This is a column that focuses on something or some things from the comic book sphere of influence that may not get the credit and recognition it deserves. Whether that’s a list of comic book movies, ongoing comics, or a set of stories featuring a certain character. The columns may take the form of a bullet pointed list, or a slightly longer thinkpiece – there’s really no formula for this other than whether the things being covered are Underrated in some way. This week: Comics not in Diamonds top 100 sellers for June.

This week we’re going to be looking at a list of comics that are all fantastic, but don’t get the attention that they deserve. Now I’m not even going to pretend to have a definitively exhaustive list of underrated comics here, because we’re hoping  that you decide to check at least one of these series out next time you’re looking for something new either online or at your LCS, and giving you a huge list to check out would be counter productive to that. Instead, you’ll find four to six comics that are worth your attention that failed to crack the top 100 in sales. You’ll notice that there’s only one comic from a publisher featured – this was done to try and spread the love around, rather than focus exclusively on one publisher.

Where possible, I’ve also avoided comics that have appeared on the last version of this list, but the only hard stipulation for this week: not one of the comics made it into the top 100 for May’s comic sales, according to Comichron, which is why they’re Underrated.

Croak #2 (Alterna)
July Sales Rank/Comics Sold: Unknown
Alterna’s range of newsprint comics have been a fantastic addition to my pull list, with the stories on offer crossing numerous different genres and styles, and each one easily being worth the price of admission (sometimes several times over). This campfire horror story style comic is creepy, atmospheric and really well written; priced at a buck and a half you can’t go wrong at all.

Pestilence #3 (Aftershock)
July Sales Rank/Comics Sold: 250 /5,771
What if the Black Death wasn’t the bubonic plague? What if something else was responsible for the mass death of almost a third of Europe in the 1300’s wasn’t a disease, but zombies? Yup, more medieval zombies – and they’re great.

Wicked + Divine #29 (Image)
July Sales Rank/Comics Sold: 149 /13,910
You’ve all heard about this series one way or another, but judging by the sales numbers… This contemporary fantasy story focuses on a group of people with superhuman powers known as “The Pantheon”. Each member of The Pantheon was at one point a normal person before being chosen to merge with the spirit of a deity, and will – apparently – die within two years. Check this series out and learn why there’s such  a strong cult following.

Secret Weapons #2 (Valiant)
July Sales Rank/Comics Sold: 224 /7,910
You’ll notice this series makes a repeat appearance, and that’s because it keeps getting better issue after issue. Seriously, check this out. Last week I said that this is “an offbeat series about a group of rejects with powers that are basically useless (think turning your skin into a statue like hardness… but then being unable to move, just like a literal statue) have to band together in order to face off against a killer who is much better equipped to take them down. Beyond this, the sense of camaraderie and family among the rejects echoes back to the early X-Men comics; this miniseries did better in the sales charts than I expected, but it’s still an underrated gem.” I still stand by that.

Unless the comics industry ceases any and all publication look for a future installment of Underrated to cover more comics that aren’t cracking the top 100.