Issue #2 – Mutation, Damnation, and Indie Resurrection: 5 Comics That Deserve Your Attention Before the Rest Catch On
💀 Back for More, Are You?
Couldn’t stay away from the ink-stained underworld, huh?
Good. Because this week I’ve dug deeper. Past the longboxes. Past the slabbed grails. Down into the yellowed pages, blood-soaked corners, and dollar-bin dreams where true treasures hide.
🧬 1. X-Men: Legacy #215–216 (Marvel, 2008)
“The quiet war inside Xavier’s head.”
While most were busy chasing Messiah Complex tie-ins or variant covers, this arc quietly reshaped Charles Xavier’s psyche post-Decimation. With haunting artwork and introspective storytelling, these two issues stand out as some of the best character-driven X-Men moments of the late 2000s.
🪦 Reaper’s Take: If you’ve slept on this series, wake up — it’s Xavier without the spandex safety net.
🧟 2. The Immortal Men #1–3 (DC, 2018)
“The secret history of humanity’s protectors... and destroyers.”
From the dusty crypts of DC’s short-lived Dark Matter line, this series had ambition — ancient bloodlines, metahuman clans, hidden wars. Only 6 issues were ever made, but the early ones had big ideas and killer Jim Lee character designs.
🪦 Reaper’s Take: Think X-Men meets Highlander. Short run, big potential, under $10 for the set — you do the math.
🔪 3. The Crow: Flesh and Blood (Kitchen Sink, 1996)
“Revenge isn’t always poetic. Sometimes it’s just violent and necessary.”
Forget the Eric Draven worship — this story follows Iris, a new Crow, in a deeply personal and gritty revenge tale. It’s vicious, raw, and beautifully illustrated. And it’s so much more than a one-note reboot.
🪦 Reaper’s Take: Indie horror perfection. A must-own for fans of female anti-heroes and ink-heavy artwork.
☢️ 4. Wasteland #1–3 (Oni Press, 2006)
“The Big Wet changed everything.”
A post-apocalyptic epic that reads like Mad Max had a baby with Dune, but raised it on indie angst and storytelling finesse. Antony Johnston’s bleak vision of the future feels closer to our current world than we’d like to admit.
🪦 Reaper’s Take: Long-running series, but these early issues set the tone with art and world-building worth collecting.
🩸 5. Bloodshot: Rising Spirit #1–4 (Valiant, 2018)
“Built to forget. Designed to kill.”
Before Vin Diesel tanked the movie, Bloodshot was quietly putting out some of the most brutal and stylized anti-hero content in comics. This origin series resets the character with a sharper, more psychological angle.
🪦 Reaper’s Take: Great intro for new readers, cheap to collect, and still one of Valiant’s bloodiest good ideas.
🧛 Final Panel: What’s the Common Thread?
This week’s picks all have one thing in common: they got lost in the noise.
Whether it was an event tie-in overshadowing quality writing, a publisher reboot that fizzled out, or just pure bad timing, these books deserve more respect in your longbox than most of what’s getting pumped out today.
👁️ Next Week’s Forecast:
Bronze Age brutality, a little-known Vertigo masterpiece, and a comic that makes Watchmen look tame...