This column will be updated regularly to help you find the best comics to read on Comixology Unlimited, an incredible subscription service available for $5.99 a month (with the first month free). If you want to start reading comics, this is a great way to begin, particularly if you are an adult who wants to locate all those comics that are hard to find because we are inundated with Superhero stories. (The First Clarification: Yes, I like DC, Marvel, and Superhero Stories, too)
Comics are expensive, and you can read hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of comics very quickly, so $5.99 a month is an amazing deal. That’s less than a single collection of monthly comics, which sell for $10 to $40 each. (The Second Clarification: No, I have no connection with Comixology other than giving them all of my money.)
The best creative independent comics are not being put out by DC and Marvel. They are being put out by companies like Fantographics, Dark Horse, IDW, Valiant, Dynamite, Boom!, Oni, and especially Image. Image alone publishes some of the best science fiction, fantasy, horror, and crime fiction. And even if you think you don’t like comics, you should give Image titles a try in the genres you like best.
Why are Image comics so good? The simple answer is that the creators who publish at Image own their ideas and characters and maintain complete creative control of their work; therefore, the best writers and artists who work for DC and Marvel save their greatest ideas for creator-owned comics that they then put out at Image.
Below are about one hundred titles that I recommend in the 4- to 5-star range. I have read most of these comics, and the ones I have not read have a good reputation.
Image:
- Saga
- Injection
- Descender: Tin Stars
- Elephantmen: Wounded Animals
- Elephantmen: Fatal Diseases
- Five Ghosts: The Haunting of Fabian Gray
- Criminal: Coward
- Pretty Deadly
- Shutter: Wanderlust
- Outcast: A Darkness Surrounds Him
- Lazarus
- Ghosted
- Scene of the Crime
- Deadly Class: Reagan Youth
- The Wicked + The Divine: The Faust Act
- Wayward: String Theory
- The Walking Dead
- Revival: You’re Among Friends
- Black Science: How to Fall Forever
- The Fade Out
- Wytches
- Alex + Ada
- The Sword: The Complete Deluxe Edition
- Fatale: Death Chases Me
- East of West: The Promise
- Stray Bullets: Innocence of Nihilism
- Southern Bastards: Here Was a Man
- Copperhead: A New Sheriff in Town
- The Rat Queens: Sass and Sorcery
- Morning Glories
- Chew: Taster’s Choice
- Low: The Delirium of Hope
- Mage: The Hero Discovered
- Fell: Feral City
- The Fuse: The Russia Shift
- Godland (Issues #1-5)
- Oddly Normal
- Hawaiian Dick: Byrd of Paradise
- The Autumnlands: Tooth & Claw
- The Activity
IDW:
- Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft
- Locke & Key: Head Games
- Cold War: The Damoclese Contract
- Comic Book History of Comics
- Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter
Oni Press:
- The Sixth Gun
- Letter 44: Escape Velocity
- Wasteland: Cities In Dust
- Queen & Country: Operation Broken Ground
- Queen & Country: Operation Morningstar
- Queen & Country: Operation
- Possessions: Unclean Getaway
- Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things
- Stumptown
Dark Horse:
- The Witcher
- Hellboy: Seed of Destruction
- Hellboy: Wake the Devil
- Classic Usagi Yojimbo (Issues #1-4)
- Usagi Yojimbo (Issues #1-15)
- Abe Sapien: The Drowning
- B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs
- B.P.R.D.: Hell On Earth
- Baltimore: The Plague Ships
- Baltimore: The Curse Bells
- Baltimore: A Passing Stranger and Other Stories
- Conan: The Frost Giant’s Daughter and Other Stories
- Conan: The God in the Bowl and Other Stories
- Conan: The Tower of the Elephant and Other Stories
Fantographics:
- Maggie and the Mechanic
- Palomar
- Athos in America
- Hey, Wait . . .
- The Left Bank Gang
- Lost Cat
- Low Moon
- Gast
- The Portable Frank
- Fran
- Mome
Valiant:
- Rai: Welcome To New Japan
- Bloodshot: Setting the World on Fire
- Bloodshot: The Rise and the Fall
- Bloodshot: Harbinger Wars
- Harbinger: Omega Rising
- Harbinger: Renegades
- X-0 Manowar: By the Sword
- X-0 Manowar: Enter: Ninjak
- X-0 Manowar: Planet Death
- Shadowman: Birth Rites
- Shadowman: Darque Reckoning
- The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage
- Archer and Armstrong: The Michelangelo Code
- Quantum and Woody: The World’s Worst Superhero Team
- Quantum and Woody: Security
- Valiant Masters: Rai: From Honor to Strength
Other Titles from a Variety of Publishers: Boom!, Archaia, Dark Circle Comics, Humanoids:
- Feathers
- The Black Hood (Issues #1-5)
- Clockwork Angels (Issues #1-6)
- The Black Incal
- reMIND
Thank you, Brad. (I love the humor in this column!)
I could not get into East of West, even though I loved the artwork. I can’t quite figure out why; I got it because it seemed like it was EXACTLY my thing, but it didn’t suit.
This list, and Comixology, look to me like a post-Undergrad present to myself. Thanks for all the rec’s Brad!
I hope you enjoy it after school finishes up! I will try to keep this list as current as I can.
Skye: Rat Queens, Rat Queens, Rat Queens! Also, Saga is excellent, but…Rat Queens!