1980s Indie Comics8944
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In the early 1980s, the rapidly growing direct sales market gave birth to a wide variety of new publishers, offering something different from the mainstream Marvel and DC fare. By the mid 80s, I was probably buying as many or more independent publishers comics than I was Marvels and DCs. Unfortunately, by the end of the 1980s the bottom had fallen out and most of these publishers were out of business. I thought it might make a cool thread to look back on some of our favorite 1980s indie comics and share any stories we may have. Also, I will be making my annual trip to the Motor City Con in a couple of weeks and could use some ideas about what to look for when I hit the discount boxes. To get things started, here is the first indie comic I remember buying off the stands back around the summer of 1980. It was written and drawn by fan artist Fred Hembeck and in it he basically tells the story of how he discovered the silver age Marvels off the rack. |
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The next publisher I remember discovering was Pacific Comics, who put out a ton of material but had financial difficulties and didn’t last too long. They did give us some great titles, though, such as the EC inspired Twisted Tales and Alien Worlds and, one of my all time favorites, Groo the Wanderer.  |
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A few of my favorites! Actually got Caliber Presents #1 and Crow #1 from my first comic convention in Chicago back in 1989 right when they were published by J. O’Barr! Unfortunately I sold them awhile ago... .    |
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| I loved Elementals! Still have a full set of the original run. Back when Lone Wolf and Cub came out I had a buddy who was really into manga. I really tried to get into that and share his interest, but it just wasn’t for me. | ||
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| Ya, Elementals was great! I liked Lone Wolf and Cub because it reminded me of all the old Kung fu shows on Sunday afternoon! Great stuff! | ||
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Can’t say that’s not an ‘80s Indie comic . |
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| I used to get comics from a local shop in my neighborhood. I had a pick list that included all first issues of ANY comic that came out. This was back in the 80’s, so I had A LOT of obscure comics! | ||
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| I quit collecting comics in the 80's before the big explosion of titles, but the first issue of Mister X almost kept me collecting. My understanding is that subsequent issues were not as good. | ||
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| From what I remember, Mr X took a long time between issues and had shifting creative teams. Haven’t looked at that book in a while. I will have to dig them out. Loved Flaming Carrot! | ||
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         I loved 1980s indy books. These are just a few I had pics of already on my phone (I post frequently on IG @enelson_comics_and_such) Scout is one of my all time favorite books. I love Groo still and Reid Fleming was hilarious Samurai doesnt really hold up And Adolescent Radioactive black belt Hamsters was a more than adequate attempt to capitalize on funny animal mania |
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| Looking back, I think that you can point to the success of Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters as the point where the wheels started to come off as far as ‘80s independents. ARBBH was a pretty funny comic with incredibly bad artwork. I bought #1 when it came out. Within a month or two it was a $20 back issue. Seeing this, publishers began flooding the market with anything and everything, regardless of quality. The number of mutant animal comics alone was flat out ridiculous! It was definitely a pivotal book. I loved Scout. Also loved Reid Fleming, although I don’t think I have those issues anymore. That one’s definitely going on my con list! |
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    A few more from the phone ...the mites and miracle man I actually bought off here from @poka as replacement copies to books I trashed Also @michaelekrupp if you want to buy the Reid Fleming run just dm me.I'm not overly attached to it. I have 1-5(complete rags to riches) and the flaming carrot team up |
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Not a comic, but a print I bought about a year ago which feature two characters that started in the 80s. |
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Rest in Peace James Hudnall  |
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