By Mike “Skitch” Maillaro
I am putting this together quickly at Grey’s request. My wife is having twins on Friday, so things are a bit hectic at the moment! But this seemed like a great idea, and I wanted to get my two cents in. Typically I would throw in images and other cool stuff. Sorry about that!
So, which ten books do I think need to be traded. Glad you asked!
10. Soulsearchers and Company – Figured I would start with an Indy series most people have never even heard of. Peter David wrote this for a while, and they did trade the first 10 issues or so, but this series was brilliant and very underrated. Basically it was a group of supernatural ghostbusters, and featured parodies of everything from Sandman to Star Trek.
9. Milestone – Not many people can say this, but I actually owned every single comic Milestone put out. There is something sad about a world where Spawn is around for 20 years and gets 200 issues, and Milestone doesn’t. Hopefully there is an alternate reality where the opposite is true, and I get to visit there.
8. Jurgen’s Teen Titans – I hate how serious Titans and Teen Titans became in recent years. Jurgen’s Titan’s run was all new characters (other than Atom as the mentor), and a very fun book to read. I really miss having a Titans book like this, and hope that eventually it gets back to being this way. I would love for this run to get a lot more exposure. PLUS, Warlord showed up in it. More on him later!
7. Power Company – Readers of my “Skitch In Time” column might notice a lot of the books I mention here are exactly the books I am hyping up over there. Power Company is no exception. It was Kurt Busiek at his best, and I have always hoped this book and these characters would get a huge resurgence. Still waiting for that!
6. Knightquest – I know, I know. This would be a bitch to try and collect everything, but I always thought the gaping hole between the Knightfall and Knightsend trades was crazy. Showcase it!
5. New Warriors/Darkhawk/Sleepwalker – I decided to include these books all together. I am a huge fan of Marvel Comics from the early to mid 90’s, and all of these series are among my favorites. Also, throw in some Amazing Spider-Man from this era. I loved David Micheline and Mark Bagley’s work on Spider-Man.
4. Spider-Man 2099 – Really, I would love to see all of 2099 traded. Playing Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions reminded me how much I love these characters and this world. Spider-Man 2099 was the best of the batch, but really I’d be happy with seeing as much of this great universe traded as possible.
3. Warlord – Considering some of the weird things DC puts in its Showcase collections (Metamorpho? Really???), it is long past time that Warlord gets one. Sure, you lose the beautiful color, but Mike Grell’s art stands strong even in black and white. Warlord has been featured in Justice League Unlimited and even had a wonderful new run so Grell could finally finish the story. But still no Showcase!
2. Legion Lost/ Legion Worlds – With the popularity and success of DnA, the fact this has never been traded is disgraceful. I have heard a rumor that Legion Lost is finally coming out as a hardcover next year, but we still need to fight for Legion Worlds. I am always a fan of one shot stories, and these books really got me hooked as Legion fan! LLTL!
1. YOUNG JUSTICE!! With the cartoon coming soon, it’s about time to get more of Young Justice traded than just the first few issues and Sins of the Youth. Even the most recent YJ trade from DC is kind of lame as it featured World Without Grownups and Secret. Good stories, but NOT YOUNG JUSTICE AS IT SHOULD BE.
How about some YJ trades ACTUALLY WRITTEN BY PETER DAVID!! And with my favorite characters, Wonder Girl and Arrowette?
