Favorite Comic Book Hidden Gems!

Ryan and Donny discuss their underrated favs.

To help kick off 2022 here at KLC Press, Ryan and Donny are talking about some of the titles they consider to be underrated in this new minisode of RYAN AND DONNY’D HALF-ASSED SUBSTACK PODCAST. Check out the guys’ picks for their favorite hidden gems of the comic book industry below!

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Donny Cates: Hey everybody, time for one more of these things. You know who we are and where we are and what we're doing. We're going to talk about hidden gems. Those comics that not many people talk about but are dope. While I try and think of one, Ryan, what are you thinking about?

Ryan Stegman: I'm gonna say Marvel Knights: Inhumans by Paul Jenkins and Jay Lee. I don't know if it's a hidden gem, I think it was relatively popular when it came out but it's been a while now. I mean, it's probably like 25-30 years old right?

Donny: It definitely didn't get- of the Marvel Knights line, it got kind of maybe overshadowed by by the rest of the Marvel Knights line, you know? Yeah.

Ryan: And it had such cool art. It was so moody. And it was, to my mind, the best interpretation of the Inhumans so far kind. It shows you what could be done with them. I did an Inhuman run, so I can say that hopefully without offending anybody.

Donny: So did I, yeah.

Ryan: It should be the blueprint for how Inhumans operates going forward. I also, still on the Marvel Knights line, I also love their Black Panther. But you know, whatever.

Donny: I don't think I've ever read that one.

Ryan: It was really good.

Donny: Let me think there was a miniseries- speaking of Inhumans, wow, that's actually a weird... I didn't even think about that- there was a kind of a quasi event that was coming out right around the same time as Civil War and World War Hulk and everything. It was a series called Silent War. I remember thinking it was really fucking amazing. It was like Quicksilver had stolen all the Terrigen crystals and they were like coming for them. I don't know, there's that one. I'm trying to think, I feel bad staying just in Marvel. You know, what I'll say that people don't talk about is like, you know, Kirkman has this boudoir of legendary runs on things like The Walking Dead and Invincible and everything, but if you have never read Battle Pope you should do yourself a favor and put Battle Pope in your eyes because, Battle Pope is fucking crazy. And then what else? My good friend Amanda Conner has a book that if you've never read you should, it is written by Garth Ennis and it's called The Pro. Our own John J. Hill worked on that book. So check that out and support the ol' team over here. The Pro is fucking insane. It's Garth Ennis at his most most Garth Ennis-y. It's about a superhero prostitute and it is super fucked up and dark and awesome. But with beautiful, kind of whimsical art by Amanda Conner. So yeah, that's what I got.

Ryan: (I'm looking at my shelf to see if there's anyone I want to throw in at the end.) Body Bags by Jason Pearson. One of the best illustrated comics of all time.

Donny: Okay, all right. Cool. Well, there it is. We did it.

Ryan: That's it.

Donny: Go read those things and let us know in the comments what comics you feel deserved to be on that list and we'll talk about 'em next time. And I will also add, literally anything written by me. It's underrated. Even the stuff that's way overrated. Still underrated. Yeah. Okay, on that note, bye. I love you.

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