietch has released new material recently under the title "Boy Maximortal" but I've only seen them for sale on Amazon. Thinking back to those days at this point Peter Milligan and Chris Bachalo's run on Shade the Changing Man should be considered obscure. Very much worth checking out. Its been so many years I'm now going to go back and re read it over the next few weeks. I think it would make an amazingly tripped out HBO series. The first 50 or so issues are amazing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shade,_the_Changing_Man I'm also remembering Marshal Law. If you've never heard of the character or his little universe it makes the Boys look positively tame in comparison. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshal_Law_(comics) If I remember correctly back in the day Marvel tried expanding on its Epic comic line concept and gave us the Brats Bizarre. Initially I thought it was marvel ripping off the Brat Pack. in some ways the two are similar but Brats Bizarre is also its own thing. Apparently they debuted in the same british comic series that the aforementioned Marshal Law spearheaded...which ive never read and am about to...
E-Man (1973) was a fun book put out by Charlton Comics. The hero is sentient energy which stumbles upon Earth and saves it from destruction. His alter ego was Alec Tronn who became friends with a stripper named Nova Kane (yes, the puns were intended.) What was odd was it was Charlton's worst selling on the newsstand while being its top subscription book. Back-up stories included John Byrne's hilarious ROG-2000 stories. Then in the 1980's First Comics got permission to start the book again. Since it was sold in comic shops and not newsstands they were able to get away with more adult situations. These books included classic parodies of Hostess ads.
the original 6-issue run of Starslayer, by Mike Grell. a wonderful comic, pure classic science fiction. just perfect. added bonus, this was the comic that Dave Stevens' gorgeous Rocketeer strip was first serialised in as a back-up feature. proper win-win.
actually, while I'm here. something a little more up-to-date. The Magic Order by Mark Millar & Olivier Coipel. cracking good stuff. bit sweary. great villain. & this, by Donny Cates & Geoff Shaw. not usually a fan of Cates, but this is like the best Thor comic of the last twenty odd years, with bourbon.
Loved Elementals. Willingham does not have the rights and has no interest in getting them back. He did do Pantheon in 2000 which has the same feel of Elementals and some people regard it as an unofficial sequel to Elementals. Grendel was another great find and Matt will still do stories on Hunter Rose. The series based on Christine Spar was earthshaking for me. I greatly enjoyed the first Mage series. I need to read the third. Also enjoyed the Neal Adam's Continuity stuff. Just beautiful.
Stray was fun. No where near as dark as I expected but still good. Interesting take on the sidekick growing up.
