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Free Comic Book Day will soon be upon us (May 7th peeps) and in honour of the funnies Purple Revolver has compiled a list of the Top 5 Alternative Comics for your pleasure.
So this weekend while you’re picking up your free Spiderman and Green Lantern books why not have a browse through some lesser known titles and remember it’s not just Batman and that Superman fella who rule the strips.
5. The Tick
Ben Edlund’s New England Comic book mascot became its own independent comic book in 1988. A parody of the superhero genre, the bright blue crime fighter became a cult hero and eventually landed his own Fox animated series.
Spoooooon!
4. Lenore, the Cute Little Dead Girl
Based on the Poe poem, the wickedly funny comic walks us through the daily happenings of Lenore. Created by Roman Dirge and originally published by Slave Labour Graphics and later picked up by Titan Books, it featured great characters (Pooty and the Undead Nazis) and very dark humour.
3. Bone
The independently published graphic novel series was once described by Time as, ‘as sweeping as the Lord of the Rings, but much funnier.’ The series centres on three Bone cousins and their quest in the Valley to save the world from the Lord of the Locusts.
2. Cerebus the Aardvark
Running from 1997 till 2004, this hugely popular series ran for 300 issues. Starting as a parody of Conan the Barbarian and the sword and sorcery genre, but quickly became an intelligent critique of the comic book genre, breaking all the rules (flipping from horizontal to vertical panels, using prose narrative). The series also gave us our first hermaphrodite protagonist.
1. Zap Comix
Started at the height of the counterculture movement in San Francisco by Robert Crumb in 1968, the series initiated the underground comic book movement. Featuring the artwork of Robert Williams and Manuel Rodriguez, the book was subject to several lawsuits and obscenity busts; City Light’s book were raided for stocking the books and issue 4 was prohibited from sale in New York altogether.
Free Comic Book Day kicks off this Saturday, head on over to www.freecomicbookday.com to find a participating store near you.
For all Liverpool natives, check out Forbidden Planet on Bold Street and World Apart on Lime St on Saturday to pick up your free comic goodie bag.