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Alternative, off-the-path, under-the-radar... comix

DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
edited September 2010 in Graphic Violence
I don't read a lot of books-- Black Summer, Casanova, Fear Agent, Immortal Iron Fist, and will be picking up Final Crisis mostly because I love Morrison's Seven Soldiers... Anyway, I am starting to branch a little into the "alternative" comics scene. The term "alternative comics" is pretty much irrelevant now anyway, with so much creator owned stuff and webcomics and whatnot, but I'm not quite sure what else to label the thread.

I'm trying to get a lay of the land, figure out what lines up with my interests-- scifi, westerns, ninjas, robots, fighting, etc. I am looking to compile a list of alternative creators and titles, get recommendations, chat about stuff, but I am not interested in bitching about the mainstream or anything like that.

Bryan Lee O'Malley
I am reading Scott Pilgrim currently, or waiting for books 1 and 3 to show up. I ordered the four volumes with my b-day money a week or two ago, and only 2 and 4 arrived, 3 is somewhere, and Borders cannot obtain a copy of vol 1. I read book 1 and 2 back when they first came out, thought it was completely awesome... and then it kind of slipped off the radar when I moved away from the library. I have not read his other stuff.

Corey Lewis
I own Sharknife and think it is rad. Will get Peng! some day, not really interested in his Rival School issues... Has he done anything else?

Paul Pope
I read Heavy Liquid, 100% and Batman Year 100, but do not own any of them. I would like to some day, but I am trying to mostly buy things I have not borrowed from libraries.

Dan Hipp
Own Gyakushu vol 1, ordering 2 within a week or two, same for Amazing Joy Buzzards.

The same order will include Brandon Graham's King City and Escalator, and James Stokoe's Wonton Soup.

Slightly more mainstream... Casanova is almost the best thing ever, certainly the best spy comic I have ever seen. Trading in the singles for the Luxuria hc, and look forward to doing the same for this current arc.

I've read Hellboy and BPRD, really enjoy it a great deal, but am several years behind on most of it.

I also recently acquired Aqua Leung. About a third of the way through it, and loving every page of it. Amazing book so far.

So what else is out there?

DouglasDanger on
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Posts

  • Garlic BreadGarlic Bread i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a Registered User, Disagreeable regular
    edited May 2008
    I'm enjoying Simon Dark. I kind of wish they hadn't set it in Gotham because that means there will be an eventual Batman issue and I don't think it would work.

    Garlic Bread on
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Could you offer a synopsis?

    DouglasDanger on
  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    The same order will include Brandon Graham's King City and Escalator, and James Stokoe's Wonton Soup.

    You won't be disappointed. Brandon Graham's one of those guys that deserves so much more recognition than he gets, and James Stokoe's appallingly talented for his age. You should definitely try to track down Brandon Graham's Multiple Warheads one-shot comic that came out a while back too. i should post some scans of that actually.

    I'll have to remember to contribute to this thread tomorrow when I have more time.

    Munch on
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Isn't Multiple Warheads the one with the dude with two cocks? The werewolf and the girl named Sexica? I somehow found Brandon's livejournal and was thinking cool, I have been meaning to buy King City for like 7 months now, let us see what other stuff he draws. Turns out he cranks out porn so he can pay the bills or something.

    DouglasDanger on
  • Garlic BreadGarlic Bread i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a bitch i'm a Registered User, Disagreeable regular
    edited May 2008
    Could you offer a synopsis?

    http://www.mania.com/simon-dark-1_article_56321.html

    i guess. i didn't read that but it looks all right looking

    i'm too tired to type

    Garlic Bread on
  • Golden YakGolden Yak Burnished Bovine The sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Isn't Multiple Warheads the one with the dude with two cocks? The werewolf and the girl named Sexica?

    Man, now that's alternative!

    Golden Yak on
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  • Calamity JaneCalamity Jane That Wrong Love Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    If anyone ever wondered why I say the phrase "that wrong love".

    Brandon Graham creates it.

    Calamity Jane on
    twitter https://twitter.com/mperezwritesirl michelle patreon https://www.patreon.com/thatwronglove michelle's comic book from IMAGE COMICS you can order http://a.co/dn5YeUD
  • Calamity JaneCalamity Jane That Wrong Love Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    you gotta read criminal

    i've been loving the re-launch

    Calamity Jane on
    twitter https://twitter.com/mperezwritesirl michelle patreon https://www.patreon.com/thatwronglove michelle's comic book from IMAGE COMICS you can order http://a.co/dn5YeUD
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    edited May 2008
    DouglasDanger on
  • Sars_BoySars_Boy Rest, You Are The Lightning. Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Everyone read Criminal and Scalped and Atomic Robo and Casanova and Phonogram and Suburban Glamour and

    Sars_Boy on
  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Isn't Multiple Warheads the one with the dude with two cocks? The werewolf and the girl named Sexica? I somehow found Brandon's livejournal and was thinking cool, I have been meaning to buy King City for like 7 months now, let us see what other stuff he draws. Turns out he cranks out porn so he can pay the bills or something.

    Yes. The storyline actually stems directly from some old porn comic he did, though Multiple Warheads is much more reserved as far as nudity/sexual content goes. The thing that strikes me about all the Meathaus guys (Graham, Stokoe, Corey Lewis) is how completely insane and alien their ideas are. Their stuff is really unlike anything else being published. I'd love to see some of them do some work for hire for DC/Marvel, just to see what they'd do.

    Here's Stokoe's livejournal, which has a bunch of pages from his upcoming work, including Murder Bullets. Which may just be the greatest title ever conceived by man.

    Munch on
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Yeah, those three guys are roommates I guess. Really unique and absolutely insane.

    Lewis was going to do a Longshot one-shot, not sure what happened to that. He seems have trouble sticking with anything long enough to complete it. I think he does freelance design work so he has food to eat and stuff, and is maybe overworked from that too.

    Stokoe's LJ has some troll/orc WIP thing that looks insane. Also, cocks and titties. (Same for Graham's)

    DouglasDanger on
  • Sars_BoySars_Boy Rest, You Are The Lightning. Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Yeah Corey Lewis needs to get his shit together

    I remember when Pinapl was supposed to be a 16 page monthly

    Sars_Boy on
  • Mai-KeroMai-Kero Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Does anyone remember an independent comic with pretty great art that came out a few years ago along the lines of this:

    post-apocalyptic world in which genetically engineered pig people are working in huge factories to build stuff for the man and then are sent to the slaughterhouse. Eventually one of them escapes, becomes the protagonist of the story, and wanders about the desert fucking people up. Eventually he wanders into this town where they've captured a guy that can regenerate any wound, and are continually cutting pieces off of him to feed the town.

    Mai-Kero on
  • ZeromusZeromus Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    I am a rather large fan of The Pirates of Coney Island. It's just too bad that the damn thing never comes out when it's supposed to.

    Zeromus on
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  • ServoServo Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited May 2008
    Mai-Kero wrote: »
    Does anyone remember an independent comic with pretty great art that came out a few years ago along the lines of this:

    post-apocalyptic world in which genetically engineered pig people are working in huge factories to build stuff for the man and then are sent to the slaughterhouse. Eventually one of them escapes, becomes the protagonist of the story, and wanders about the desert fucking people up. Eventually he wanders into this town where they've captured a guy that can regenerate any wound, and are continually cutting pieces off of him to feed the town.

    that sounds awesome

    Servo on
    newsigs.jpg
  • KVWKVW Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Yotsuba&! is a manga, but only someone that eats babies or kicks puppies could possibly hate such a title. It sells kind of well, but not typically to comic fans, so I'd wager it's "alternative" to most.

    100 Bullets doesn't get nearly enough praise for a Vertigo title, but, and I say this only after reading 4 or 5 trades (so not up to date), it's definitely worthy of the Vertigo brand name and one of the unsung heroes of the line. I'm waiting for it to finish up at issue 100 before I pick them all up and read it through as one continuous story instead of stops and starts.

    This is an unconventional suggestion, but the now defunct Crossgen comics had a lot of unique genres and alternative titles ranging from air pirates to detective comics to supernatural, lord of the rings style epics, Deep Space 9 style space adventures and more. Some of my personal favourites were Sojourn, Crux, Negation, Meridian, The Path and Ruse. It's a real shame the company went under, as I think the only problem was they came out just before the rebirth of the comics industry after the rut of the 90s. If they had waited 5 years, I think it would have taken off or at least been sustainable.

    Atomic Robo is a recent series that ended it's first 6 issue mini, but is due for a volume 2 later this year. One of the funniest and more unique concepts I've seen in a long time. I loved the irreverent humour and its probably up any Penny Arcade fans alley. It's about a robot created by Tesla that took on Nazis and evil mad scientists while contending with Edison's attempts at sabotage in the past, but is mostly set in the present day building on random flashbacks. It features mobile Egypian attack pyramids, spelling out giant fuck you's to Stephen Hawking on Mars and other fun stuff.

    I'm not sure how off the beaten path or alternative my picks are, as I usually stick more mainstream and pick up the indy / Vertigo stuff after the fact when a series' been verified as good and collected in trade, but hopefully someone enjoys them.

    KVW on
  • Mai-KeroMai-Kero Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Servo wrote: »
    Mai-Kero wrote: »
    Does anyone remember an independent comic with pretty great art that came out a few years ago along the lines of this:

    post-apocalyptic world in which genetically engineered pig people are working in huge factories to build stuff for the man and then are sent to the slaughterhouse. Eventually one of them escapes, becomes the protagonist of the story, and wanders about the desert fucking people up. Eventually he wanders into this town where they've captured a guy that can regenerate any wound, and are continually cutting pieces off of him to feed the town.

    that sounds awesome

    The five-ish issues I read of it were glorious.

    Mai-Kero on
  • Me Too!Me Too! __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2008
    I've been meaning to read Criminal, but my shop doesn't have the first issue of the relaunch
    And I really don't want to get into another series right before college
    So I'll be trade-waiting this one

    Me Too! on
  • ServoServo Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited May 2008
    the new issues are stand-alone stories so far

    you don't need to start with the first one

    Servo on
    newsigs.jpg
  • Me Too!Me Too! __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2008
    Oh nice
    Maybe I will pick this up, or at least flip through next time I'm in the shop
    I really just don't want to get into another new series right now

    Me Too! on
  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    edited May 2008
    KVW wrote: »
    Yotsuba&! is a manga, but only someone that eats babies or kicks puppies could possibly hate such a title. It sells kind of well, but not typically to comic fans, so I'd wager it's "alternative" to most.

    100 Bullets doesn't get nearly enough praise for a Vertigo title, but, and I say this only after reading 4 or 5 trades (so not up to date), it's definitely worthy of the Vertigo brand name and one of the unsung heroes of the line. I'm waiting for it to finish up at issue 100 before I pick them all up and read it through as one continuous story instead of stops and starts.

    This is an unconventional suggestion, but the now defunct Crossgen comics had a lot of unique genres and alternative titles ranging from air pirates to detective comics to supernatural, lord of the rings style epics, Deep Space 9 style space adventures and more. Some of my personal favourites were Sojourn, Crux, Negation, Meridian, The Path and Ruse. It's a real shame the company went under, as I think the only problem was they came out just before the rebirth of the comics industry after the rut of the 90s. If they had waited 5 years, I think it would have taken off or at least been sustainable.

    Atomic Robo is a recent series that ended it's first 6 issue mini, but is due for a volume 2 later this year. One of the funniest and more unique concepts I've seen in a long time. I loved the irreverent humour and its probably up any Penny Arcade fans alley. It's about a robot created by Tesla that took on Nazis and evil mad scientists while contending with Edison's attempts at sabotage in the past, but is mostly set in the present day building on random flashbacks. It features mobile Egypian attack pyramids, spelling out giant fuck you's to Stephen Hawking on Mars and other fun stuff.

    I'm not sure how off the beaten path or alternative my picks are, as I usually stick more mainstream and pick up the indy / Vertigo stuff after the fact when a series' been verified as good and collected in trade, but hopefully someone enjoys them.

    Good suggestions. I've been meaning to look into Yotsuba, I keep hearing about it. What is it about? 100 Bullets was good, I read the first five or six trades. It is fun, but the main plot is lost to me from reading them spaced out too far. Maybe I will buy all of the trades I am missing when it is finished. I'm going to buy Atomic Robo in trade some time soon.

    DouglasDanger on
  • DelduwathDelduwath Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    KVW wrote: »
    the now defunct Crossgen comics had a lot of unique genres and alternative titles ... Some of my personal favourites were ... Ruse.

    I'll second the "Ruse" recommendation. It's a detective comic, set in Victorian times. It didn't completely revolutionize the way I look at the world or anything, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

    Delduwath on
  • Mai-KeroMai-Kero Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Crossgen had Route 666. If I remember correctly, that was totally awesome.

    Mai-Kero on
  • Sars_BoySars_Boy Rest, You Are The Lightning. Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Lol! wrote: »
    I've been meaning to read Criminal, but my shop doesn't have the first issue of the relaunch
    And I really don't want to get into another series right before college
    So I'll be trade-waiting this one
    enjoy helping Criminal get canceled, faggot

    Sars_Boy on
  • ServoServo Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited May 2008
    Sars_Boy wrote: »
    Lol! wrote: »
    I've been meaning to read Criminal, but my shop doesn't have the first issue of the relaunch
    And I really don't want to get into another series right before college
    So I'll be trade-waiting this one
    enjoy helping Criminal get canceled, faggot

    i went to the emerald city comicon this weekend and ed brubaker was there. when i was leaving yesterday, i wanted to walk by the media guests booth to tell jamie bamber that battlestar galactica rules, but ed brubaker was already like way deep in conversation with him, handing him a copy of the lawless trade. so ed brubaker is pimping criminal to apollo from bsg, which is pretty awesome

    Servo on
    newsigs.jpg
  • WildcatWildcat Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Sars_Boy wrote: »
    Everyone read Criminal and Scalped and Atomic Robo and Casanova and Phonogram and Suburban Glamour and

    This. All of them.

    Wildcat on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    I've been meaning to look into Yotsuba, I keep hearing about it. What is it about?

    I picked up the first three volumes recently, ironically enough.

    It's about a six-year old named Yotsuba who moves to a new neighborhood and gets into all sorts of weird situations because of her bizarre view of the world.

    Kind of a slice-of-life comedy thing.

    DarkPrimus on
  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited May 2008
    I'm trying to get a lay of the land, figure out what lines up with my interests-- scifi, westerns, ninjas, robots, fighting, etc.

    American Flagg. One of the big comics of the 80's - it was right up there with Watchmen and DKR in terms of its influence, but it's fallen out of many people's memory since nobody in the US has been able to put together a collected edition until now. You like Casanova? This is one of Fraction's biggest influences in comics. To this day there are very very few comics that have matched Flagg for sophistication, density, and sheer velocity - tons of shit happens in every single issue and it's all top-grade stuff.

    Another good oldie: The Adventures of Luther Arkwright and its sequel Heart of Empire. Talbot's a gorgeous artist and Arkwright, which came out in the late-70s/early-80s, was heavily influential on a generation of UK artists and writers - guys like Moore, Gaiman, and Morrison. It's pretty awesome action sci-fi with a heady dash of 70s pop psychedelia and mysticism.

    Jacobkosh on
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  • Sars_BoySars_Boy Rest, You Are The Lightning. Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    yeah but howard chaykin's art unnnnngh

    Sars_Boy on
  • Sars_BoySars_Boy Rest, You Are The Lightning. Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Servo wrote: »
    Sars_Boy wrote: »
    Lol! wrote: »
    I've been meaning to read Criminal, but my shop doesn't have the first issue of the relaunch
    And I really don't want to get into another series right before college
    So I'll be trade-waiting this one
    enjoy helping Criminal get canceled, faggot

    i went to the emerald city comicon this weekend and ed brubaker was there. when i was leaving yesterday, i wanted to walk by the media guests booth to tell jamie bamber that battlestar galactica rules, but ed brubaker was already like way deep in conversation with him, handing him a copy of the lawless trade. so ed brubaker is pimping criminal to apollo from bsg, which is pretty awesome
    that is awesome

    god knows the book needs pimping

    Sars_Boy on
  • MunchMunch Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    bluepillsyg0.jpg

    A short while ago I picked up a comic called Blue Pills by Swiss artist Frederik Peeters. I was drawn in by the attractive black and white art and the little tagline beneath the title, 'a positive love story.' Every now and then I like to read a little slice of life story to take a breather from the kind of high stakes superhero/crime/sci-fi comics I mostly read. So I thought, "Hey, a nice happy little love story should hit the spot." Now stupid me, I didn't read the inside jacket blurb, or piece together the rather obvious clues offered by the title and the tagline. So when I got about a chapter in, and realized I was reading an autobiographical comic about the creator's love affair with an HIV positive woman named Cati, I was more than a little surprised. To be honest I was kind of dismayed too. Here I was, just wanting a little something light to pass the time, and instead it looked like I'd be getting a depressing, overwrought little tale of tragedy and doomed love.

    To my incredible surprise, I still got that light, happy little love story I went looking for in the first place. Blue Pills gives one of the most honest, open portrayals of HIV I've ever seen in any media. Yes, it's a bit sad at times. Reading it, you're struck by the feeling that, had Fred and Cati met sooner, things would have gone much easier for them. But there's also a lot of genuine humor and warmth. The book follows Cati and Fred as they fumble through sex, as they try to figure out what's safe, an experience with a broken condom, trips to Cati's reassuring, if a bit overworked and manic, physician, and Fred's attempts to get close to Cati's HIV positive son. The entire book is packed full of such earnest, human emotion that I couldn't help but love it. To anyone looking for a good love story, I can't recommend it highly enough.

    Here's another review that explains the book a bit better.

    Munch on
  • ServoServo Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited May 2008
    i like that art. paul pope-ish

    Servo on
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  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited May 2008
    Sars_Boy wrote: »
    yeah but howard chaykin's art unnnnngh

    WHOA. Hold the phone there, dude. Today's Howard Chaykin is a hollowed-out shell of a man ravaged by twenty years of booze and coke (and a lot of 'his' art these days is, iirc, handled by his studio interns). Chaykin circa 1982 was one of the best comic artists in America.

    Jacobkosh on
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  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    jacobkosh wrote: »
    Sars_Boy wrote: »
    yeah but howard chaykin's art unnnnngh

    WHOA. Hold the phone there, dude. Today's Howard Chaykin is a hollowed-out shell of a man ravaged by twenty years of booze and coke (and a lot of 'his' art these days is, iirc, handled by his studio interns). Chaykin circa 1982 was one of the best comic artists in America.

    It's why Fraction holds him in such regard.

    DarkPrimus on
  • JacobkoshJacobkosh Gamble a stamp. I can show you how to be a real man!Moderator mod
    edited May 2008
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    It's why Fraction holds him in such regard.

    That, and his sense of graphic design (which sort of falls into the art category, I guess, but I tend to think of it as a separate thing). FLAGG! had all these incredible, innovative new ways to do stuff like motion and sound effects, and it had this really hyperkinetic sense of storytelling that anticipated modern-day ADD video editing techniques.

    Jacobkosh on
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  • DouglasDangerDouglasDanger PennsylvaniaRegistered User regular
    edited May 2008
    I've always wanted to read FLAGG. Cool to hear it is coming being reprinted.

    DouglasDanger on
  • GaussgoatGaussgoat Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    KVW wrote: »

    Atomic Robo is a recent series that ended it's first 6 issue mini, but is due for a volume 2 later this year. One of the funniest and more unique concepts I've seen in a long time. I loved the irreverent humour and its probably up any Penny Arcade fans alley. It's about a robot created by Tesla that took on Nazis and evil mad scientists while contending with Edison's attempts at sabotage in the past, but is mostly set in the present day building on random flashbacks. It features mobile Egypian attack pyramids, spelling out giant fuck you's to Stephen Hawking on Mars and other fun stuff.

    I'm not sure how off the beaten path or alternative my picks are, as I usually stick more mainstream and pick up the indy / Vertigo stuff after the fact when a series' been verified as good and collected in trade, but hopefully someone enjoys them.

    Atomic Robo is what I thought of when I saw the topic title. It is an AWESOME comic... people should check it out. I think the 6 issue run they worked on is over, but I am hoping for another story soon.

    The Stephen Hawking joke was absolutely brilliant.

    Gaussgoat on
    "Finally, a game that blends my two passions; futuristic laser gunplay and marine cephalopod mollusks."
  • TehChowdTehChowd Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    For more non-superhero-y stuff, "I Killed Adolf Hitler" by "Jason" (I guess it's cool in Norway to sign your work under a first-name only pseudonym) is pretty great. It takes place in this bizzarre cartoony world of animal-people where contract killing has somehow become socially accepted and fairly commonplace. So you could go up to a hitman and hire him to kill your math teacher or ex-girlfriend or whatever, and it would be fine because that's pretty much what everyone else does.

    The story follows this one hitman who's having lady-troubles. The hitman gets hired to go back in time to kill Adolf Hitler pretty much the same week he breaks up with his girl. So he agrees to do it, but fails, not only getting trapped in the past, but also allowing Hitler to escape to the present in his time machine.

    The hitman then has to just hang out in the past, aging normally until time he's back into the present again. He's old as hell then, and has to enlist the help of the girlfriend he just dumped to help him track down and kill Hitler. To her, they just broke up a few days ago, and now her boyfriend has returned, asking her for help and old to the point of enfeeblement.

    It's a pretty cool and clever story, and I'm pretty partial to the art style. Here is a sample, stolen from the interwebs:

    04_hitler_3.jpg

    I'm not sure if that page is the best example, but I'm sure you get the idea.

    Also, Munch, if you're into lighter, slice of life stuff, then I would recommend checking out Harvey Pekar's "American Splendor", at least the first volume or so (if you haven't already that is). It's a collection of short, autobio comics about this hilariously cranky and brutally honest guy. Sometimes it's a little overwrought, but overall I loved it.

    TehChowd on
  • Desktop HippieDesktop Hippie Registered User regular
    edited May 2008
    Don't know how alternative it is, but I'm surprised The Lone Ranger never gets a mention here. It's consistently good, and has a very gritty Deadwood style to it most of the time. The art tends to be good too - Cassady works on it a lot.

    I've started picking up Zorro from the same line (Dymamite) and it's pretty similar in style to TLR. Still, it's slower and not quite as good, though it looks like it could be once it gets going.

    For superhero stuff, Dynamo 5 is usually a fun read, not to mention having a very simple yet very cool premise. Umbrella Academy is really good too, but I don't know if it counts as "under the radar". And I'll add my yea vote to the chorus of approval for Atomic Robo. It's made me laugh out loud more times than I can count. Well worth picking up.

    Desktop Hippie on
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