# Great comics whose run was too short **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752 "2013-02-09T01:28:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/21 "2013-02-10T20:34:42Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > I loved Grimjack, in its various incarnations. > [Grimjack - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimjack#Publication_history) Did the back-up _Munden’s Bar_ ever get its own book. I loved those stories. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/22 "2013-02-10T20:39:49Z")
Just thought of another one: Kirkman’s **Battle Pope**. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/23 "2013-02-10T20:41:08Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Did the back-up _Munden’s Bar_ ever get its own book. I loved those stories. AFAIK they never got a continuing series, but at least one Munden’s collection was issued. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/24 "2013-02-10T23:58:59Z")
ThunderMace A world being overrun by demons. A noble warrior. An ancient dragon. The dragon and warrior bond and Thundermace is born! The art was excellent. The writing is hard to describe- it was full of cliches, BUT it was so good it made the cliches believable. It reminded me a lot of the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs or Robert E Howard. There was pounding energy in every panel. Thundermace made it to five issues. The creator (met him at a con) said he had originally planned for twelve issues. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/25 "2013-02-11T00:19:47Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > _Big Numbers_ by Alan Moore and Bill Sienkienwicz. Only two issues of a twelve-issue series were produced. If you weren’t already aware, photocopies of Number #3 have been scanned and uploaded to this LiveJournal page, with Alan Moore’s express opinion: > **[Big Numbers #3](https://glycon.livejournal.com/11817.html)** > > In January 2009 I bought an eBay item listed as BIG NUMBERS #1 & 2 + RARE UNPUBLISHED XEROX Alan Moore , which had this as the item information: Offering the first issues of BIG NUMBERS, the aborted comic book series from the early 1990s written... I’ve always been a big fan of Sienkienwicz. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/26 "2013-02-11T01:16:08Z")
> [@Suil\_Dubh](#): > > If you weren’t already aware, photocopies of Number #3 have been scanned and uploaded to this LiveJournal page, with Alan Moore’s express opinion: > > [Big Numbers #3 - why I love The Master... — LiveJournal](http://glycon.livejournal.com/11817.html) > > I’ve always been a big fan of Sienkienwicz. Ah, I didn’t know that. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/27 "2013-02-11T02:15:01Z")
Fearless, Fighting, Foulmouthed [Wonder Warthog.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Warthog) ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/28 "2013-02-11T02:56:27Z")
Atari Force. Yes, I know how silly the title is. But gorgeous art by Garcia Lopez and a very nice space-opera story by Gerry Conway. It’s actually one of the few team books he wrote that was any good. Conway is a solid writer for solo books–Batman, Firestorm, Daredevil, Spider-Man) but his team books usually suck (His FF is the single worst run until the post-Byrne run, his Avengers were dreadful, his JLA gave us Vibe/Gypsy/Steel) but here, he did magic. This is bending the rules, but Steve Englehart did a ~12 issue run on Justice League that was probably the best run of the book _ever_…and due to…something…internal politics, the DC Implosion, etc…he suddenly left. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/29 "2013-02-11T03:22:32Z")
Oh yeah–one other. During the '90s B&W boom there was a publisher “Solson” who’s name was synonymous with “shit”. They just published whateverthehell on the worst possible paper and they published a crapton of garbage. But…at the time, it was thought (incorrectly it turns out) that the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents characters were public domain and they published two issues of a new THUNDER Agents series. It’s 20 years later, the THUNDER organization had been forgotten and the world had become a bit dystopian. And some guy stumbles across the costumes. It was really smart, really atmospheric and the art was at least kind of competent. Another one that was weird but good was OZ Squad–Oz was taken over by the Nazis in WWII (iirc, Baron Munchausen ran Ozshwitz–a prison camp for unter-people like munchkins). It was very strange, nice art, vaguely psychotic but interesting story. Lasted about 8 issues (published extremely irregularly) STIG’S INFERNO was by Ty Templeton and some other guy. This guy goes to Hell and finds himself in charge. Unfortunately the “some other guy” died and Templeton wasn’t able to do the book on his own. BARRY WEEN, BOY GENIUS-- ~6 issues by (get this) Judd Winick. Yeah, the hack who gave us “Cry For Justice”. Hysterically funny story about a 6 year old super-genius. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/30 "2013-02-11T03:29:22Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Oh yeah–one other. During the '90s B&W boom there was a publisher “Solson” who’s name was synonymous with “shit”. They just published whateverthehell on the worst possible paper and they published a crapton of garbage. I thought I recognized the name Solson. I thought to myself “Didn’t they publish Sultry Teenage Super Foxes?” Wikipedia reveals that they did. Sultry Teenage Super Foxes is as bad as it sounds. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/31 "2013-02-11T03:51:03Z")
_Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos._ 'Nuff said! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/32 "2013-02-11T04:01:09Z")
The Ballad of Halo Jones. ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/33 "2013-02-11T17:17:43Z")
> [@lawoot](#): > > Agreed. Still own all the Shadow’s from this arc. Loved them, AND what they were doing to the characters. Plus it pulled me back into Baker’s work, which I had first seen on [The Cowboy Wally Show](http://www.amazon.com/Cowboy-Wally-Show-Kyle-Baker/dp/B001G8WNS2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360487213&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cowboy+wally+show). Yep, I loved this book too. I’ll never forget the panel showing The Shadow’s severed head bouncing down a mountain. Baker’s art managed to combine dry humour with a real _Tom & Jerry_ sensibility. ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/34 "2013-02-11T18:35:25Z")
Samurai Penguin. Just 8 issues in the late 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/35 "2013-02-12T02:16:23Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I thought I recognized the name Solson. I thought to myself “Didn’t they publish Sultry Teenage Super Foxes?” > > Wikipedia reveals that they did. > > Sultry Teenage Super Foxes is as bad as it sounds. With the exception of the two issues of THUNDER Agents, 100% of Solson’s remaining output was, as Pepe Le Pew would say was “Le Shit” ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/36 "2013-02-12T02:35:38Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Sultry Teenage Super Foxes is as bad as it sounds. Man, I was hoping this would be part of the fad of Ninja Turtles knockoffs (that Solson was perfectly happy to jump onto)…I’m kind of disappointed it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![ShallowEnd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@ShallowEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShallowEnd)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/37 "2013-02-12T06:09:37Z")
Heckler!! Barry Ween!! Hokum & Hex!! Samurai Penguin!! Coventry!! Fat Ninja!! Ah, these and more in my stash. Any love for [The Eye of Mongombo](http://www.doug-gray.com/blog/MongomboCast.jpg)? Fantagraphics. BEST indicia ever! ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/38 "2013-02-13T16:19:30Z")
**H-E-R-O** , the Will Pfeifer series. The first dozen or so issues were a brilliant character study. I wish it could have gone on longer in that way. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ecks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ecks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ecks)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/39 "2013-02-13T17:22:45Z")
Heckler was indeed a great series that, if there were any justice, would have had a much longer run. It also had some of the great supporting characters- “John Smith, the Generic Man” was brilliant. As was Vixen, the bounty hunter who was good at her job because she had dated literally every man in the city. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752/40 "2013-02-13T19:19:34Z")
For those of you who loved the Heckler, I’d like to ask how old you were when the magazine had its run. 'Cause I have to say a comic book super hero who was “armed only with his sarcastic wit and a brightly colored costume” (Wikipedia) would not have appealed to me when I was reading super-hero comics in my pre- and early teens. I do realize that surporising to me most comic reradeers are now adults - I find that disheartening. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-comics-whose-run-was-too-short/649752.md?page=3)