It’s the best of times for comics, it’s the worst of times for comics. On the plus side, superhero characters and comics are no longer things that would get you shoved in a locker, On the other hand? There are. So. Many. Comics. Not to mention, I don’t know about you? I’m a little superhero’d out.
But there are seriously awesome comics out there that are flying under the radar because they’re not clad in tights or flying a cape behind their back. Join me in taking a break from the superhero genre and check out something a liiiittle more off the beaten path.
With the help of my comic guru friend and Threadless staffer Lance Curran, here are 11 comics you should be spending time and money on right now:
Revival
“Revival” was my gateway into non-superhero, non-Marvel/DC comics. Remember that cancelled show called Resurrection? Where dead people come back but in a human, none-zombiefied way? That’s basically what “Revival” is, except with some creepy mysterious creatures and some seriously murderous dead people thrown into the mix. Just the right amount of creepy and easy-readin’.
Lumberjanes
“Lumberjanes” has been called ‘Scooby Doo meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ which, after only having read a few issues myself, seems right. It’s a fun read with an Adventure Time-y look and features a series of quirky girl scouts whose camping trip takes a turn for the Supernatural.
Space Riders
If this poppy art looks familiar, that’s because it’s done by one of our Artist Shop owners, Alexis Ziritt! A trippy-looking space travel story about The Space Riders, traveling throughout the cosmos to dish out justice to baddies of the universe, all while seeking great truths of the expanse of space.
Saga
If “Revival” was my first gateway into indie comics, “Saga” was my leap down the rabbithole. There’s really no way of doing this comic justice by describing it – it’s the product of a serendipitous combination of stunning illustration, conversational and strikingly real dialogue, and just a beautifully fleshed out, and at times incredibly strange, universe. Star-crossed lovers across warring species come together and have a baby…and now they’re on the run from a universe-wide war full of enemies and allies alike who want them dead.
East of West
A dystopian, apocalyptic Western following the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse across America as…heroes, of all things. Beautifully illustrated and full of creative vision that brings the Four Horseman to possibly their most creative re-imagining since Supernatural.
Black Science
A trippy tumble down the multiverse rabbithole. When a Scientist discovers a way to pierce through layers of reality into different dimensions, he and his crew get lost in layers upon layers of mysterious brave new worlds. Kind of like the exploration aspect of Star Trek in a multiverse story all its own.
Darth Vader
‘Nuff said, right? Brought to you by Marvel (non-superhero stuff by Marvel?!), the story takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.
Nameless
There is so much crazy and creepy stuff going on in this comic that I honestly can’t contain it in a few sentences. If you like horror, if you like the sound of terrifying inhuman experiments, and if you like the idea of an asteroid hurtling towards Earth? Check this out.
Descender
Kind of the District 9 of comics, except instead of aliens? It’s robots. This soon-to-be-a-film story involves the ethnic cleansing of robots that Kotaku says is “the comic you should read if you like ‘Mass Effect’.”
Bitch Planet
A dystopian future where non-compliant women are sent away to the “Auxiliary Compliance Outpost”, a.k.a “Bitch Planet, where the contained women are at the guards’ mercy.
The Woods
BOOM! Studios – the publisher – describes this as “that same eerie, small-town horror feel we get whenever we read a Stephen King novel.” When 513 people just vanish from a Prep School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, they wake up light years away in the middle of a primordial wilderness.
