Top 5 Most Unique Superhero Comics You’ve Never Heard Of

Jumping from the pages of comics and into movies, shows, and videogames, superheroes have become everywhere these days. Some may find them silly, some may find them childish, but there’s no denying how superheroes have ingrained themselves into both popular culture and the collective unconsciousness of modern society. A testament to that are the dedicated fandoms, conventions, and culture, born from the love of superhero comic books.

Comic books and graphic novels are the traditional home of superheroes. Some of these works of art have become legendary literary masterpieces, with themes and distinct styles that later influenced artists and writers outside of the medium. Superhero titles like Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Mike Magnolia’s Hellboy have become award-winning and iconic, but some amazingly written titles remain unheard of - buried under the pile of many forgotten literary works. But today, we’ll shine the spotlight on a few of them and see why they deserve to be praised as some of the best.

5. Kill or Be Killed

Ed Brubaker has established himself as a modern day Raymond Chandler, with noire stories starring military veterans, professional criminals, and even meek disgruntled husbands. But his Kill or Be Killed series of graphic novels is the most special title in his bibliography. The books tell a story of a young lonesome college student who decided one day to become a masked vigilante. He first began targeting petty criminals and civilian scums before finally targeting organized crime. The title isn’t marketed as a superhero comic, but it does contain themes and tropes you’ll see in a traditional superhero story. The protagonist, Dylan Cross, is like a modern, more realistic, Peter Parker — a lonely nerd who decided to be a masked vigilante, not only because of tragedy, but also because of untreated mental problems. With other similar and realistic superhero stories like Kick-Ass, Kill or Be Killed stands as the darkest yet most thought-provoking.

4. X-O Manowar

Valiant Comics and its flagship “Valiant Universe” has always been underrated compared to more famous comic book universes like Marvel and DC. Yet, it has become the home of a few interesting characters. One of the superheroes of this universe is Aric of Dacia, a strange yet interesting fella who’s basically a Visigoth from the time of the Roman Empire that was kidnapped by Spider Aliens, escaped, and returned to Earth only to find himself in the modern world. Circumstances would see him fight the aliens on Earth, becoming one of its protectors, with the use of a high-tech X-O Class Manowar Armor (named Shanhara) that he also used to escape the aliens. Although goofy in terms of premise, the comic soon evolved into a tale of trust between different and often times conflicting characters. It’s also famous for introducing Ken Clarkson, one of the first openly gay sidekicks and side characters in comic books. The relationship of the brutish Aric and the queer Ken, together with other weird characters of the Valiant Universe, is the strongest focal point in the story. Throughout the series, Aric would learn more about the values of the 1990s era, and learn how compassion and loss can really affect a person more than swords and spears.

3. Jack of Fables

Mythopoeia is a term used by many fandoms to describe stories where characters from popular fairy tales, folklore, and even classic literature, interact with each other in a singular universe. Bill Willingham’s Fables series is one of the most popular of this genre, but its spin-off title, Jack of Fables, is probably its wackiest and most creative. The comic tells the story of Jack Horner, the popular fairy tale character from Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack the Giant Slayer, Jack Frost, and Jack O’ Lantern, as he travels across modern day America, meeting (and conning) other fairy tale and folklore characters like Bigby Wolf (Big Bad Wolf) and Snow White. But what makes the series really creative is its clever use of anthropomorphism, where a literal fairy tale character fights off against personifications of literature and storytelling, ranging from genres taking physical forms to godlike embodiments of censorship and writing. It’s more difficult to describe in words than it is illustrated, but never has there been such mythos in comics as unique as this since Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. Jack Horner is no hero, nor is he likeable, but seeing him go up against titanic odds, sometimes on the side of good, makes the story enjoyable. Jack himself would appear in the video The Wolf Among Us, with personality taken from the pages of the spin-off series itself.

2. Planetary

The term “epic” is seldom used in describing stories from comic books and graphic novels, with a few exceptions. But a prime candidate for the term would be no doubt Warren Ellis’s Planetary, a decades-spanning superhero series whose scope in world building can rival literary works from J.R.R. Tolkien and Frank Herbert. The series tells the tale of superhuman Elijah Snow, who as his name suggests, has ice powers. He is tasked together with his team to investigate and stop potential world-ending threats. It is in these missions of Snow, and the threats that he and his team face, where the pure imagination of Ellis’s shines. The mysteries and the enemies Snow and his team face all over the globe are inspired by various pop cultures, not just from America, but also from other countries. These range from threats based around Japanese kaiju films, Hong Kong action cinema, British political comics and many others. Planetary has often been described as a pop culture fiction but Ellis no doubt has made a masterpiece that is far more than that.

1. The Question

The previous titles of this list are mostly works from single authors or single companies, but the superhero comic that has taken the number one spot concerns not a title, nor a series, but a character that has proven himself to be special to every writer or publisher that has taken the reigns in telling his story. The origins of the superhero known as the Question is about a hard-speaking, justice-seeking, investigative journalist and news reporter named Vic Sage, who is driven to fight crime as the faceless, fedora and trenchcoat-wearing, Question. While his origin story isn’t really that special when it comes to superhero stories, what makes him and his adventures unique is how he became a mouthpiece to the beliefs and philosophies of the writers who wrote him.

The Question was created by the legendary Steve Ditko for Charleton Comics, who instilled in the Question his own beliefs of objectivism — a philosophy that states that moral and political decisions should be absolute and not be based around subjective emotions and feelings. When another legendary writer, Dennis O’Neil, wrote the Question after the character was brought by DC Comics, he gave the Question his own philosophy of Zen Buddhism — the belief of finding inner piece and identity in the universe with the theme of curiosity; a fitting one for a hero named the Question. When Rick Veitch took over writing the Question’s adventures, he wrote the superhero with a focus on mysticism and chi, similar to his own experience writing other supernatural-themed characters like John Constantine. When Greg Rucka wrote the Question’s story in the limited series epic 52, he wrote the Question to be a positivistic- fatalist, one who acknowledges the world’s futility and tragedy but does so with a smile and a few jokes. Hence why throughout the Question’s history, he has been a merciless and brutal objectivist, a peaceful zen master, an enigmatic urban shaman, and a helpful wisecracker.

Such a character trait makes the Question so special when it comes to comic book history. Even with all the different philosophies and personalities the Question went through in his history, the one thing that remained consistent is his ability to mold himself into whatever the writers want him to be.