Angelus Errare
Banned
Hot off the "Spiderman totes won't be Peter Parker" thread (and the hilariousness found within). Let's switch gears and present/talk about lesser known comics that people should read – I mean you should read comics period – that aren't Spider-Man/Superman/Batman.
By lesser known, I more so mean the smaller publishers, and/or lesser known heroes and much less "Underrated arcs of <insert super well known hero here>" but I guess that can work too...but I would love for the focus to be on the former as much as possible.
Understand, this is not a versus thread. This isn't about if Hawkguy beat Green Arrow in a archery contest (yes). It's all about informing and giving people a list of series they can get into that isn't Superman/Batman/Spiderman/X-Men. They don't have to be superheroes at all, they could be slice of life comics if you feel so inclined!
A few recommendations of mine (obviously I would love for others to add their own)
Harbinger by Valiant Comics
Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Dark Horse Comics
Captain Midnight by Dark Horse Comics
SAGA by Image Comics
Revival by Image Comics
Deadly Class by Image Comics
Hack/Slash By Image Comics
Irredeemable by Boom! Studio
Incorruptible by Boom! Studio
Jennifer Blood by Dynamite Entertainment
Manhunter v3 by DC Comics
Mostly because my laptop battery is dying and I'm too lazy to go upstairs to get the charger. I'll call it here
FAQs
Q: Angelus why didn't you add <insert series here>?
Good question, honestly...who knows. I mean who knows if I've even heard of it! D: But that's the beauty of web forums like NeoGAF. The time it took you to write that could have gone towards actually posting it yourself! GAF is a forum, you can totes contribute!
Q: Dude, <insert series here>? Man that comic sucks bro!
Yea, some of them aren't for everyone and I'm definitely not the representative of comic books and would never claim myself to be. Feel free to suggest something better fair sir/ma'am.
Q: I'm looking for a series like <insert series here> what do you recommend?
Oh that's a good series/Oh I've never read that one. In the case of me not being able to answer your question (which is high) I'm sure someone else might know the answer to your question. Ask in the thread, you'll be surprised what you learn!
Q: Oh man, I love the art in <insert series here> has this artist done any other series?
Chances are high she or he has! I'm sure someone in this thread can find you a directory of their work and even post some images you might love by them.
Q: This is why I read mangas this stuff sucks!
Well number 1, that's totes not a question man, wtf?
Number 2, mangas can be just as bad. Really neither are better mediums than the other, they both have their pros and cons. Why must it be binary? Why must you prop your choice by putting down another's choice?
By lesser known, I more so mean the smaller publishers, and/or lesser known heroes and much less "Underrated arcs of <insert super well known hero here>" but I guess that can work too...but I would love for the focus to be on the former as much as possible.
Understand, this is not a versus thread. This isn't about if Hawkguy beat Green Arrow in a archery contest (yes). It's all about informing and giving people a list of series they can get into that isn't Superman/Batman/Spiderman/X-Men. They don't have to be superheroes at all, they could be slice of life comics if you feel so inclined!
A few recommendations of mine (obviously I would love for others to add their own)
Harbinger by Valiant Comics
I'm going to focus on the 2012 relaunch written by Joshua Dysart and leave the Jim Shooter version for someone else to discuss.
Harbinger is about a boy named Peter Stanchek (?) who is a psionic. Not just any psionic but he just might be the most powerful one in the world and he doesn't even know it. This catches the interest of one Mr. Toyo Harada. Mr. Harada is the CEO of one of the biggest conglomerates on earth the aptly named Harada Global Conglomerate (totally ominous right?). On the surface Toyo is a philanthropist who works tirelessly to help better but his ats are not without reason, his company has many shell companies and as a result Mr. Harada controls a sizeable portion of the world. His ultimate fear is that humanity will destroy the planet otherwise (always a noble cause). He is aided on his quest of world domination by the Bleeding Monk, it is this Monk who has lead Harada to Peter Stanchek. Peter enters a world to that point was unknown to him and starts to see Harada for what he really is.
The original Harbinger was/is Valiant Comic's best selling series and with good reason, it's a fun series. I definitely recommend reading it. I wish I made this thread a few months ago, as Humble Bundle was had the first 10? issues up for grabs (they actually had the first 10 for all of Valiant's comics at the time).
I also recommend checking out Bloodshot and XO Man of War, both from Valiant!
Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Dark Horse Comics
Cue the werewolf howl and the crazy guitar rift, we're back in the 90s! Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended in 2003 but the comic book picks up where Season 7 ended with Sir Joss Whedon serving as the creative figurehead for the comic dubbed "Season 8" even writing some of the arcs within this 40 issue run.
Buffy: TVS is arguably what made Joss Whedon's career in several ways. He served as the writer, director and producer (obviously sole credit does not belong to him, as it's a team effort), yes the same Joss Whedon who is directed Avengers and is directing Age of Ultron. Whedon is a big comic book guy. He has written several runs of X-Men that many consider to be amazing (would be god tier if there was a better artist...). For those who did not consume TV in the 90s or aren't from the US. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a show about a high school teenage girl named Buffy Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) who attends Sunnydale High which serves as home for all the crazy shit she goes through. Buffy is the current chosen "Slayer" and as such she is destined to fight evil in all it's forms (much more than vampires). She has to balance her school life with this new found responsibility.
Season 8 revolves around Buffy being a teacher to many girls who are all now slayers, magic being gone from the world, and her own personal life post high school and college. How does she balance all of these without going insane?
Definitely recommend if you liked Buffy. There is also a Willow, Spike, and Angel & Faith spin off that are all equally great reads.
Captain Midnight by Dark Horse Comics
If the name sounds familiar then you're either crazy old or you've heard of the Captain Midnight radio serial from the 40s. Relatively new as it just launched in 2013, I am enjoying Captain Midnight quite a bit. I never read the original series by Fauwcett nor did I listen to the radio serial so I went in fresh. I was initially drawn in by the art more than anything but I found the actual writing to be pretty good so I've been sticking with it.
Captain Midnight has been labeled a security risk. In the forties, he was an American hero, a daredevil fighter pilot, a technological genius a bloody superhero. But since he rifled out of the Bermuda Triangle into the present day, Captain Midnight doesn’t know what or who to trust.
SAGA by Image Comics
I don't think it's humanly possible to hate Saga. I just refuse to believe such! Jokes aside, Saga is an amazing series written by the talented Brian K. Vaughan. Honestly I don't even know how to pitch this and do it complete justice. It's very much a fantasy space opera saga (what I did there...you see it?) that really engrosses you in the world and makes you care about the main characters Marco and Alana. Take one part Romeo and Juliet without the suicide ending, some Star Wars, a bit smidget of Star Trek, add 3 pounds of unfiltered no preservatives added badassery and you kinda got Saga. One of my personal favorite parts is that the story is sometimes narrated by their child. It definitely adds to the already stellar writing.
Revival by Image Comics
Written by Tim Seely, Revival is one of my favorite books. There is always something about a comic story taking place in small towns dealing with locals that always works so well and is much more compelling than when TVs do it. What's it about? Zombies yo! No I'm lying, well particularly to call them mere zombies would be doing this series a HUGE disservice.
I guess the best synopsis would be something like...the dead do come back life but they're indiscernible from any other living person. They go about their lives as if nothing happened, they do everything a normal person would do, their memories are all in tact. As a result of these "miracles" Dana Cypress a local police officer has to deal with the media scrutiny, religious zealots, and government quarantine that has come with them. In a town where the living have to learn to deal with those who are supposed to be dead, Officer Cypress must solve a brutal murder, and everyone, alive or undead, is a suspect.
I might get crucified for this, but if you only read one series, I recommend Revival.
Deadly Class by Image Comics
Two words Rick Remender.
It’s 1987. Marcus Lopez hates school. His grades suck. He has no money. The jocks are hassling his friends. He can't focus in class, thanks to his mind constantly drifting to the stunning girl in the front row and the Dag Nasty show he has tickets to. But the jocks are the children of Joseph Stalin's top assassin, the teachers are members of an ancient league of assassins, the class he’s failing is "Dismemberment 101," and his crush, a member of the most notorious crime syndicate in Japan, has a double-digit body count.
Welcome to the most brutal high school on Earth, where the world’s top crime families send the next generation of assassins to be trained. Murder is an art. Killing is a craft. At King’s Dominion High School for the Deadly Arts, the dagger in your back isn’t always metaphorical, nor is your fellow classmates' poison.
Hack/Slash By Image Comics
Written by Mr. Tim Seeley. Hack Slash is like what if Buffy didn't have crazy powers but still fought crazy creatures.
Story is about Cassie Hack and Vlad who go around hunting Slashers. Cassie is the leader, and Vlad is the muscle...literally. Wait, wait wait, Slashers? Like in those teen movies? Yes and more! Slashers (known to the government as "Revenants") are the beings that Cassie and Vlad hunt down. Slashers as a whole can be divided into two broad categories. The first and most common are the undead variety: These are people who died while filled with rage toward life, and somehow return from the dead filled with only that rage driving them to kill. While their exact abilities vary individually, all possess resistance to damage, and must suffer severe bodily harm to be killed. This kind can be controlled by the proper magics, and once their body has been sufficiently destroyed, usually stay dead. The other kind are people who are still alive, but are often insane and engage in Slasher behavior. Most of your teen slasher characters would fit into the latter category, while your more supernatural ones would fit in the former. Oh did I mention there was an Evil Dead cross over? Yea it's like that.
Irredeemable by Boom! Studio
Pitch it to me? Sure, take Superman's origin story and give him parents who were scared shitless of him as he started developing his powers, having the girl you love at the news paper be scared shitless of you when you reveal your identity to her and ultimately you get tired of everyone's shit so you decide to kill everything.
Incorruptible by Boom! Studio
Where Irredeemable was about the world's greatest superhero becoming a supervillain, Incorruptible is about a supervillain who decides to clean up his act and become a superhero. Doesn't sound as cool? Oh man you can't be more wrong, it's a great ride and yes the two meet respective characters meet in the end.
Jennifer Blood by Dynamite Entertainment
Jennifer is a loving mom and devoted wife by day, cold blooded and efficient killer at night. What drives a suburban mom to do such things? Those HOA fees? The neighbor not picking his dog's shit up? Tommy the neighborhood bully's parents being no different? If only it were something so hilarious. Nope, more like her own family killed her mom and dad and now she's getting revenge on all of them.
Yes you read that right, her own family killed her mother and father. To be more specific the Blute family on orders of the leader Hugo Blute killed Jessica and Sam Blute...Jennifer's parents and they were planning to kill Jennifer too but she escaped. So now...they all have to die. It's the only logical outcome. It's a grand adventure watching Jennifer go between caring, warm and loving to cold and calculated, watching the two aspects of her life overlap more and more.
Manhunter v3 by DC Comics
Criminally underrated and never got the full respect it deserves. The story of Manhunter revolves around Kate Spencer, a federal prosecutor who grows increasingly tired of seeing guilty criminals evade punishment. Copperhead, a supervillain on trial for multiple murders and cannibalism, avoids a death sentence and escapes from custody after killing two guards. An angry Kate takes matters into her own hands, stealing equipment from an evidence room and killing Copperhead. Calling herself Manhunter, Kate blackmails a former weapons manufacturer for numerous villains named Dylan Battles — who is in the Witness Protection Program — into building, maintaining, and upgrading her armor, weapons, and gadgets.
Mostly because my laptop battery is dying and I'm too lazy to go upstairs to get the charger. I'll call it here
FAQs
Q: Angelus why didn't you add <insert series here>?
Good question, honestly...who knows. I mean who knows if I've even heard of it! D: But that's the beauty of web forums like NeoGAF. The time it took you to write that could have gone towards actually posting it yourself! GAF is a forum, you can totes contribute!
Q: Dude, <insert series here>? Man that comic sucks bro!
Yea, some of them aren't for everyone and I'm definitely not the representative of comic books and would never claim myself to be. Feel free to suggest something better fair sir/ma'am.
Q: I'm looking for a series like <insert series here> what do you recommend?
Oh that's a good series/Oh I've never read that one. In the case of me not being able to answer your question (which is high) I'm sure someone else might know the answer to your question. Ask in the thread, you'll be surprised what you learn!
Q: Oh man, I love the art in <insert series here> has this artist done any other series?
Chances are high she or he has! I'm sure someone in this thread can find you a directory of their work and even post some images you might love by them.
Q: This is why I read mangas this stuff sucks!
Well number 1, that's totes not a question man, wtf?
Number 2, mangas can be just as bad. Really neither are better mediums than the other, they both have their pros and cons. Why must it be binary? Why must you prop your choice by putting down another's choice?
