Trevor

Somehow, I never gave American Flagg a try, despite planning to for years and generally likening most Chaykin. Not sure if I even own any of it physically or digitally, although I’m sure I bought it all on Comixology if it was ever there and on sale.

davidh777

I just checked, and I do have the digital version of American Flagg. I like Dominic Fortune so figured I’d give it a shot.

L. Ron zyzzle

Chaykin's art is fantastic, the design aesthetic was very cool back then (probably would still be considered so) and lots of good predictions about how news would be delivered in the future, etc.. The hardboiled 'dames and skirts' stuff may not translate as easily today, though.

tonyc3742

That MICRA actually looks familiar.
I know I've got (or had, I lost some comics due to damage) some Eclipse titles.
Quick skim of the Wiki: Alien Worlds, Twisted Tales, loved those. Winter World!

I read some American Flagg from one of the bundle deal sites. Couldn't really get into it, even considering the era.

Here's a couple old weird random comics from my collection (sorry for sizing):

Eclipse:





Apparently some guy's printer:

Trevor

Just checked and only own one book there, but it says it’s the ‘definitive collection’ so imagine that’s at least the first 12 issues. Downloading now.
Speaking of Chaykin, I enjoyed the first issues of his latest (?) series, that ‘Hey Kid’s Comics’ take on comic book history.

ytrez

This is the original Grendel reprint book:

It's worth having IMO.

I was a fan of American Flagg but still have a handful of issues from late in the series to track down.

My top 3 series from the 80s are probably:

• Scout
• Nexus
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Oh, and Love and Rockets is my favorite comic of all time but I was late to the train on that one and didn't start reading it until the 90s.

fujishig

Yeah, without Eclipse I don't think we'd have Viz today (they partnered on that early manga). Eclipse and First were basically the "big" independents in my eyes.

movieguru

I think i have a copy of Edge of Chaos in a box somewhere. About 12 years ago I bought a cheap box of independent comics, mostly they were first issues. I think I bought them for the Groo issues, but it had a lot of first issues of oddball titles, so I could possibly have some of the others.

fujishig

When I was young (like middle school) my school had an annual carnival. One of the prizes for one of the carnival games were old comics... I don't think it was just someone's donated collection either because there were multiples of a lot of stuff... maybe some comic shop donated them? But whoever it was was a big fan of Starlin because there was a ton of stuff like Dreadstar and his Warlock stuff (which at the time I couldn't believe was in the same Marvel Universe as the rest of the heroes), as well as other independents.

If it was a comic shop, it was a brilliant way to get a kid hooked on comics, I'll say that much.

Trevor

The history of comic book publishing is interesting and strewn with some surprising names and lengths of publishing. Here’s a wiki link for a potential rabbit hole of nostalgia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...hing_companies

Around the time we’re talking reference this thread, early to mid 1980s, I think I’d very broadly describe the players like this:

We had the big two, and then probably bigger than we think Archie, small stuff like underground books and smaller companies like Fantagraphics and NBM starting in 76, Aardvark-Vandheim and Warp in 77, FantaCo from 80-98, Pacific burned briefly but brightly from 81-84, Vortex from 82-93, and Slave Labor starting in 86.

As for potential #3 thru 5 companies after DC and Marvel, we had Eclipse for 78-93, Comico 82-97, First 83-91, Mirage 83-09, Now 85-05, Malibu 86-94, Dark Horse started in 86, and then Image in 92.

fujishig

Yeah that sweetheart legacy deal Archie had at the grocery store aisle was huge for them. That was another really good source of comics for kids, those digests that you'd find checking out at grocery stores, and Archie remained there for a long time after DC, Marvel and the rest could. With Archie I could never really tell if I was reading a new story or a reprint and that probably worked for them too.

Now I'm wondering how big companies like Harvey (Richie Rich and Caspar), Gold Key, Antarctic Press (never really that big, I know), Gladstone, Valiant (who took over the Gold Key characters) and Cartoon books were.

ytrez

For me, there was not better time in comics than the 80s.

Here are some of my favorite titles from that period:

Maybe the first manga I held in my hands back in '82 or so:


Then there was just an explosion of good titles:


Eventually I came across Tim Vigil and Jim O'Barr:


And they led to a whole new world that I was previously too young to even know existed (I know some of these aren't from the 80s but that's when I discovered them):


And, while not quite underground, I discovered Richard Corben and just couldn't get enough:


Then there was all the other stuff from Eclipse, First, Comico, Continuity and the whole black and white explosion that led to Dark Horse, Eternity, Aircel, and Mirage (which ultimately led to Tundra in the 90s). It was such an incredible period of creativity and experimentation; I'm glad I got to be a part of it.

davidh777

This thread makes me wonder why I haven’t read Matt Wagner’s Grendel. Not enough time to read everything, I guess.

Trevor

Only have two of them myself. Checking my handy CBG Checklist book, I see all seven issues of Micra, and four different number ones of Empire Lanes.

ytrez

I enjoyed Empire Lanes. I remember the 4 issue series from Northern lights (1st issue shown in your initial post),



Then in 1989 Comico came out with volume 2 with a new #1:



In 1990 Comico released the second issue which, probably to inspire higher sales, they also labeled as #1:



In 1990 they also released a trade paperback of the original 4 issues series, which also carries a #1 label in most catalogs:


I recommend the series. It was a tough sell amongst all the superhero titles on the racks I'm sure, but it's a fun product of its time.

story

fujishig

I feel like back in the day most of the indy comics were basically non superhero stuff, and Marvel and DC weren't flooding the market like they are now with superhero stuff. It feels like it's harder to get an indy comic published/ordered now (unless you join Image or a bigger publisher).

Josh-da-man

I think that most of the 80s independent comics still felt like superhero titles, though they tried to branch out into other genres.
,
Most of these books -- Nexus, Badger, Grimjack, American Flagg, Whisper, Grendel, Dreadstar, Starslayer, Sable, et al -- still had protagonists running around in distinctive costumes. And, with some exceptions, didn't really go too far beyond too far beyond the kind of material that Marvel and DC were putting out, which shouldn't be surprising since they were often created by journeyman creators like Grell, Starlin, Chaykin, and Ostrander, and they were being sold in the direct market to mostly superhero readers. Even Love & Rockets had superhero and other genre elements featured prominently in the early issues, though they were mostly used in a magical realist sense. Even then, L&R was aimed at a more indie audience than the stuff from First and Eclipse, so I don't really include it in this class, just mention the superhero influence.

Most of these titles are still readable but dated; the ones I think that still stand up to this day are Miracleman, Grendel, The Crow, and Mister X (at least the first volume).

fujishig

Yeah I was thinking more along the lines of stuff like Myth Adventures, Elf Quest, Groo, Cerberus, Usagi, Grim Jack, Concrete, Alien Legion, Star Slayer, Tank Girl, American Flagg, Bucky O'Hare etc. But you're right there was certainly a ton of superhero indy stuff too, though a lot of parody like the Tick and Flaming Carrot.

Trevor

I guess that’s one “positive” of how pricing has changed over the decades: the good stuff is now generally the same price as Marvel and DC. I too remember struggling with purchasing Indy stuff due to their increased cost.

Paul_SD

Most here have probably seen this series of books from Tomorrows, but if you haven't and are interested in the gamut of things that were published in that era (or any of the decades previous or post) these volumes come VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! (as the old Bud Plant catalogs would say).



here's a link to a flip thru excerpt of the book
https://e.issuu.com/embed.html?ident...241656/1504522

Seriously, I can't gush enough about how fabulous this series of books is.

L. Ron zyzzle

Well, right off the bat it reminded me of E-Man which I think I really liked and had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN EVER EXISTED so there's that.

Trevor

Those hardcovers are beautifully made and wonderful reads.

But really, everything published by TwoMorrows is worthy.

I really want to re-read all of Fish Police now.

Trevor

Nexus is one of my all-time favorite series. Read most of it as it was coming out, but still need to read the last year or so of what came out back in the day, plus all the occasional stuff the last decade or two. Apparently Baron and Rude have ‘broken up’ and have each done separate Nexus material fairly recently.
Yeah, those particular characters were fairly forgettable, but Comico did have a lot of other great stuff, and Grendel is a Mount Rushmore candidate of great characters.

It really was a golden era. I’m sure the explosion of creativity and competition from the independents led to the big two having to expand and grow into the stuff like Vertigo.

But as much as I love to wax nostalgic on this era, comics have never been better than they are now. You just have to look outside the typical comic shop for much of it.
Now that I see I own 4/7 of the entire output, I’ll have to track down issues 2 thru 4.

Nick Danger

I should re-read my run of Grendel. I haven't looked at it in twenty years. I never bought the first three B&W issues that were disowned by Matt Wagner, but I did get the B&W&Red one-shot promotional issue.

I read comics from the early 1980s to the mid 1990s, so I remember most of the titles people are talking about. But they just sit in boxes, and I really ought to sell them all.