Sadly, one often overlooked aspect of comic book collecting is to collect not for profit, but for entertainment. Many (most?) collectors pick comics based on investment value and never actually read and enjoy them on their own merits. This guide is in defense of great, often little known comics - specifically ‘alternative/independent’ comics - which may not have especially high monetary value, but have exceptional value as literature and works of art. There are numerous comics in my personal collection which the Overstreet Guide lists as having very little worth that I value more than others with very high price tags. That’s the great thing about collecting something as diverse as comics - one man’s trash is another’s treasure!

If you peruse the comic book listings on ebay, one thing that you will notice is that those produced by Marvel and DC far outnumber those from smaller companies. Everyone knows who Spider-man and Superman and Stan Lee are, but far fewer recognize Kevin Matchstick (Mage) and Concrete and Art Speigelmann (Maus), even though Kevin and Concrete are just as complex and wonderful as the two more known characters and Stan Lee never won a Pulitzer for any comics he wrote (Art Speigelmann did)! Sure, DC and (especially) Marvel have put out some fantastic comics in their long and storied histories, but do you really want to pay $2,000 for the 35 John Byrne/Chris Claremont issues of The Uncanny X-men, when you can get the full run (also 35 issues) of Image Comic’s The Maxx for a little over $100?! Believe me, The X-Men (particularly those issues) are great, but The Maxx is the better reading value! Price isn’t everything and independent labels tend to be less mainstream with their products and therefore more creative.

Have you ever noticed that the BIG TWO comics that stray from the norm are also the best comics they produce? There aren’t a lot of awards being given to books like DC’s Adventure Comics or Marvel’s The Avengers, but look at how well their more unique and alternative-y comics have done.

 

Eisner, Kirby, and Harvey Award recipients for DC:

Sandman and Death (both by Neil Gaiman)

100 Bullets

Fables

Solo

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns & Black and White

Watchmen, Swamp Thing, and Batman: The Killing Joke (Alan Moore)

 

For Marvel:

Daredevil (Frank Miller and B. M. Bendis)

Marvels

Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules

Groo, the Wanderer

Elektra: Assassin

 

Sure, some more mainstream comics win awards, too, but can you name any? These stick out, because they are unique, often reflecting one or two creators personal visions, and are often not the kind of thing most editors would consider of interest to the masses. In short, they are more like alternative comics! They are also fantastic works! Watchmen, Frank Miller’s Daredevil, Marvels, and Elektra: Assassin are some of the best comics ever created and I recommend them highly to anyone who hasn’t read them (and can afford them), but there are a lot of worthy comics by independent companies that have also won awards and that aren’t as well known.

 

Eisner, Kirby, and Harvey Award winners for Indies:

Concrete (Dark Horse, Paul Chadwick)

Sin City & 300 (Dark Horse, Frank Miller)

From Hell (Kitchen Sink, Alan Moore)

Bone (Cartoon Books, Jeff Smith)

Maus (Pantheon Books, Art Spiegelmann)

Love and Rockets (Fantagraphic Books, Hernandez Brothers)

Cerebus (Aardvark-Vanaheim, Dave Sim)

Our Cancer Year (Four Walls/Eight Windows, Harvey Pekar)

The Rocketeer (Eclipse, Dave Stevens)

Grendel (Comico, Matt Wagner)

 

Some of these you’ve heard of because they were made into movies, but tell me if you think the average comic reader knew of them prior to the movie coming out? Not most of them!

It is interesting to me how many independent comics are turned into movies and TV shows! It might even be more than those based on comics from DC and Marvel. Here’s a short list:

Teen-Age Mutant Ninja Turtles (they made alternative comics popular)

The Tick

Sin City

300

The Rocketeer

Spawn

The Maxx

The Mask

Barb Wire

Hellboy

Jon Sable: Freelance

The Crow

Alien vs. Predator

American Splendor

Ghost World

Men In Black

Witchblade

30 Days of Night

The best movies and TV shows from Marvel and DC? The X-Men, Spider-man, the first and the last Batman movies, V for Vendetta (Alan Moore), From Hell (Alan Moore), Blade, A History of Violence, and Road to Perdition. The worst: Captain America, The Flash, Howard the Duck, The Hulk, Swamp-Thing, The Punisher, any other Batman, any Superman, and Wonder Woman. Notice a theme? The less mainstream the material, the better the movie or show - usually. Although I have to admit, Barb Wire and TMNT sucked!

My point is that just because DC and Marvel are huge and successful companies that produce some of the best comics around, you may want to take note that small press companies come out with lots of comics that are award worthy and interesting enough to be released in different mediums (TV, film, etc.) and that it is a lot easier on your pocketbook if you start to collect full runs of independent comics than almost anything from the BIG TWO. Most importantly, READ THEM! Look at all the movies listed above. You’ve likely enjoyed many of them, right? Well, guess what? It is the same with comics as it is with novels - the book is ALWAYS better than the film!

 

Here is a short list of comics from independent publishers (and those with an independent spirit) that I recommend, with notes on some of them. Many of these are available in their entirety on ebay for very little money.

Cerebus the Aardvark by Dave Sim - The comic that STARTED the alternative craze of the early eighties. No one does sequential humor like Dave Sim (Jeff Smith of ‘Bone’ fame comes closest). Note: This was a very long series, so I’d recommend 53-56 (Wolveroach, Wolverine parody) as a good place to start and see if it is your cup of tea.

Maus by Art Spiegelmann - This biographical account of German Death Camps with mice as Jews and cats as Nazis won a Pulitzer! ‘Nuff said.

Strange Embrace by David Hine - Not for everyone, this one borders on Underground Comix, but is easily the most chilling and unique walk through madness that has ever been released in comic form. Exceptional.

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Marvel:

Elektra: Assassin by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz - One of my favorites of all time and not too expensive, this series brought the use of mixed media to new heights in comics. The art is still unrivaled and the writing is incredible.

Marvels by Alex Ross and Kurt Busiek - The story of Marvel Comics through the eyes of a photographer/reporter as if it were the real world. Great story idea and revolutionary art!

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DC:

Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons - The best executed comic of all time. Every detail from color scheme to costume design is perfect! Read it now, before the movie comes out!

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Dark Horse:

Concrete by Paul Chadwick - Not all super-heroes save the world daily. Some might just save a family farm or climb Everest. Some might be able to lift a car, but not a paperclip! Do yourself a favor and read this fantastic comic series that (along with Boris the Bear) put Dark Horse on the map!

Dark Horse Presents - A very good anthology series. The Mask, Black Cross, Aliens vs. Predator, and Concrete all started here. Of course it is uneven!

Roachmill - Just fun. Nothing tops the first issue and I haven’t read the Blackthorne versions, but I just really love this comic and it had a short (cheap) run! Best ‘last issue’ ever!

Sin City by Frank Miller - The movie comes close . . .

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Image:

The Maxx by Sam Kieth - Great art and the first 20 issues tell a complete story. This is the best plotted comic I’ve ever read. You can reread it ten times and still catch something different. Of course, it covers some pretty heady issues, but the cartooniness of the art blunts the wickedness of what is really going on.

Other Image comics of note: Spawn and Deathblow. Although both were only really good for a short time (the first 25 Spawns, the first 10 Deathblows), they are still worth a look. Deathblow ends with the main character’s death, so that alone makes it worth a read. As for the writing in the rest of the comics released by Image . . . well, if you can’t say something nice . . .

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Charlton/Malibu:

E-Man by Joe Staton - Ok, this is old, but it featured some of the first painted covers, a really cool character, a hot side-kick, and one of the best back-up stories of all time - John Byrne’s ROG-2000!

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Eclipse:

Where do I start? Eclipse created so many good titles, it is amazing that they aren’t still around!

Some of note are Miracleman (Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman), DNAgents, Legend of Kamui, Twisted Tales, Tales of Terror, Alien Encounters, Alien Worlds, Ms. Tree, Mr. Monster, Tales of Beanworld, Zot!, The Rocketeer, and the list goes on! Legend of Kamui is almost as good as Lone Wolf and Cub and better than Blade of the Immortal. All the horror comics are what EC would have been had they ignored the comic code all the time! Lots of nudity and some of the best covers in my entire comic collection!

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Comico:

Mage by Matt Wagner - Mage is a re-telling of The Legend of King Arthur, but modern day. In it, Excalibur is a baseball bat, one magical weapon is actually a staple gun, things like that. The art (after the first couple issues) is first rate and different, the use of color (especially black) is fantastic and magic is green.

Other Comico comics of note: Grendel, Elementals, and Robotech.

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First Comics:

With a bullpen including Frank Brunner, Mike Grell, Howard Chaykin, and Jim Starlin, you’d think this would have been one of the best companies ever, but oddly the best comic they produced was a deluxe reprint of Lone Wolf and Cub with covers by a who’s who of artists and introductions (early on) by Frank Miller. Lone Wolf and Cub is one of the best comic series in the history of comics and everyone who claims to enjoy the medium needs to read it and, unless you can read Japanese, this is the best form it comes in. Even if it is incomplete.

Other First Comics of note: Jon Sable: Freelance, Shatter, and American Flagg!.

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Aircel Comics:

Warlock 5 - The art is often awe-inspiring (though very uneven), the covers are great, and the plot and characters are a lot of fun.  It's a sci-fi story based in the modern world that really would make a great B-movie.  The second series was awful, so avoid it at all cost!

Dragonring - The back-up features were often better than the main story, but Yap's art was nicely suited for a pulp-style adventure comic. 

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Arrow Comics/Wee Bee Comics/Caliber Comics:

My favorite Independent publisher of comics is Arrow. They were the first to release comics with alternate covers (and not just as a gimmick), they had the best inside front cover (oh, how I miss the little Ralph & Stu greetings), and they brought talents like Vince Locke (A History of Violence) and Guy Davis (Sandman Mystery Theater, Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules) into comics. Eventually, they were sold to Wee Bee, who had troubles with a capital ‘D’ and soon sold them to Caliber - my second favorite Independent comic publisher. Caliber had artists like James O’Barr (The Crow) and Tim Vigil (Grips) on staff and was producing comics like Renfield and Caliber Presents (another nice anthology series). Once at Caliber, Guy Davis (with help from Vincent Locke and others) produced a fantastic punk/alternative universe/mystery story called Bakerstreet, which I HIGHLY recommend. It is only ten issues long and (as far as I know) was never finished beyond the first act, but it is really well done! However, my first love will always be the two titles that started at Arrow, The Realm and Deadworld.

Deadworld by Vince Locke (and others, don’t bother with the ones he didn’t draw) - Perfection. Not only does Vincent’s style of art (similar to the hyperactive heavy-metal kid in your high school art class, who only draws with his ink pen) fit the subject of Night of the Living Dead in comic form, but the dialogue (often by Ralph Griffith and Stu Kerr) was so realistic that it is an absolute time capsule and an absolute joy to read. Note, this is NOT for the kiddies!

The Realm by Guy Davis (and others, don’t bother with the issues after he left the series) - My favorite series of all time. My two signed copies of The Realm #1 sit alongside my single digit X-Men, Avengers, and Daredevil comics! If I owned Marvel Comics #1, I’d keep it with my copies of The Realm. Sure, the art in the first ish is pretty amateurish and Guy had no idea how to draw a naval battle and there was that one back cover that was REALLY bad, but by issue #3 this comic had introduced me to Manga-like art, given me a new appreciation for the art of Disney, and had me almost sweating, as I waited for the next installment! The inking was good, the art was eventually great, the writing and plotting, and (again) the dialogue was some of the best ever - this was a truly great series and is totally overlooked by the comic community. Of course, that is just my opinion, but at least I have one, because I take the time to read the books I collect. How about you?

Question: When you read the title of this guide, did you read the word 'from' as 'for'?  Ah-ha, money isn't everything, you know!  Thank for your time, I hope you got some benefit from this guide.