I used to do these Special Comic Book Nerd Special Editions in the past but I haven't done many lately due to the fact that, well...I damn near covered all my past overlooked obscure favorite comic book titles. I held off on this list until today but here it is at last, enjoy it readers:
Omega The Unknown (1976)"Omega The Unknown" was yet another obscure ass Marvel title that was so odd that it was canceled due to lack of sales but took on another life as many fans picked it up in discount bins in following years. The Marvel staff decided to finish off the Omega The Unknown storyline in the pages of "The Defenders" not too long afterwards.
"Omega The Unknown" has since been resurrected by a Marvel writer that was a huge fan in his younger years. I just thought it was weird as all hell. If you read the Wikipedia page description you might say "Seriously? How much coke did he do?"
Men Of War (1977)Ulysses "Gravedigger" Hazard takes the helm in this DC title that was a companion to it's popular "Sgt. Rock" line (previously mentioned in my "Black Like Me" posts). He was a one man army and he led Easy Company throughout several World War 2 missions. Most DC war related comics (with the exception of 6 part mini series "All Out War") had long runs but "Men Of War" was canceled after only 26 issues. Gee, I wonder why?
Cerebus (1977)The highly influential title "Cerebus" begin it's legendary 300 month run in December 1977. The book touched on several topical subjects and explored every angle you could imagine a comic book (or any publication for that matter to). It was so complex and abstract that you needed to discuss it with people smarter than you to make sure you "caught" everything. I'm just now realizing what the hell Dave Sim was talking about back in 1988...
Grendel (1983)Matt Wagner's brilliant series about a young man who crafts crime novels by day but runs a huge criminal empire by night began back in 1983. He later began working on the title "Mage" for Comico later but this original 40 issue run was a special time for me when my mind was being both expanded and warped by what would become some of the most influential comic books of the past 40 years.
Grimjack (1984)This bugged out First Comics title told the tale of an adventurer that lived in a city called Cynosure that housed pan dimensional portals named Grimjack. He was a thief and a highly skilled mercenary that was based out of Munden's Bar in a part known as The Pit. Grimjack quickly became one of the most popular underground comic book characters of the 80's and it's a damn shame that no one has ever thought to adapt Grimjack and his adventures into a series or film before.
Stark: Future (1986)Canadian independent comic book company Aircel produced a sci fi title that was popular with the indie art school/film school crowd. It was black & white, independent and the story was pretty interesting. It ran for 17 issues between 1986-1987. Later on, I remember that Aircel partnered up with Malibu Comics in order to survive it's financial issues. I haven't laid eyes on an issue in about 20 years.
D.P. 7 (1986)Marvel's New Universe line produced very few titles that survived the full 32 month existence of the imprint. I collected "Justice" (which I wrote about previously) but I had a few issues of "D.P. 7" laying around because it actually seemed interesting (unlike "Star Brand", "Kickers, Inc" or "Spitfire And The Troubleshooters"). The entire New Universe imprint's launch lineup was weaker than the Young Money lineup. The D.P. 7 storylines often dealt with social issues as they worked in a center for displaced paranormals and tackled subjects such as racism & HIV in it's pages.
Meta-4 (1991)I'm not gonna lie, the biggest reason that Meta-4 sticks out in my head is because it only ran for three issues before First Comics folded. Marvel & DC had taken over and it wasn't until Image Comics was formed in 1992 that an independent comic book company could compete with the big two. If you can even find any back issues of Meta-4 around for cheap, cop 'em just for GP. I don't even remember the premise of Meta-4. I read issue #2 back in 1991 and haven't seen an issue since.
One.
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