The Good, Non-mainstream Limited-run/edition series Thread. Suggestions?

#1

Sorry if theres another thread like this, i searched around but couldn’t find one. Basically this is for those 1-shot, limited run comic series types, that are not attached to any larger mainstream universes like Marvel or DC. As such they don’t see anywhere near the publicity, will likely sail under the radar for all but the dedicated comic fans who stay in the loop, and afterwards they kinda fade away into obscurity in light of the mainstream offerings.

A good example is Luna Brother’s: The Sword(gushes for hours on how amazing this series was!). Had i not found myself in town that one faithful day, bored at a books-a-million, and just happened to skim below the rack to find the one lone copy of the first trade, i might never have discovered this Gem. One of my all-time favorite stories.

Made me think what other amazing limited run series there are that no one really talks about after they’ve run their course.

Suggestions?

So far i’ve found and read “Black summer”, “SuperGod”, and “No Hero” by Warren ellis. Black summer being the best and most complete of the three. Very recommended.

No Hero- had excellent presentation, and started off well with great build-up. Then just ended abruptly on a crap note, with many questions left unanswered, and zero closure. So much more could have been come of its interesting concept & characters, but they wastefully just chucked it out after a measly 8 issues. Shame as it was a very entertaining read while it lasted, but all its presentation and great build-up was wasted and lead to nothing in the end. WTF? Recommended still just be aware that it has a crap ending.

SuperGod- The worst & shortest of the three. An interesting read for certain but a little too dark & depressing for my taste. Like a twilight zone episode on how a superhuman arms race could turn out.

#2

Haha I was gonna recommend The Sword, but glad to see you read it.
I too liked Black Summer.

Off the top of my head:
Irredeemable and Incorruptable. Both will be ending in a few months but they’re pretty good IMO and much of the older issues are already collected in TPB.

There’s also Rex Mundi, I think this was around 40 issues but is collected in full in TPBs.

#3

Yeah the Sword was sheer greatness imo, and i LOVE Irredeemable! Other comics have played around with the Evil Superman idea, but none have really run with it like this series has. Love the Plutonian character. This one is worthy of the motion picture treatment.

Wait…its ending soon? I had no idea(tear). Its not a series i expected to last forever, but somehow i got the impression they were going to continue for a good while longer. So far i’ve only read one issue of incorruptable. Didn’t really care for it, as the Plutonian side of the story is what has my interest. Maybe later after Irredeemable is done.

Just found another limited series also: “Crossed”. Looks to be like a Walking dead type of story but with some neat twists from the usual zombie fare. 10 issues long.

Edit: OK read a few issues and even skipped to the end, it was stupid. blehh.

#4

Crossed is by Garth Ennis…that should tell you more than enough what it’d have in it XP

#5

Are you implying Garth Ennis is known for such crude, disgusting, and vulger shock value imagery, aimed at the lowest common denominator(Idiots)?

Cause that is what i saw in those first 2-3 issues of Crossed. Talk about trying too hard. The scene that made me put it down was when the family was running from them and the mother slips and breaks her ankle. She tells the father to escape with their child but he refuses and tries to hold his ground to protect them all.

He fails and the next scene shows in vivid detail the child getting chopped up for their amusement, while the parents are held down and raped hardcore.

No thanks. Its sad to see this filth is one of the longer running series by that company too.

#6

In Ennis’ more better works, while there is disgusting and vulgar stuff in it, the writing is very good and the characters have some very touching and good moments.
This is a bit going off topic but to see just how well of a writer Garth Ennis can be, do give this Spiderman TPB a read-
http://www.amazon.com/Spider-Mans-Tangled-Web-Vol-1/dp/0785108033/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1329503845&sr=8-2
You will not believe they are the same author lol.
As an added bonus it also contains a story by Greg Rucka =)

Back on topic, I just remembed one of my fav. non-mainstream series-
Atomic Robo. It’s about the adventures of Robo who was created by Tesla during the 20s~30s and his adventures throughout WW2 to the modern day. It has some nice humor and is quite fun.
Here’s the first book-
http://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Robo-Fightin-Scientists-Tesladyne/dp/0980930200/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329503973&sr=8-1-fkmr0
There are a total of 6 books collecting all of the series so far, so I hope you like this series.

Oh and there’s also Locke and Key-
http://www.amazon.com/Locke-Key-Vol-Welcome-Lovecraft/dp/1600103847/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329504019&sr=8-1
It’s a horror book, and I’d rather not spoil the premise but it’s def. worth reading even if you don’t like horror books =)

If you like 30s era Pulp, try Lobster Johnson by Mike Magnola (creator of Hellboy, you don’t need to read Hellboy to know the character, just that he’s a pulp fiction era crime fighter)
http://www.amazon.com/Lobster-Johnson-Vol-Iron-Prometheus/dp/1593079753/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329504097&sr=8-1

Other miniseries by Mike Magnola include-
Witchfinder: http://www.amazon.com/Witchfinder-Service-Angels-Mike-Mignola/dp/1595824839/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329504137&sr=8-1
Baltimore: http://www.amazon.com/Baltimore-Plague-Ships-Mike-Mignola/dp/1595826734/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329504146&sr=8-1

#7

Thanks for the suggestions. Read another comic recently called, “Last of the Greats”.

It was ok i guess with a neat premise. Godly beings(though i think they might be aliens), descend on the planet and want to help. They cure diseases, end wars, famine, blah, blah. However, when they attempt to disarm the world’s nukes Humanity kills them…somehow.

Which they’re ok with until a full-scale alien invasion pops up one day, and they go crawling to the last remaining great for help. Which the only reason he didn’t die with the others is because he didn’t care about humanity and lived in solitude. Now after saving the earth he is pretty much the lone & corrupt ruler. Baffling as to how humans could have killed such overwhelmingly powerful beings, when it only took one to single-handedly beat back a world-wide alien invasion that had earth crippled.

Meh. Art was at least was good for the 5 issues, i think this one is still going also.

#8

Hmm I may think about reading that, I appreciate your feedback on it, but I want to experience it for myself to give it proper judgement ^_^;