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Underground > Comic Books >

Is there a comic book like this yet?

07:11 / 20.01.04

I'm looking for a comic book where a massive apocalypse happens (wouldn't mind seeing a few government buildings explode, of course) and it wipes out the majority of the human race. Suddenly there are only a few people left in the world. These people are counterculture freak types who are mutated as fuck. I'm looking for something cyberpunk and radical-fringe and all that stuff. You guys know what I'm into... does a comic book like this already exist? Would love to hear your recommendations. I've only read The Invisibles and Transmetropolitan and The Sandman and Tank Girl after all. Plus few of the new X-Men here and there and a bunch of minimalist underground type shit. So ya, help this beginner out. Thanks.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

12:30 / 20.01.04

I think the closest thing to what you are looking for would be some of the work of Don McGregor.

At Marvel, his Killraven series features this sort of future and at Eclipse, Sabre.

There were a lot of indy press series based after the fall of civilization (including my favorite, Deadworld), so just start digging through the quarter bins.

13:26 / 20.01.04

You could try the post-nuke rock'n'roll Mad-Max-meets-Josie-And-The-Pussycats comic that Ray Fawkes and I did, called "The Apocalipstix" - though it sounds as though that may be a bit bubblegum for your tastes. Still if you're interested look for the "Rumble Royale" book at your local comics shop or send me a PM.

It also sounds like you have verrrrry specific ideas as to what you want to see in a comic, Rage. If you can't find one that exactly meets your criteria....ever thought of *making* one that does?

13:36 / 20.01.04

I'm not sure if you're ever going to find anything that specific to your interests. In the mainstream, at least. Most post-apocalyptic comics, when they have "counter-culture" types at all, are usually kind of cliche and are played as villains mostly.

I have seen mini-comics that are close to what you're talking about. These are small, usually photocopied, usually black and white, usually amateurish labours of love that you can find through other zines or in stores that carry zines. Many of these mini creators were influenced by Gary Panter. You can find a few sample pages here, including a description of the world Jimbo, his protaganist, lives. Panter's work is scattered throughout many different anthologies, minis, collections, etc. One of the most accessible (and cheapest) ways to get some Panter is through the Jimbo comic by Zongo, which was an alternative offshoot of Matt Groening's Bongo line. I've found at least a few of these in the cheap bin at the comic store. Dal Tokyo has even more online samples.

Based upon what I've read by you, this is as close to what you might like as I can imagine.

14:51 / 20.01.04

sounds at least half like any story that 2000ads ever done

15:25 / 20.01.04

KAMANDI. Definitely KAMANDI.

15:30 / 20.01.04

...and possibly Y: the last man

But definitely not When the Wind Blows which depicts the effects of a nuclear holocaust on your grandparents...

16:39 / 20.01.04

A K I R A

17:53 / 20.01.04

What about that Garth Ennis one with the psycopathic religious nutter(no not Preacher) where they live in a post apocalyptic world?

20:54 / 20.01.04

Alita Battle Angel or Sarah (Mother of Mercy or something like that ) fit the bills. For Post apocolyptic that is rebuilt your cant beat Appleseed !

22:26 / 20.01.04

My favourite ever post-apocalypse scenario is the one from Steve Jackson Games.

Character Generation: Roll 1d6
1-5 Your potential character died horribly. Roll again.
6 Your character is so grossly mutated/injured that you have three days to live. You cannot move.

Or something like that.

22:29 / 20.01.04

Jamie, I think you mean Ennis' Just a Pilgrim, which would fit a lot of the criteria mentioned above.

XXII:X:II = XXX

22:38 / 20.01.04

You could try the post-nuke rock'n'roll Mad-Max-meets-Josie-And-The-Pussycats comic that Ray Fawkes and I did, called "The Apocalipstix" - though it sounds as though that may be a bit bubblegum for your tastes. Still if you're interested look for the "Rumble Royale" book at your local comics shop or send me a PM.

BTW, Cam, that's an awesome book and an awesome story. Are we going to see those characters again anytime soon?

Jamielemon: What about that Garth Ennis one with the psycopathic religious nutter(no not Preacher) where they live in a post apocalyptic world?

'At'd be Just A Pilgrim. Not bad, but not great. Does Black Bull Comics even exist anymore?

There's a great story in Bride of Monkeysuit by Prentis Rollins called "I, God." The premise is: the last man on Earth, aeons in the future, who is seemingly now immortal, makes a pilgrimage every year at first snow to the ruins of New York, where he goes up to his old apartment, which is completely bare, save for a preserved note he had written to himself millenia before, which reads, "Never forget you are human." And the tragedy is that after all this time alone he has forgotten how to read.

Then there's always Fist Of The Northstar. Post-apocalyptic AND flowing with geysers of blood and gore. In the same vein of excess, Bob Fingerman's Monkey Jank is daffy sexual antics in the next Dark Ages. It contains the classic exchange:

A: "Dang, I done skeered another one off with my grotesquely enormous clitoris."
B: "You have got to be the stupidest man I've ever seen."

I'm sure others will occur to me and the rest of you. It's not exactly a unique concept in comics or science fiction.

VJB2

23:25 / 20.01.04

Khaologan is completely spot on about 2000AD, of course. Rage, 2000AD pretty much half-invented you: it’s going to be one fucking mental week when you sit down to read all that shit.

00:36 / 21.01.04

>>>BTW, Cam, that's an awesome book and an awesome story. Are we going to see those characters again anytime soon?<<<

Thanks Vlad, and yes, I've started to do layouts for a script that Ray wrote for me a while ago. I'm not sure how long it will take for me to complete, because it's really dependent on how much "free" time I have outside of my work for DC (not much), but it'll get done at some point.

Thanks for your interest!

17:31 / 24.01.04

Paul Gulacy's SLASH - though that may be hard to find.

manga-wise: EDEN [though maybe underground types-free] and BATTLE ROYALE [sorta].

and why not Image's THE WALKING DEAD? it's more on the 28 DAYS AFTER league, but maybe you'll enjoy it.

19:13 / 24.01.04

This isn’t actually a published comic yet, but....

About four years ago, I worked on a projected six part series called Cyberbilly, set in a post apocalyptic Norfolk. The title and character designs were by my good mate BJ – a fantastic artist. I took the designs and came up with a plot, then scripted the first issue in full.
BJ’s characters were in a 2000ad style put through an Image mangler ( in a kind of post ironic way, ha ha).
My main idea was ‘what if the biblical apocalypse happened and the good guys lost, earth ravaged, only heidcases and nutters remain, etc etc’. So far, so, so.
The plan was to rip the pish out of all the cliches in that genre, make it all funny as fuck, then self publish and be damned.
BJ’s main character was a kind of monstrous rockabilly cyborg with a large metal quiff. A biker Wolverine by way of the Cramps. My twist was to make him a bit of a wimpish all round nice guy, who just happens to accidentally impale people on occasion because, well, he’s a tad on the clumsy side.
Really, the devil was in the details. Main villain would be a resurrected fat Elvis (sold his soul for rock and burgers) ... another favourite was a mad nun with a machine gun called Mother Fokker. (Ach well, it made sense at the time).
Cyberbilly would be pursued – for various non-relevant plot points – by a horrendously evil metal masked figure.
This bad guy’s identity pre-apocalypse would never be revealed (for legal reasons). But I think the part of the script I was most pleased with was when he rampaged through a decaying theme park, trampled over skulls, and picked up a discarded, ripped and frayed Mr Blobby toy. Memories of TV fame and fortune in another life come flooding back as a solitary tear rolls down his rusting metal cheek.
Sadly, BJ’s holding down an exhausting job and, to be brutally honest, he makes Frank Quitely look fast. He’s still drawing the first issue, the bastard.
If anyone would like to give him lots of money to quit the day job and make us both rich beyond our wildest dreams, drop us a line.

14:26 / 28.01.04

(Spaliance!)

I'm looking for a comic book where a massive apocalypse happens (wouldn't mind seeing a few government buildings explode, of course) and it wipes out the majority of the human race. Suddenly there are only a few people left in the world. These people are counterculture freak types who are mutated as fuck. I'm looking for something cyberpunk and radical-fringe and all that stuff.

Errrr....the last arc of NXM might be up yr street.......