#1980s comics

John Byrne’s cover for Justice Machine.

You want to know something weird? For something like 10 years, between 1983-1994 or so, whenever this or that writer in a comics fanzine did a list of “best superhero comics of all time,” they always included Tony Isabella’s Justice Machine somewhere. Now, people don’t talk about it as much. 

The premise is that the heroes are a superhero team founded on the fascistic totalitarian planet Georwell (groan) and they turn against the government of their home planet after arriving on earth and realizing the truth about their society.

If you can, pick up X-Thieves, a 1980s surreal, satirical scifi-comedy comic about a pair of time traveling thieves who do things like go back in time to steal the formula for Coca-Cola. Mark Probst art really skyrockets it to greatness.

If you love the sense of humor in Howard the Duck (and who doesn’t?), you’ll love this. In fact, it’s so similar in humor to Howard the Duck that I thought David Anthony Kraft was a pen name for Howard’s creator Steve Gerber (it doesn’t help Kraft also took over some Gerber comics immediately after, like Defenders). He’s actually a real person.