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.

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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.

Trespasser #2 (Alterna)
August Sales Rank/Comics Sold: Unknown
The series about a father and his daughter struggling to survive in a post plague world on a farm, or in the rural countryside, when they’re visited by a harmless injured alien (a little green man type of alien to be specific). After starving for so long, once the alien leaves the family have some food again… The comic is a psychologically chilling tale that explores how far you would be willing to go to provide for your family, and whether sometimes a short term gain is really worth the anguish it will cause eventually.

Sex Criminals #20 (Image)
August Sales Rank/Comics Sold: 297/5,691
When the two lead characters have sex they freeze time; the first time this happens they decide to rob  a bank (because why not?). The series has developed into a cult following, and it’s quality far exceeds the sales numbers on show here.

Unholy Grail #2 (Aftershock)
August Sales Rank/Comics Sold: 254 /7,340
Set around the legend of King Arthur and Merlyn, this series reimagines the old wizard as a demon inhabiting an old man’s flesh. Kinda creepy, but a whole lot of awesome. If you’re a fan of comics without superheroes you could do a lot worse than checking this series out.

Divinity #0 (Valiant)
August Sales Rank/Comics Sold: 229 /8,692
Valiant’s Divinity is a fantastic story that spans three four issue miniseries, and four tie-in comics, which could be a little intimidating if you were to dive into them all at once (but it’s totally worth doing, however) which is where this zero issue comes into play. By giving you an in-story overview of the event Divinity #0 will both prepare you for the next chapter in this exciting series and refresh (or bring you up to date) with the story so far.

 

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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.