The best obscure comics ever made

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 5:13 pm

It's just what the title says. Those little hidden gems no body heard about and no one ever got. I'll start off with two from the early 90's:

Black Hood 1-13 by DC/Impact

A very different look at being vigilante. Quirky as hell with great art.

Bayou Billy 1-5 by Archie

This one's a huge surprise. Excellent writing filled with humor, depth, action, and intrigue.

Strannik · Post by **Strannik** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 6:04 pm

Xombie from Milestone Media.

A fairly obscure title even in it's heyday, it featured some of the best, most imaginative writing and characterisation I've seen in a comic book. The weirdness alone deserves a look.

The story focuses on misadventures of David Kim, a scientist who wound up injected with nanobots that could repair any kind of injury inflicted upon him (so long as there was raw material avaluable for consumption). Soon, David Kim found himself drawn into a supernatural world that lurked just beneath the surface of the mundane. The story deals with his effort to find some measure of normacy in his life while dealing with all manner of supernatural entities.

putz · Post by **putz** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 7:37 pm

Kid eternity

jedimarley · Post by **jedimarley** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 7:40 pm

Tales From the Bog by Marcus Lusk

myron · Post by **myron** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 7:43 pm

The Badger...original series by Capital/First comics...

slym2none · Post by **slym2none** » Wed Jun 29, 2005 10:44 pm

Strannik wrote:Xombie from Milestone Media.

A fairly obscure title even in it's heyday, it featured some of the best, most imaginative writing and characterisation I've seen in a comic book. The weirdness alone deserves a look.

The story focuses on misadventures of David Kim, a scientist who wound up injected with nanobots that could repair any kind of injury inflicted upon him (so long as there was raw material avaluable for consumption). Soon, David Kim found himself drawn into a supernatural world that lurked just beneath the surface of the mundane. The story deals with his effort to find some measure of normacy in his life while dealing with all manner of supernatural entities.

Being a fan of team books, I found Blood Syndicate very good. Most of the Milestone stuff wasn't really bad, but I thought this was one of the best books DC/Milestone produced.

-slym

Redtrax · Post by **Redtrax** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 2:36 am

slym2none wrote:
Strannik wrote:Xombie from Milestone Media.

A fairly obscure title even in it's heyday, it featured some of the best, most imaginative writing and characterisation I've seen in a comic book. The weirdness alone deserves a look.

The story focuses on misadventures of David Kim, a scientist who wound up injected with nanobots that could repair any kind of injury inflicted upon him (so long as there was raw material avaluable for consumption). Soon, David Kim found himself drawn into a supernatural world that lurked just beneath the surface of the mundane. The story deals with his effort to find some measure of normacy in his life while dealing with all manner of supernatural entities.
Being a fan of team books, I found Blood Syndicate very good. Most of the Milestone stuff wasn't really bad, but I thought this was one of the best books DC/Milestone produced.

-slym

I don't think you can call them oscure, you can easily find them in all the quarter bins.

cornflakeboy · Post by **cornflakeboy** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 3:34 am

Death by Chocolate. Simply one of the best reads in years. eriod. If you find it, friggin' buy it!!!

Not to mention... Lowlife, Brubaker's first -and finest- before getting into mainstream.

depluto · Post by **depluto** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 9:40 am

Redtrax wrote:I don't think you can call them oscure, you can easily find them in all the quarter bins.

You can find the early ones everywhere, but I've been trying to get some of the later issues and can't find them anywhere for cheap.

A couple of my favorite Milestone comics were Icon and Static. I also liked Blood Syndicate even though the characters weren't all that likable. They weren't even fun jerks.

Byrneout · Post by **Byrneout** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 9:54 am

Poison Elves. One of the funniest, well-written, introspective fantasy series of all time.

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:44 am

Another one from the early 90's:

Scarlett by DC (I think it ran about 15 or so issues)

It's a serious version of Buffy the Vampire slayer that came out long before the TV series. Very well written.

And, yes, the Milstone line was excellent, grade A stuff. I think Xombi was overlooked enough to be called "obscure." Regardless it was VERY good.

svair · Post by **svair** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:52 am

Hip Flask is great...
Ladronn's art is fantastic

http://www.hipflask.com/

cptfishstick · Post by **cptfishstick** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 12:53 pm

Stray Toasters By Bill Sienkiewicz (Epic) 4 parts
PARA By Stuart Moore (Penny Farthing Press) 6 parts
War Machine (MAX) ?Parts

and of course, one that isn't quite obscure, but not read by enough people.
Moon Knight By Doug Moench & Bill Sienkiewicz (Marvel 1980)

Stray Toasters is A mini put out by Marvels Epic line in which Sinkiewicz had complete artistic freedom to create this bizzare, and wonderfull tale.

PARA was a recent mini series. It was an earth Set Sci Fi horror story, amazing art, fun story.

War machine was a pleasent surprise. It was a mini/maxi series published by Max. It was in black and white, and featured the use of some computer generated models for the art. The story was intriguing, and definatley worth a read.

tcolli · Post by **tcolli** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 1:19 pm

Twister-about a seriel killer that hunts other serial killers. Maybe a bit overdone now (in movies and TV) but when it was released in the early 90's it was pretty cool!

Vault-Keeper · Post by **Vault-Keeper** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 2:25 pm

"Jeffery Dahmer vs Jesus Christ" (from Boneyard Press) Just TRY to find THAT one!

Todd Luck · Post by **Todd Luck** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 3:12 pm

Chiascuro by DC/Vertigo (12 0r 13 miniseries)

A comic adaption of Da Vinci's life. Even if you have no love for art or history, this is a highly entertaining drama.

Mars by First
Radical Dreamer by Blackball

I think I got the company on the last one right. These are incredible science fiction series by Mark Wheatly (who also did Black Hood). He creates entire worlds with a style and orginality all their own.

riftt · Post by **riftt** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 6:05 pm

robocop 1-23 from Marvel

hulk181man · Post by **hulk181man** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 8:27 am

svair wrote:Hip Flask is great...
Ladronn's art is fantastic

http://www.hipflask.com/

I second this....

hulk181man · Post by **hulk181man** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 8:32 am

The Last Generation - I remember really enjoying the brief run of this title from the late 80's

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... eName=WDVW

svair · Post by **svair** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 8:43 am

hulk181man wrote:
svair wrote:Hip Flask is great...
Ladronn's art is fantastic

http://www.hipflask.com/
I second this....

Mystery City should be coming out this month!!!!

dave · Post by **dave** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 3:29 pm

ultimate fantastic four...

well...it's obscure on THIS site!

what about shaman's tears? i found out that there are at least 12 issues, when i thought that three'd only beed 2. anyone like this?

Flinx · Post by **Flinx** » Sat Jul 02, 2005 11:42 pm

Power Factor - 2 issues were originally published in '86 by Wonder Comics. Later these issues were reprinted by Innovation along with a third & a one-shot.

Here is the blurb about it copied from ComicBase;
It began in 1965. The leader of a vast criminal organization focuses his resources on eliminating the greatest threat to his organization— the costumed super-heroes that oppose it. His efforts, usually involving exploiting the heroes’ selfless desire to save innocent lives (e.g., killers pose as victims to draw heroes into the open), are so successful that by the 80s, his trophy case is full of costumes. Every hero (many of whom had relatively minor powers and abilities) has either been driven into retirement, or killed. Years later, innocents live in fear in a world where criminals act with impunity.

But the heroic spirit is not so easily crushed, and where many have fallen, others rise to take their place. New heroes don old costumes, and old heroes come out of retirement to assume new identities. And when the hero-killer’s son takes over for his father, he finds that he may have to pay for the sins of the past. A grim series, written by Kevin Juaire, drawn by Tom Lyle, and published by Wonder Color Comics.

Byrneout · Post by **Byrneout** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 11:44 am

Flinx wrote:Power Factor - 2 issues were originally published in '86 by Wonder Comics. Later these issues were reprinted by Innovation along with a third & a one-shot....A grim series, written by Kevin Juaire, drawn by Tom Lyle, and published by Wonder Color Comics.

Wow... that sounds interesting!

Now to see if I can find them anywhere...

davidb · Post by **davidb** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 6:21 pm

Well, my favorites are probably a bit better known:

Kinetic - Interesting DC series about a kid who's been sick all his life finding out all of a sudden that he's invulnerable and has super-strength. Oh, yeah - he's also not in the normal DCU.

The Comet and The Fly - Along the same lines as Kinetic, both were part of DC's Impact attempt to resurrect the Archie heroes in the early 90's. Unfortunately, Comet really veered off into some weird areas by the end. (I haven't gotten enough later Fly issues to see if it did the same).

Sentinel - Part of the failed Tsunami line. The usual kid finds a giant robot story, only this robot is one of the Sentinels. Marvel reissued the book in digest form, and Joe Q just announced Friday that it's coming back based on how well those have been selling! Special thanks to Marvel for cancelling about four or five other books I was getting so that I'll be able to afford this one.

And of course I can never say enough good about James Robinson's Starman (even though I wouldn't consider it really obscure)...

siren3-4 · Post by **siren3-4** » Fri Jul 08, 2005 7:13 am

Starman was an excellent read. So was Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis though I don't know if that counts as obscure either.

Stray Bullets by David Lapham has some of the craziest things going on, in fact I think I'm going to go back and re-read that. :littlesmile:

Arsenic Lullaby has some great dead baby and zombie fetus action going on. If that is your cup of tea