Obscure, cheap, possibly crappy, but worth reading?
 

I'm going to make a confession. I really like Nth Man the Ultimate Ninja. For those of you unaware of this title, it was a late 80's Marvel title written by Larry Hama, and it was just flat out bizarre. It has a lot of kicking ass and reality warping. Very hard to explain. Anyway...you could probably find a full run of this book for like $2, and dammit, I think it's worth every penny.

Another book I recently became interested in while cleaning out an old box of junk in my closet is Terror, Inc from the early 90's. I browsed through an issue or two, with every intention of putting it in a "burn pile", but it was just so unusual, I HAD to read more. This guy is chopping off other people's body parts, attaching them to himself, and using their abilities?!? WTF?

So I'm curious to hear about more obscure "bargain bin" level stuff that you've found interesting? Possibly something you can pick up a full run of on eBay for under $10, or track down in a quarter box.

Great idea for a thread.

I have found a lot of fun stuff in quarter boxes over the years.

But I've largely been out of comics (except occasional trades) for several years now, so I have nothing to add at the moment. If something comes to me I'll post it.

Oh, the old Marvel series Strikeforce Morituri was interesting and super cheap.

Trevor, funny you should mention that...I am totally eyeballing some full runs of Strikeforce Morituri on eBay right now. Very cheap! I've also been considering American Flagg and Dreadstar, which both look interesting, but I've never had a chance to read.

Both of those had tons of fans, but I couldn't get into either. But then, I didn't try that hard, only reading one or two issues of each, so don't go by what I say on those two titles.

But speaking of Capital/First comics, I'd loved Badger and Nexus back in the day, not sure if they are found for cheap.

A friend of mine gave me a huge collection of comics his neighbor gave away. Nothing had any particular value, but I really did enjoy the old Judge Dredd comics. Those can't possibly be worth anything.

The Mark Shaw version of DC's "Manhunter" was a pretty nifty title, if I recall from growing up. John Ostrander wrote it, if you like him. There's a 24 issue run up on eBay right now, but it's overpriced.

One word.

ROM

The DC Challenge -- a 12 issue mini from the mid-80s. Each issue was written by a different writer, who was challenged to solve the cliffhangers from the previous writer, advance the plot, and introduce new cliffhangers for the next creative team. Each issue also had a different artist -- Gil Kane did an issue, as did Carmine Infantino, Don Heck, Keith Giffen, Dave Gibbons, Tom Mandrake, and a bunch of other cool artists. The story wound up going all over the place, and featured characters as mainstream as Batman, Superman, and Captain Marvel and as obscure as B'Wanna Beast, Space Cabbie, Detective Chimp, and Silent Knight. The story was a complete mess that only sort of makes sense -- but it is the most fun comic series I think I have ever read.

Ah, Rom the spaceknight... I loved that series. Back when Marvel openly integrated licensed properties into their universe. I also liked Shogun Warriors and Micronauts. I remember they did a ROM sequel a few years ago, though due to licensing restrictions they couldn't use the name ROM.

As a kid, I really loved Dial H For Hero: where kids would use a dial to turn into randomly chosen heroes, some of which were submitted by fans. I remember collecting Who's Who years later and finding out how dark the story of the Dial H kids had gotten...

I've been a fan of Grimjack. Good old timey sci-fi/fantasy adventure.

DC Challenge was pretty fun.

I always wanted to get into ROM. If I ever see a cheap compete run on ebay I'll pick it up.

Micronauts was awesome. Not your typical toyline comic book. The first dozen or so issues by Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden are classics, and the rest of the run was fun as well.

I actually started a Micronaut comic book yahoo group. Goes months without any activity, but its there.

If you guys haven't read Atari Force or 'Mazing Man, I bet you could find complete runs of those for reasonable prices.

Awesome books. 'Mazing Man is more of a sit-com type comic book than a superhero comic book, and very well written. It reminded me of the best writing on Moonlighting back in the day when it came out. And Atari Force is really one of the best sci-fi comics I read.

Darn you OP!

You have me searching ebay and placing bids on some runs.

Just when I thought I was out......

Ha! Lots of good stuff mentioned! I think I'm going to the shop tomorrow morning...with all these great suggestions, I know I'm going to be hitting the bargain bin. I need to finish up my run of Thunderstrike...you know, the blue collar Thor.

Not really bargain bin, I always liked Ultra, The Multi-Alien featured in Mystery Space back in 1966. Did this guy ever appear again?

I remember him from that one issue of Starman (great, great series), but apparently he's had a few more recent appearances:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_the_Multi-Alien

Another old favorite of mine: Dreadstar, particularly the first 30-or-so issues (the ones drawn by Jim Starlin).

I loved the horror DC comics back in the early 70s, House of Mystery, House of Secrets, The Witching Hour, Unexpected. and then going back a little bit further, the Marvel monster books like Monsters on the Prowl.

And I was Plop!'s biggest fan. It was a DC humor mag that used the DC horror book hosts, Cain, Abel, and Eve. I'm thinking that Neil Gaiman read Plop!

Fun stuff, but possibly not cheap. Sorry, just popped into my head and felt like sharing.

I picked up some issues (and a digest collection) of Plop on Ebay a few years back for a decent price. Some of those older horror titles can command serious dollars, though.

There are two Showcase collections of House of Mystery. Hundreds of pages of classic 70s DC horror in glorious black and white for under $20 each!

Well, I didn't do too well at the bargain boxes this weekend. There were a few issues of Strikeforce Morituri, Dreadstar, and Badger, but not enough of a run to pick up. I also had no luck tracking down the DC Challenge series, which sounds really cool.

Did anyone ever read Crystar (80's Marvel series)? I was a fan of the toys as a kid, but had never the comics. It looks pretty cheap.

like you said, The Nth Man. Close thread :)