So, we have threads for the properties of the big two, the little indies, Joey Lawrence "Whoa!" moments, Batman swearing, and previews.
But what about those "others"? You know,
them? Those mini-series that came from creators we all like, but were either:
a) on the fringes of the big 2 universes (maybe an awesome mini happened in the 616 Marvel city of Savannah, but we never knew because it was written by Bendis before he became popular?)
b) lost in the wilderness of Wildstorm or Dark Horse, relative obscurity
c) were light years ahead of their time, so much so people forgot about them
d) only had one type of cover….that J. Scott Campbell didn’t draw
Well, this is it, the place where we can tell everyone else "Hey, for 6 bucks, you can buy this awesome mini-series the next time you go to your comic shop!"
Basically, just provide the name of the series, creators, why it's worth looking into, and maybe a scan or two of a cover just to point people in the right direction.
I’ll lead off….
Posts
Do you enjoy:
-The Indiana Jones Trilogy (that's right, trilogy)?
-The original Star Wars trilogy?
-Iron Eagle?
-The Goonies?
-Classic war movies?
-the 40's?
-wacky characters?
Well, this mini, created by Scott Lobdell and Leinil Yu in 2001 is right up your alley!
It contains:
-Country boy from America being involved in wacky adventure during WWII!
-The mistress of Adolf Hitler being told of war secrets and hidden treasures!
-A washed up movie star/dwarf who dresses as Hitler because that's the only job he can get!
-A drunk Japanese kamikaze pilot who wasn't a big fan of the whole "killing yourself" thing!
-Hot European chicks!
-Nazis who are ninjas! Let me repeat, nazis who are ninjas!
-Big guns that make Nick Fury's gun in Secret Invasion child's play!
Look at what awaits you!
It has meta moments !:
Hitler with a fetish of being dressed as a baby!
And it has a lot of fun with the fairer sex!:
This is a mini-series totally worth looking into, one that would be the perfect movie for any studio out there to put on the big screen. 6 issues total. If you like over the top action movies that are funny and have fun with history, this is for you!
Both X-23 minis were great, as was the original NYX. I've only read half of it, but the half of Black Lightning: Year One I read was excellent.
It's about... you guessed it, a samurai named Asukai Shiro. After a large battle with an invading Chinese army, the love of his life, Yoshiko has been abducted and he must track her down all over the globe. It has some cool moments where he meets people like the three musketeers (or I guess four).
There's also a dastardly villain with a dastardly long name of Don Miguel Ratera Aguilar Y Aragon.
This was a 6 issue mini-series released in 2003 by DC, written by Ty Templeton. It tries to best answer the question "What happens when the JLA or (insert hero here) aren't available to save the day?"
The answer is the HDC, a branch of the military made to deal with those meta-level threats. It's a pretty good story that does it's best to not make regular humans not "pants on head stupid" when it comes to fighting villains, and goes into areas like dealing with Starro invasions, and primarily deals with fighting vampires and those first level layers of hell that would be easily fought by people.
It also does it's best to try and fill that gap
Now, since 2003 we've had the DC world seem more dependent on heroes, to the point where you wonder why anyone does anything other than ask for help for the most mundane things ("hey GL, can you create a lawnmower to mow my yard?"). This series also did its best to show how all those awesome Kord Industries and Wayne tech would be used to make better weapons, like plasma cannons being used as standard issue rifles that wipe the floor with rebels using M-16s.
It's a good read, and can probably be found on the cheap.
Team Zero.
This was written in 2006 by Chuck Dixon and has art by the great Doug Mahnke. While it is a Wildstorm book, you need to know nothing about the universe to enjoy it. It does include Backlash, who who was that dude in Stormwatch who had psionic whips and gray hair, but this was when he was just a wandering immortal guy fighting in wars.
The story is simple: Seven elite US soldiers recruited to retrieve German scientists in Germany late in WWII before the Russians can get to them. A bit Dirty Dozen with a bit of The Bridge at Remagen mixed in, and general piss taking of the Russians and Germans. Oh, and the Japanese.
Lots of fighting, lots of dark humor, great art, and the characters, while a bit standard for a war comic, work very well, like the "recruitment scenes" below:
Dixon is a very good war comic writer, almost up there with Ennis.
I think the first mini-series' trade is out of print, but I found it on Amazon for around 10 dollars.
There is a second mini-series too(that picture is from the second series), so be careful if you buy it in singles. Devils Due is reprinting both, I think. Sheikman thought his writing was weak, so he brought in a writer to help with the second mini.
The story is pretty good, but not really mind blowing. The art, on the other hand, is amazing. Check out the preview pages in that link for a taste.