Wednesday Morning Quarterback – Comics off the Beaten Path!

By Mike “blackmore” Maillaro

After my last two weeks of bitching and moaning, I figure it’s time to lighten things up a bit. Too many people think of comics as being purely about superheroes and purely for kids, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I really think that there is a comic out there for everyone.

As Havok said when I told him I was writing this column, "If everyone liked the same comics, they wouldn't have to make so many of them." There are a lot of really great comics out there that tend to fall below most people’s radar, so I wanted to talk about some of my favorites.

Now, this isn’t an attempt to knock mainstream superhero comics. I love superhero books, and they still make up the majority of my comic purchases every month. But, there is a lot more to the comic market, and I hope everyone who reads this column checks out at least one of these noteworthy comics.

I am covering a lot of ground here, so I am not going into too much depth. If you have any questions about any of these books, please e-mail them to me.

Arsenic Lullaby/Arsenic Lullabies (AAA Milwaukee) - I love dark humor, and AL is pretty much the darkest comic I have ever read. If you like stories about zombie fetuses or taking weed whackers to a trunk full of babies, this is the comic for you. These guys leave no stone unturned in their attempts to disgust and entertain.

Arrowsmith (Wildstorm) - A very cool take on what World War 1 would have been like in a world full of magic. Alongside the really cool setting, Kurt Busiek manages to put a lot of deep characterization into this book which reallys shows the impact of war on the soldiers and civilians.

Astro City (Wildstorm)/ Common Grounds (Image) - I feel bad lumping these books together, but I love them for the exact same reason. They manage to take superhero clichés and turn them on their ear. Both series look at what the real world would be like if superheroes existed.

Blaze of Glory/Apache Skies (Marvel) - I love good Western stories, and these books by John Ostrander are two great, little known stories about Marvel’s western characters.

Bone (Cartoon) - On it’s surface, Bone is a simple story. Three cousins have been exiled from their home town of Boneville. The cousins are Fone Bone (the normal one), Phoney Bone (the conniving one, who’s latest scheme involving prune juice and running for mayor got them run out of town), and Smiley (the idiot). They end up getting separated and each manage to come a mysterious place called The Valley. A place full of magical creatures where nothing is what it seems. They meet up with strange characters like the ridiculously strong Grandma Ben and the Red Dragon, and some how end up getting involved in a quest to save the world. But, there is much more to Bone than the simple surface story. It is one of the deepest and most fun comic stories I have ever read, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Book of Lost Souls (Marvel) - I am very hesitant to say this, especially this early, but BOLS really feels like the next Sandman. Very complex and amazing stories that seem to tie into a much larger picture. This book always ends up high on my read list every month.

Cerebus (Aardvark-Venheim) - I have only read the first three volumes of Cerebus so far, but it has been a great read. It starts off as a Conan parody, but very quickly turns it’s attention to political satire, and Dave Sim excels at this! Some people find some of the later volumes to be dense and misogynistic, but I have not gotten that far yet.

Crossgen - My favorite comic company. I am still very depressed that they are gone. Crossgen managed to have terrific, well connected stories that still managed to stand strong on their own. Crossgen books were spread out across many diverse genres, had terrific writers, GOOD FEMALE CHARACTERS, and the best art in the business. My favorites were Meridian, Scion, Route 666, El Cazador, The Path, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Negation, but just about any Crossgen book will give you a very satisfying read.

Dreadstar (Marvel) - No one tells cosmic stories like Jim Starlin! Dreadstar is a fast moving, ever changing story about a warrior who survives the end of his galaxy only to continue his fight on other worlds as a rebel. It’s a book that is a bit hard to explain, but it is always a very good read. They finally got around to re-releasing these trades!

Empire (Gorilla, trade and volume 2 by DC) - If you like JLA: Year One or the current Legion series, HOW DID YOU MISS THIS? Mark Waid and Barry Kitson always work great together, and this is probably the pinnacle of their partnership. A group of superpower beings have gotten together to crush the populace under their mighty heel. I love the political intrigue and downright shock value of this series. House of M and Infinite Crisis has nothing on Empire.

Fallen Angel (DC, IDW) - DC never showed this book the respect it deserved, and I am glad that it has managed to flourish under IDW. Lots of spiritual undertones in this one, and Bete Noire is one of the coolest settings I’ve ever seen in a comic. They really have given this city a live of its own, and the characters that inhabit it are brilliant.

Groo (Marvel, Image, Dark Horse) - I am a huge Sergio Argones and Mark Evanier fan. Groo is a wandering warrior, who just happens to be an idiot. On it’s surface, Groo is just silly fun, but Sergio Argones and Mark Evanier manage to sneak in some terrific satire. My personal favorite is Mightier Than the Sword which takes a hard look at the power of the media.

G.I. Joe (Devil’s Due/Image/Marvel) - While G.I. Joe does have some bad periods (like the Marvel series from around issue 120-150), on a whole, it is one of my favorite runs ever. The new series, America’s Elite, has been a strong revitalization of the franchise.

Hero Squared (Boom) - Giffen and DeMatteis produce some great work whenever they get together. Hero Squared is no exception. It about a corny, silver age-like hero who ends up traveling to an alternate reality and meeting his counterpart, a lazy slacker. Lots of humor and creative writing make this a must read.

High Roads (Cliffhanger) - Take a southern hick, throw him against evil Nazi robots and what do you get? High Roads! Scott Lobdell did an awesome job with this book, developing the characters and suspense perfectly. When I finished High Roads, I immediately wanted more, which is what any good writer should do.

Jonah Hex (DC) - By far my favorite series right now. DC has managed to put together a terrific Western book here. I’ve always like the Jonah Hex character and these stories show exactly why.

Jon Sable: Freelance (First, trades released by IDW) – Read my review of these.

Lullaby (Image, Alias) - While the art style looks a bit manga, if you look past that, you will find a real gem here. Lullaby takes heroes from all kinds of public domain works like Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island, Red Riding Hood, and the Wizard of Oz and puts them all together on an epic adventure.

Maxx (Image, trades by Wildstorm)/ Ojo (Oni) / Zero Girl (Wildstorm) : Sam Kieth’s work always speaks directly to me. He’s not afraid to show the ugly side of live, and he really goes into deep explorations of dreams, fantasy, and reality. These three books are very different, but all incredible.

Medieval Lady Death (Avatar) - I never thought I would get into Lady Death, which always seemed like a cheesecake comic to me. But when Crossgen started publishing Medieval Lady Death, I got immediately hooked. Avatar picked up this series after CG folded, and it has continued to be a very good sword and sorcery comic. Plus, it is always nice to see some strong female characters.

Polly and the Pirates (Oni) - I have a real love for pirate stories, and Polly and the Pirates has been a very good one. A girl of proper upbringing finds out that her mother was a pirate queen and finds herself being dragged into the pirate lifestyle. I really enjoy this book, and it is definitely something you can share with younger readers.

Shock Rockets (Gorilla, though Dark Horse released the trade) - Kind of a more adult version of Voltron. This is about a group of pilots who control semi-sentient machines in a war against an invading alien race, but the real story is the relationships between the characters and the strain the war puts on them. Pretty much Busiek was setting the stage here for his later work Arrowsmith.

Sleeper (Wildstorm) - What happens if an undercover agent loses contact with the only person who knows that he is undercover? Sleeper tells the story of a character in a bad situation who finds himself forced to do some horrifying things just to stay alive. Holden’s struggles and the changes he goes through are a great read, and it’s a shame this series did not catch on better.

Soulsearchers (and the other Claypool books) - Soulsearchers is a series I jumped on late. It is about a group of paranormal investigators who get in some ridiculously funny stories by Peter David. Unfortunately, Diamond seems determined to force Claypool to close shop with their monopoly of the comic distribution racket. This is a shame as Soulsearchers, Deadbeats, and Elvira have been around for a long time, and they are all fun comics.

Spyboy (Dark Horse) - WE WANT MORE SPYBOY!!!! I love Peter David’s writing, and I hadn’t even heard of this book until the Spyboy/ Young Justice crossover. I immediately became a fan. I even have a Bombshell chibi on top of my home computer. Spyboy is pretty much James Bond for a younger, more modern audience with a lot more humor…and without the boring parts….and if James Bond was a character with two different personalities. Hmmm…come to think about it, this is not like James Bond at all.

Stardust Kid (Image, Boom) - A great all-ages book. Abadazad from Crossgen is one of my favorite series ever, even though it only lasted three issues before Crossgen went bankrupt. The entire creative team got back together to do Stardust Kid, and it is a worthy successor. Besides, it is just fun to see the guy who wrote Kraven’s Last Hunt writing something geared towards readers of all ages. DeMatteis is one hell of a talent! BTW, Abadazad will be coming out as a series of books in a few months, and I can’t wait!!

Tick Volume 1 (New England Comics) - As soon as I saw the cartoon, I was immediately hooked. The first volume of the comics are available as Omnibus editions. Once Bed Edlund stopped writing the book, it took a sharp decline, but the early issues of Tick are hilarious. Even if you have never seen the cartoon or show, you should really check this one out. It’s a terrific parody of the superhero genre.

Warlord (DC) – Not this new pretender series, I am talking about the original hard-hitting fantasy book by Mike Grell! Not only is Warlord one of the best written books, I have ever read, but Grell’s art is just gorgeous. You can find issues of this series in just about any dump bin, and it is well worth reading.

Wildguard (Image) - SUPERHERO REALITY TV!! I became a fan of Todd Nauck when he was the artist on Young Justice, and it is great to see him doing this book. He writes, draws, colors, and letters most issues of Wildguard, which probably explains why they are so infrequent. All, on Wildguard.com , he posts a weekly Wildguard strip, which is always fun to read. The characters are a wild mix here, and it’s a fun twist on typical superhero stories.

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There were a few more series that I was going to mention like Invincible, Walking Dead, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, Fables, Y: The Last Man, and Sandman, but these series have all pretty much become mainstream by now.

Looking to the future, American Virgin from Vertigo, Emissary from Image, and My Inner Bimbo from Oni all look very promising!

Also, there are a couple of good all ages minis that came out over the last few years like Imaginaries and Hero Camp, but I’ve already gone way over space on this blog, so I will get around to covering those later on.

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Some help from my friends

Some cool people over at GameFAQs offered some of their own thoughts:

Gentleman Ghost: Fell is quite different in content, design, and even price.

Gray77:
-Arrowsmith- An alternate past story that takes place during World War One with lots of magic, monsters, heroics, and even some romance thrown in.

-CrossGen stuff
+Way of the Rat- A martial arts epic with a talkin Monkey named Po Po! What's not to love?
+Sojourn- Beautiful art and lots of hot medieval babe action.
+Meridian- Early McNiven art and one of the most unique concepts for a comic out there. Gotta love those floating islands.

- Astro City- Vibrant, complex characters that take up a living breathing world that seems like it's been in existance for decades.

SpeechieMoogle:
Athena Voltaire by Daly, Bryant and Fidler.

While not really the subject matter I generally enjoy, the first issue was a fun and fast-moving story, with pretty good art.

I never would have picked it up except that the artist (Bryant) is apparantly a local guy. He signed my copy and everything. It's published by SPEAKEASY Comics, and is/was an Eisner Award Nominee.

shawnbuddy:

- Hate: This is the proto-typical indie comic for me. Buddy Bradley is so well drafted he's like a real, rather unpleasant person. And P. Bagge's art is incredibly out there, it's a trip just to look at it.

- Angry Youth Comix: I've only seen a few issues of this, but Johnny Ryan really pushes boundaries in a hilarious way, and he has a nice clean art style.

- Cherry Poptart: It's funny, sweet and sometimes even sexy. A porn comic that only makes me feel the good kind of dirty.

- XXXenophile: Ditto

- Badger: Badger is one of my favorite characters. A masked vigilante who is, without a doubt, nuts. Mike Baron puts him in offbeat and interesting situations.

- Nexus: Nexus is another Mike Baron book that I love. It's more philosophical as it deals with the ethics of an interstellar executioner.

- Whisper: Whisper is still the best Steven Grant work I've read. Suspenseful story with some political themes mixed in.

- Zot!: Scott McCloud's artwork is a thing of beauty. This starts out with a simple and fun story that gradually grows more complex.

- Boiled Angel: This is Mike Diana's awful masterpiece. If you can find it, you won't find many more disturbing works.

- Dork!/ Milk and Cheese: Evan Dorkin is a great talent. Both Dork and Milk and Cheese are truly funny books and I admire his unique art style.

- Stinz: Stinz is just weird. It's about a guy that's part horse.

- Bitchy Bitch: Hilarious, and I thought we needed more women authors on the list.

- Colleen Coover's Small Favors and Bannana Sunday: I just like her art style after reading her story is Sexy Chix. I admit I haven't picked either of these up yet.

Cantidosama:

If Small Favours is the one that goes with the tagline "Girly Porno Comics", then it's very funny and very tasteful. Same goes for Xxxenophile. No one draws women quite like Phil Foglio, and the series is very funny and sexy in a good way. I know women who hate porn, but love this.

Moving away from the mature content for a sec, how about Scud: The Disposable Assassin? I used to love this years ago, but it ended in such a dissapointing fashion. A retrospective of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would be interesting as well, as I remember the original series being very dark and the Image comic having its fair share of moments too. And how about Barry Ween: Boy Genius?

Awesome Mike Awesome:

- Savage Dragon: About 90% of all issues are self-contained stories and honestly feels like a throw back to the Stan and Jack FF. It has that retro feel.

Plus, and here's the deal sealer for me. Things change and stay changed. Less than 125 issues has passed and we have seen Dragon:

First 50 issues.
-Become a cop.
-Get fired from the force.
-Join an government sponsored super team.
-Have a kid and then lose him.
-KIlls a tryant in an alternate timeline that some how mucks things up in the present.
-Retire from super heroing altogether.
-Die.

Next 50.
-Has his spirit return in the body of one of his human friends. Hilarity insues.
-Gets married.
-Gets widowed... sorta kinda not really.
-Kills same tryant again but this time it is the kid version in current timeline.
-****s up his timeline even more and creates a horrible alternate world that he ends up saving.
-Returns home and then chooses to go back to the "savage World"

Next 22
-His original world is destroyed after he fails to save it and his new world from a Galactus type creature.
-Becomes a published writer.
-Gets married again.
-Finally finds his son and then loses him again.
-Meets Invincible
-Loses his healing powers
-Becomes President of US
-Exposes the truth of his victory and gives back the presidency.

Plus SD is the only Image book were all the issues have been done by the same creative team.

Gun Fu by Indianapolis local Howard Shum. Gun Fu is an action-comedy that takes place in 1936 and stars a gun-toting, kung fu-using Hong Kong cop by the name of Cheng Bo Sen that is enlisted by the British Secret Service to battle Nazi's. He also speaks fluent hip hop and noone seems to notice.

There is a one-shot and a 4 issues "Lost City" mini that are currently available to purchase separetly or in one TPB. It's published by Axiom.

Plus it is written and traced by Howard Shum who used to work in a LCS I frequented during my college days. He's an Indie writer in two ways!

noodleboy1:
- Elk's Run - An 8 issue mini series about a teenager living in a small militia town cut-off from the rest of the world. Here's a link to their site where you can read a 5-page preview of #1 and they have the complete issue #3 for free as well.

http://www.hoarseandbuggy.com/news/release/38

Neeber:
Pick up Emo Boy. It's a nice fun read.

brunbbmerc:

Atomika. It's a really interesting book. It's very strange, but it's also good and engrossing.

Uli:

I'd suggest Girls, by the Luna Brothers, put out by Image.

Or maybe Fell by Warren Ellis . . . although I haven't seen a new issue in a while, is that still coming out?

Toffile:

I would suggest Walking Dead and possibly Hellblazer for the former, and stuff like Transmet for the latter.

Havok3595:
Yeah, the aforementioned Roberta Gregory series (Bitchy Bitch) is rather...interesting. Vitriolic and dark real world humor.

Teenagers From Mars, another indy tale, is a parable about what the legal action against the creator of Boiled Angel means to the indy comic industry. Good stuff, great characters, and one of the main characters does exactly what all of us would like to do at least twice. Oh, and there's zombies.

Tales of Supernatural Law, from the genius that brought us "Archie Meets the Punisher". Supernatural legal comedy. Three things that normally don't belong in the same sentence, but it works.

Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius. Best described as "Dexter's Laboratory" meets "South Park". Probably Winick's best work.

Xandrew:
anything vertigo

Warfire:
Scott Pilgrim, Scott Pilgrim, Scott Pilgrim. I can't imagine anybody not loving Scott Pilgrim. Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy has to defeat girl's 7 evil ex-boyfriends in single combat. I just bought my girlfriend some original SP art for her birthday. :D

BlueEyedDevil:
Hero Squared. Fun new take on the dynamic of being a superhero, as well as just well written and beautifully drawn.

Arrowcave1:
30 Days of Night. Great Vampire story. The art just makes it so creepy.

Entertainer13:
Concrete's fun

DanDeRuff:
Blood and Water! For the love of god someone read this mini-series, I suggest it all the damn time and no one ever picks it up!

Shinta von Weizegger:
No mention of Poison Elves brings your column down in cool factor by ten points.

Chris Delloiacono from Comics Nexus

The Warlord - Not the relaunched series that just debuted, but the sword & sorcery title from its '70s glory days when Mike Grell was doing the writing and artwork. Some of the best characters and situations in all of comics from the past thirty odd years.

The Ballad of Sleeping Beauty - Great story based on the fairy tale transposed to a western setting. The series featured well written characters, strong action, and interesting villains. One of my favorites from recent years.

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LETTER PAGE

Dear Mike,

I greatly enjoyed your column on the symptom of retroactive legions of fans. As a longtime comic reader, I'm pretty familiar with most of these characters, and I have fond memories of many of them. I liked the Flight a lot...Northstar and Aurora especially.
But one thing they never did was sell comics. Heck, I didn't even buy most of their comics. When I reflect back on it, I've bought maybe 5 issues featuring them new, and a few dozen more because they caught my eye in dump bins, and that's it. When I failed to support them several times, is it fair for me to criticize Marvel for the same failure? No.

Both the Alphans and another recent kill have had multiple series cut short by the low sales monster. I imagine that if the upcoming Moon Knight series doesn't sell, he might suffer the same fate. Perhaps this is a shot across the prow by Marvel to up interest in the series, holding Moon Knight hostage as it were. I'd be interested in your views on this. Thanks!

-Mike Weaver

I think that a lot of people tend to over-romanticize the comic industry, forgetting that this is a business. They are looking to sell books, and shock value seems to do a pretty good job of it. Much more so than a C-List super team from Canada…eh.

As someone who owns way too many issues of Alpha Flight and the assorted Moon Knight series, I am definitely the right person for this question. It always amazes me when I hear people talk about how much they miss Moon Knight. The poor bastard has so many cancelled series. You'd think if that many people cared about the character, he wouldn't keep getting cancelled. There are many characters that I think work much better as parts of supporting casts or making random guest appearances, and Moon Knight is definitely one of them.

Just look at Gravity. A great character, but I know he couldn't really sustain his own ongoing series. A few minis here and there is the best possible way to develop this character, and I would say that is probably true of Moon Knight, as well. Honestly, I think the Moon Knight series is more fan service than anything else. They'll launch the series, it will probably get cancelled, and Marvel can cancel it with a clear conscience, "Hey, we tried to listen to fans, but no one bought the book."

I am a strong supporter of anthology books, but they never seem to last because of lack of reader interest. I'd think that an Anthology book like Marvel Comics Presents or Showcase would be the best place to spotlight characters like Moon Knight, Alpha Flight, Gravity, Firestorm, Manhunter, and on and on.

All right, that wraps it up for this week. As always, the awesome artwork at the top is done by my sister, Patti Maillaro. She’s going to be an aunt soon, and couldn’t be much more excited. My poor kid is doomed.

Please e-mail me any questions, comments, or whatevers to jackknight@gmail.com. I do read all my e-mails, and I’ll post them with my column. Also, remember to swing by GameFAQs and check out Eisner Cup season 3!

Now, go out and read some comics, you slacker!